Aristotle
Accomplishments
Aristotle is one of the first zoologists to make the animal kingdom into two important groups. The two groups that he made were animals that were either blooded or non-blooded. Also in the blooded group, he further classified them into four-footed animals, birds, fish, egg laying, and young bearing. In the non-blooded group he further classified them into crabs, insects, and mollusks. He made a school called Lyceum where taught, writing, and studying. He examined marine creatures by dissecting them.
What He Was
Aristotle was a Greek zoologist, and scholar, a lot of people knew him as a one of the best influential philosophers of all time. Encyclopaedia Britannica said that “ Aristotle was the first genuine scientist in history...Every scientist is in his debt.”
Books and Writing
Some books/writings he wrote were De Generatione Animalium, Historia Animalium and De Partibus Animalium. His books/writings were about many subjects like zoology, biology, government, ethics, linguistics, politics, music, logic, rhetoric, poetry, theater, physics, and metaphysics. His writings were one of the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, aesthetics, encompassing ethics, science, metaphysics, logic, and politics. He made a library in Lyceum which helped in the making of his books.
About his Life
He was born in Stagirus in 383 BCE. Nicomachus, Aristotle’s father was a court physician for the Macedonian King Amyntas II, he died when he was little and they don’t really know about his mother, Phaestis, they think she also died when Aristotle was young. Since they died Proxenus of Atarneus which was Aristotle’s sister, Arimneste’s husband became his guardian. When he turned seventeen Proxenus sent him to Plato’s Academy located in Athens. He went to Plato’s Academy until he was thirty seven (around 347 BCE) which is nineteen years. A little bit after Plato died he left Athens. He stayed with his friend Hermius, King of Atarnus and Assos in Mystia at court, there he met his first wife Pythias, she was Hermias neice. Tey had a daughter together named Pythias after her mother. He became a tutor for Alexander The Great in 356- 323 BC because Philip of Macedonia told him to. Since he taught Alexander The Great he got extra supplies. He got a school called Lyceum where he taught, researched and wrote. Since he walked around the school a lot, his students had to follow him. His student were nicknamed Peripatetics which means people who travel about. People that were part of the school wrote all the things they found on paper so the school had a lot of books/writings. So the library was known as the first good library. The same year he opened his school, his wife Pythias died. A little after Pythias died he started dating a girl named Herpyllis. They think Herpyllis was his slave at first but that he freed her and married her. They had a child together named Nicomachus after his father. When his old student Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C the Macedonian government got overthrown. Aristotle was charged with impiety, which means basically ungodliness. He fled Athens and went to Chalcis which is on the island of Euboea. A year after he went to Chalcis he died from a disease of the digestive organs.
Bibliography
Information:
- "Famous Zoologists and Their Contributions." Famous Things, People and Events. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
Images:
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