Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC), a native of Scytara in ancient Greece, was one of the greatest philosophers, scientists and educators in the ancient history of the world.

Aristotle was a student of Plato and a teacher of Alexander. In 335 BC, he founded a school called Lyceum in Athens, which was called the Peripatetic School. Marx once called Aristotle the most knowledgeable figure among ancient Greek philosophers, and Engels called him the ancient Hegel.

Aristotle studied under Plato and advocated that education is a function of the state and schools should be managed by the state. He first proposed the idea of ????the stages of children's physical and mental development; he supported the Athenian education of healthy physique and harmonious development, and advocated considering natural qualities, forming habits, and developing rationality as the three sources of moral education. However, he opposed women's education and advocated "gentleness." Education, make education serve leisure.

Aristotle studied diligently throughout his life and engaged in academic research involving logic, rhetoric, physics, biology, education, psychology, politics, economics, aesthetics, etc., and wrote He wrote a large number of works. His works are ancient encyclopedias. It is said that there are 400 to 1,000 works, mainly including "On Instruments", "Metaphysics", "Physics", "Ethics", "Politics", "Poetics" etc. His thoughts had a profound impact on mankind. He founded formal logic, enriched and developed various branches of philosophy, and made great contributions to science.

Life (1)

Aristotle was born in Stagira, Thrace, and his father was the royal physician to the King of Macedonia. In 366 BC Aristotle was sent to study at Plato's Academy in Athens. Aristotle lived in the Academy for the next 20 years until the death of his teacher Plato. After Plato's death, Aristotle could not bear the fact that the new head of the Academy was more sympathetic to the mathematical tendency in Plato's philosophy, so he left Athens.

After leaving the academy, Aristotle first accepted the invitation of his former schoolmate Hermias to visit Asia Minor. Hermias was the ruler of Mysia on the coast of Asia Minor. There Aristotle also married the niece of Hermias. But in 344 BC, Hermias was murdered in a riot, and Aristotle had to leave Asia Minor and go to Mytilene with his family.

Three years later, Aristotle was summoned to his hometown by King Philip II of Macedonia and became the teacher of Alexander the Great, who was only 13 years old at the time. According to the famous ancient Greek biographer Plutarch, Aristotle instilled a moral, political and philosophical education in the future world leader. We also have reason to believe that Aristotle also used his influence and played an important role in the formation of Alexander the Great's thoughts. It was under the influence of Aristotle that Alexander the Great was always very concerned about science and respected knowledge. However, Aristotle and Alexander the Great may not have had exactly the same political views. The political outlook of the former was based on the Greek city-states that were about to decline, while the centralized empire later established by Alexander the Great was nothing more than a barbarian invention to the Greeks.

Although his student was already a king, Aristotle did not stay with the king forever. He decided to return to Athens, establish his own academy, and teach philosophy. Aristotle attached great importance to teaching methods. He opposed rigid teaching methods, so he often took his students for walks on the garden boulevard while discussing philosophy. Therefore, later generations called the Aristotelian school " "Xiaoyao School".

After Philip died in 335 BC, Aristotle returned to Athens and established his own school there. The name of the academy (Lyceum) is named after the wolf-slayer (Lyceus) near the Temple of Apollo. During this period, Aristotle lectured and wrote many philosophical works. Aristotle had a habit of walking in the corridors and gardens while lecturing. Because of this, the philosophy of the Academy is called "the philosophy of leisure" or "the philosophy of wandering". Aristotle also wrote many works during this period, mainly about natural science and philosophy about nature and physics, and the language he used was much more obscure than Plato's "Dialogues". Many of his works are based on lecture notes, and some are even class notes of his students. Therefore, some people regard Aristotle as the author of the first textbook in the West. After Alexander's death, the Athenians began to rise up against Macedonian rule. Because of his relationship with Alexander, Aristotle had to take refuge in Galses because he was accused of impiety. His academy was placed in the charge of Theophrastus. A year later, in 322 BC, Aristotle died. The cause of his death was an illness that had accumulated for many years. Rumors that he was poisoned or committed suicide by jumping into the sea due to unexplained tidal phenomena are completely unfounded.

Life (2)

In 384 B.C., Aristotle was born in the Greek settlement of Stakiel in Fulakia, a city in Greece. A colony adjacent to the emerging Macedonia. His father was the court physician to King Philip II of Macedonia. Judging from his family situation, he belongs to the middle class of the slave-owning class.

He moved to Athens in 367 BC and studied medicine. He also studied at Plato's Academy in Athens for many years and became an active participant in Plato's Academy.

From the age of eighteen to thirty-eight - the twenty years of studying philosophy with Plato in Athens was a very important stage for Aristotle. This period of study and life It had a decisive influence on his life. Socrates was Plato's teacher, and Aristotle was taught by Plato. These three generations of masters and disciples are all famous figures in the history of philosophy. Aristotle performed very well in Plato's Academy in Athens, and Plato called him the "spirit of the Academy." But Aristotle was not a person who only worshiped authority and was academically submissive without having his own ideas. He was different from teachers who talked about mysteries. He worked hard to collect various books and materials, studied diligently, and even built a library for himself. It is recorded that Plato once mocked him as a nerd. While at the academy, Aristotle had ideological differences with his teacher. He once metaphorically said that wisdom will not die with Plato. When Plato reached his later years, the differences between his teacher and his students became even greater, and they often had quarrels.

In 347 BC, Plato died and Aristotle stayed in Athens for two more years. After that, he began to travel around the world. In 343 BC, he was hired by King Philip II of Macedonia to serve as the teacher of Prince Alexander. At that time, Alexander was thirteen years old and Aristotle was forty-two. In 338 BC, King Philip II of Macedon defeated the anti-Macedonian coalition composed of Athens, Thebes and other countries, and then dominated Greece. The following year, Philip convened a meeting of the whole of Greece, at which it was agreed that the Greek states would cease war and establish a permanent alliance, with Macedonia as the leader. At the meeting, Philip announced that he would lead the coalition of Greek states in an expedition to Persia. At this point, Macedonia actually controlled the military and political power of all Greece, and the Greek states had ceased to exist in name only and became vassals of Macedonia.

Philip was assassinated in 336 BC. His son, Alexander, who was only twenty years old, became king. In 334 BC, Alexander led the Macedonian army and the coalition of Greek states to conquer Persia. In less than ten years, he defeated the Persian army of millions, and then destroyed the ancient Persian Empire. An unprecedentedly large Alexander Empire—with its territory stretching from Greece in the west to the Indus River in the east, Egypt in the south, and Central Asia in the north—was established. In 323 BC, Alexander died of illness. This great empire, established through military conquest, split into several independent kingdoms after melee.

In this turbulent era, Aristotle returned to Athens and lived there for twenty years, that is, from the year before Alexander set out on his expedition to the day of Alexander's death. Year. Although Macedonia controlled Athens militarily and politically during this time, there was considerable anti-Macedonian potential there. Aristotle may have come to Athens with a political mission to persuade the Athenians to submit to Macedonia. Aristotle received a lot of preferential treatment in Athens. In addition to his prominent political position, he also received a large amount of money, materials and land support from Alexander and Macedonian bureaucrats at all levels. The Lyceum Academy he founded occupies a large sports field and garden area near the Temple of Apollo Lyceum. In the academy, there were the first-class libraries and zoological and botanical gardens at that time. He founded his own school here. The teachers and students of this school were accustomed to discussing problems while walking in the garden, hence the name "Xiaoyao School". It is said that Alexander paid eight hundred gold talents for his teacher's research (each talent equaled sixty pounds of gold). Alexander also provided a large amount of manpower for his teachers. He ordered his men to collect plant and animal specimens and other information for Aristotle.

In fact, Aristotle’s vast works cannot be completed by one person. For example, he once summarized and analyzed one hundred and fifty-eight political systems. This work required a large amount of collection and organization work, which would have been impossible to complete without the assistance of a group of assistants. When the news of Alexander's death reached Athens, anti-Macedonian frenzy immediately set off. The Athenians attacked Aristotle and convicted him of impiety. Socrates was sentenced to death for impiety. . But Aristotle eventually escaped from Athens and died the next year at the age of sixty-three.

Main viewpoints and main ideas

Aristotle divided science into:

(1) Theoretical science (mathematics, natural science and later (called the first philosophy of metaphysics);

(2) Practical science (ethics, politics, economics, strategy and modification);

(3) Creation The science of poetry is poetics.

(1) Philosophy

Aristotle was first of all a great philosopher. Although he was a student of Plato, he abandoned the idealist views held by his teacher. . Plato believed that ideas are prototypes of physical objects and exist independently without relying on physical objects. Aristotle believed that the real world is composed of various things that are harmonious in form and material. "Material" is the material from which things are composed, and "form" is the individual characteristics of each thing. Just like there is a chicken flying around with its wings fluttering. The "form" of this chicken is that it can flutter its wings, coo, lay eggs, etc.

When the chicken dies, the "form" ceases to exist and the only thing left is the matter of the chicken. Plato asserted that the senses could not be the source of true knowledge. Aristotle believed that knowledge originated from feeling. These ideas already contain some materialistic elements. Aristotle, like Plato, believed that rational plans and purposes were the guiding principles of all natural processes. However, Aristotle's views on causality are richer than Plato's, because he accepted some views on this issue from the ancient Greek period. He pointed out that there are four main types of causes. The first is material cause, which is the main substance that forms objects. The second is the formal cause, which is the design pattern and shape given to the primary substance. The third type is efficient cause, which is the mechanism and role provided to realize this type of design. The fourth type is the final cause, which is the purpose for which the object is designed. For example, the pottery's clay provides the pottery with its material cause, while the design of the pottery is its formal cause, the potter's wheel and hands are the efficient cause, and the design purpose of the pottery is the final cause. . Aristotle himself focused on the formal cause and final cause of objects. He believed that formal causes are contained in all natural objects and effects. These formal causes are latent at first, but once the object or living thing develops, these formal causes become apparent. Finally, the object or organism reaches the completion stage, and its finished products are used to achieve the purpose of the original design, that is, to serve the final cause. He also believed that in concrete things, there is no form without matter, and there is no formless matter. The process of combining matter and form is the movement of transforming potential into reality. This theory expresses the idea of ??spontaneous dialectics.

Aristotle's greatest contribution to philosophy is the creation of the important branch of formal logic. Logical thinking is the pillar on which Aristotle achieved excellence in many fields. This way of thinking runs through his research, statistics and thinking from beginning to end. Of course, he made mistakes, but they were few and far between.

(2) Astronomy

Aristotle believed that the moving celestial bodies are material entities. The earth is spherical and is the center of the universe; the earth and celestial bodies are made of different materials. Composition, the matter on the earth is composed of the four elements of water, air, fire and earth, and the celestial bodies are composed of the fifth element "ether".

(3) Physics

Aristotle opposed atomic theory and did not admit the existence of vacuum; he also believed that objects only move when pushed by external forces, and when external forces stop, The movement stops.

(4) Biology

He classified more than 500 different plants and animals, conducted anatomical studies on at least 50 kinds of animals, and pointed out that whales are viviparous. , and also examined the development process of chick embryos. Alexander the Great often sent him various plant and animal specimens during his expeditions.

(5) Logic and mathematics

Aristotle believed that analysis or logic is the tool of all sciences. He is the founder of formal logic. He strives to connect the form of thinking with existence and clarify the categories of logic based on objective reality. Aristotle applied his findings to scientific theory. As an example, he chose the discipline of mathematics, especially geometry, because geometry had already transitioned from the early experimental stage when Thales wanted to give a reasonable explanation of the empirical rules of land measurement to a later stage with a relatively complete deductive form. But the syllogism of logic is of no use to experimental science. Because the goal pursued by experimental science is discovery, not formal proof from recognized premises. Starting from the premise that elements cannot be divided into simpler objects, it might have been possible to come up with a correct table of the known elements in 1890, but by 1920, applying this premise would exclude all radioactive elements. Now that the premise has changed, the meaning of the word "element" has also changed. However, this fact does not prove that syllogism is useless, nor does it conclude that modern physics is wrong. Fortunately, modern experimentalists no longer worry about logical forms, but the scientific community in Greece and the Middle Ages, under the authority of Aristotle, used deduction to describe many erroneous authorities as absolute. correct, and makes many false inferences using deceptive forms of logic.

(6) Education

Aristotle believed that the development of reason is the ultimate goal of education, and advocated that the state should provide fair education to the children of slave owners. So that their body, virtue and wisdom can develop harmoniously. In terms of teaching methods, Aristotle valued the role of exercise and practice. For example, in music teaching, he often arranges for children to perform on stage, experience it on the spot, become proficient in techniques, and improve their level. In terms of teacher-student relationship, Aristotle did not just obey his mentor and be submissive, but he dared to think, adhere to the truth, and have the courage to challenge on the basis of inheritance. His character of "I love my teacher, and I especially love the truth" inspired him to advance the teaching theory established by Plato to a higher level.

Aristotle’s teaching thoughts are based on his theory of human nature, epistemology and his examination of children’s physical and mental development. He divided the human soul into two parts, one is the irrational soul, whose functions are instinct, feeling, desire, etc.; the other is the rational soul, whose functions are thinking, understanding, knowledge, etc. He believed that in the process of human cognition, the main functions of the soul are feeling and thinking.

The soul perceives external things with the help of sensory organs, and what is sensed is independent of human will, thus recognizing the status and role of sensation in the process of cognition. However, he also believes that feeling only plays an inducing role here, and truth and knowledge can only be obtained through rational thinking. The purpose of Aristotle's teaching, therefore, is to develop the reason of the higher part of the soul.

Aristotle established an "encyclopedic" curriculum for his philosophy school. He advocates the all-round development of students in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and other aspects, with different emphasis at different times. In early childhood, physical development (sports) is the main focus; in adolescence, music education is the core, with morality, intelligence, and beauty as the main content; in senior grades, grammar, rhetoric, poetry, literature, philosophy, ethics, politics, and arithmetic are studied , geometry, astronomy, music and other subjects. But no matter what, the focus should be on developing students’ intelligence. He particularly emphasized the role of music in cultivating children's general cultivation. It is believed that music has three functions: entertainment, cultivating temperament, and cultivating rationality. It can relieve fatigue, refine the mind, shape character, stir up the soul, and then enter a rational and noble moral realm through meditation. In physical education, he disagrees with teachers who only allow students to undergo harsh or even painful training. He wants to teach "simple gymnastics" and "light martial arts" and focus on the normal development of children's bodies.

7. Political Aspects

Political Science

Important Works

Aristotle’s contribution to the world is so great that it is surprising shock. He wrote at least 170 kinds of works, 47 of which have been handed down. Of course, it is not enough to just measure by numbers. More importantly, his profound knowledge is impressive. His scientific works, at that time, were simply an encyclopedia, covering astronomy, zoology, embryology, geography, geology, physics, anatomy, physiology, in short, all subjects known to the ancient Greeks. . His works include three aspects: first, the accumulation of knowledge by predecessors, second, the investigations and discoveries made by his assistants, and third, his own independent opinions.

The view expressed in Aristotle's writings is that every aspect of human life and society is an object of thought and analysis; that everything in the universe is not controlled by gods, chance, and illusion, but is controlled by gods, chance, and illusion. It operates according to certain laws; it is worthwhile for humans to conduct systematic and in-depth research on the natural world; we should draw our own conclusions through experiments and logical analysis. Aristotle's anti-tradition, opposition to superstition and mysticism had a profound impact on Western culture.

Aristotle's important works include "Metaphysics", "Ethics", "Politics" and "Analysis of the First and Second Parts", etc. These works had a great influence on the subsequent development of philosophy and science.

Aristotle believed in "Metaphysics" that there is a "cause" relationship in nature. This concept of "cause" is different from the concept of "causation" in modern times. "Cause" corresponds to "why" and does not correspond to "result". That is, "purpose cause", "material cause", "dynamic cause" and "formal cause". The so-called "Material Cause" represents the existence form of a thing composed of a bunch of parts, ingredients, foundations, or raw materials. It traces the composition of matter to the parts (elements, ingredients) of the parts, and then forms a Complete (system, architecture, hybrid, synthesis, compound, or combination). "Formal Cause" can tell us what kind of definition, form, shape, essence, synthesis, or prototype a thing is made of, and explains the basic principles or laws that constitute a thing. This is just the whole thing (the entire set of part of the causal relationship (macrostructure). "Efficient Cause" refers to the motivation and cause of changing things. It studies "what changes something and what causes this change." The scope includes all media between things, including living or An inanimate, dynamic origin or something that is changed. "Final Cause" refers to the reason for the existence of a thing or the reason for change, including purposeful actions and activities. The final cause of a thing is the reason why it exists, or the reason why it changes. This also explains the modern so-called psychological motivations, including will, needs, motives, rationality, irrationality, and ethics, all of which are the sources of creative behavior.

Physics, another work by Aristotle, discusses issues such as natural philosophy, principles of existence, matter and form, motion, time and space. He believed that in order for an object to move continuously, there needs to be a continuously acting cause.

Aristotle began to discuss matter and destructible things in his book "On Heaven", and then discussed occurrence and destruction. In this process of creation and destruction, the opposing principles of cold and heat, wetness and dryness interact in pairs to produce the four elements of fire, air, earth and water. To these earthly elements he added ether. The ether moves in circles and forms perfect and immortal heavenly bodies.

Meteorology discusses the area between heaven and earth, the zone of planets, comets, and meteors; it also contains some primitive doctrines about vision, color vision, and the rainbow. Book 4 describes some primitive chemical concepts.

Aristotle's meteorology is now far less satisfactory than his biological work, but it was highly influential in the late Middle Ages.

The methodology of "Poetics" has two characteristics: first, rigorous logical reasoning; second, the combination of natural science methods and social science methods. "Poetics" is the first Western monograph on aesthetics and literary theory that is relatively complete from theoretical content to theoretical form, and deeply embodies Aristotle's methodology. The general principles of art in "Poetics" reveal the essential characteristics of "beautiful art", which is not only a requirement for the development of theory in ancient Greece, but also provides a foothold for Aristotle to answer Plato's attack on poetry. "Poetics" takes this as the starting point and focuses on the essence and function of "Poetics" to discuss the fundamental rationale of "Poetry".

Aristotle's logical works were later compiled into a book by his commentators, called "On Instruments". They inherited Aristotle's view that logic is neither theoretical knowledge nor practical knowledge, but only a tool for knowledge. "On Instruments" mainly discusses the deduction method, laying the foundation for formal logic and having a profound impact on the development of this science.

Influence on later generations and research on the current world

As one of the most legendary and encyclopedic scientists, Aristotle's contribution to the world is unparalleled. But his achievements go far beyond that. He was also a true philosopher who made contributions to almost every discipline of philosophy. He wrote about morality, metaphysics, psychology, economics, theology, politics, rhetoric, scholarship, pedagogy, poetry, customs, and the Athenian constitution. One of his research topics is to collect the constitutions of various countries and conduct comparative studies based on them.

In terms of philosophy, Aristotle's thoughts have had a profound impact on the fundamental tendency and even the content of Western culture. In ancient and medieval times, his works were translated into Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Italian, Hebrew, German and English. Later Greek scholars studied and admired his works, as did Byzantine scholars. His ideas were a pillar of medieval Christian thought and Islamic scholastic philosophy. Averroes, the most important thinker in the Islamic world, integrated traditional Islamic teachings with Aristotle's rationalism into his own ideological system. Maimonides, the most influential Jewish thinker, used rationalism to interpret Jewish teachings and made significant achievements in reconciling science, philosophy and religion.

Aristotle showed a turning point in Greek science. Before him, scientists and philosophers strived to propose a complete world system to explain natural phenomena. He was the last person to propose a complete world system. After him, many scientists gave up trying to propose a complete system and turned to studying specific problems.

But if measured by today's standards, some of Aristotle's ideas appear a bit extreme. For example, he approved of slavery and the unequal treatment of women as the arrangement of nature (of course, these ideas were a reflection of his time).

With the continuous discovery of Aristotle's works, a new era of studying Aristotelianism emerged in the Middle Ages, and scholars used it as the basis for obtaining true knowledge in all aspects. In terms of research methods, Aristotle was accustomed to holding a critical attitude towards past and contemporary theories, proposing and exploring theoretical blind spots, using deductive reasoning, and demonstrating in the form of syllogisms.

Summary

Aristotle concentrated ancient knowledge into one body. In the hundreds of years after his death, no one had as systematically investigated and comprehensively mastered knowledge as he did . His works were the encyclopedias of antiquity, and his ideas once dominated all of Europe. Engels called him "the most learned man".

Aristotle's famous quotes, aphorisms, aphorisms, quotations

· Living according to moral principles is a happy life.

·Happiness belongs to satisfied people.

·Happiness is the highest good.

·Happiness lies in autonomy and self-sufficiency.

· Life is full of opportunities and changes. When people are most proud, the greatest misfortune comes.

·The ultimate value of life lies in the ability to awaken and think, not just in survival.

· In misfortune, useful friends are more necessary; in luck, noble friends are more necessary. In misfortune, look for friends out of necessity; in luck, look for friends out of nobility.

· Birds with the same feathers will naturally gather together.

· A true friend is one soul conceived in two bodies.

· Career is the vivid unity of concept and practice.

· The root of education is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

· There are many kinds of fallacies, but there is only one right. This is why it is easier to fail than to succeed, and it is easier to miss the target than to hit the target.

· Those who advance scientifically but lag behind morally are not moving forward, but retreating.

· Anyone who is good at thinking must be someone who can pursue what is most beneficial to mankind through action based on his thinking.

· There is nothing God does that exceeds all imaginable acts of happiness, but pure thinking, and the thing closest to this kind of happiness in human behavior is perhaps the activity most closely related to thinking.

· Man is the best of all animals when he reaches the perfection of virtue; but if he insists on having his own way. Without law and justice, he becomes the worst of all beasts.

· For virtue, it is not enough for us to just understand it, we must also work hard to cultivate it, use it, or adopt various methods to make ourselves good people.

· Habits actually become part of nature. In fact, habits are somewhat like nature, because the difference between "often" and "always" is not big. Nature belongs to the category of "always", while habits belong to the category of "often".

· Virtue can be divided into two types: one is the virtue of wisdom, and the other is the virtue of behavior. The former is obtained from learning, and the latter is obtained from practice.

· True virtue cannot be without practical wisdom, and practical wisdom cannot be without virtue.

· Human beings are naturally social animals.

· Pity is caused by a person being loved and caring about his luck, fear is caused by the fact that the person who suffers misfortune is similar to us.

·Political science does not create human beings, but it separates them from nature and controls them.

· Someone asked: Does writing a good poem depend on genius? Or rely on art? My opinion is: hard study without rich talent, and talent without training are all useless; the two should use each other and combine with each other.

·The ultimate value of life lies in the ability to wake up and think, not just in survival.

· I love my teacher, and I love the truth even more.

·War can bring peace.

Aristotelian Society

The Aristotle Society is an academic group named after "Aristotle" in the UK that studies and promotes the development of philosophy. , founded in 1880 and located in London. The purpose is to be generally committed to the discussion of philosophical methods, methodology and related theoretical issues. It publishes the annual journals "Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society" and "Supplementary Issues of the Aristotelian Society".

Reference materials: