Aristotle Research Paper

Aristotle once said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Throughout his life, the Greek philosopher made significant and lasting contributions to nearly every aspect of human knowledge, from logic to biology to ethics and aesthetics. “Aristotle encouraged the cool and objective eye of the empiricist- one who looks at the world in a logical, rational, manner” (Schlager, 117). Aristotle was able to provide a secure foundation for an exponential amount of discoveries for generations to follow. Aristotle was born in 384 B.C. in the city of Stagira, a small town in the northern part of Greece. Aristotle was born into respectable family within his city. Both of his parents were members of traditional medical

When Aristotle was still a boy, both of his parents passed away. After his father died, Proxenus of Atarneus, who was married to Aristotle’s older sister, Arimneste, became Aristotle’s guardian. When Aristotle turned 17 years old, Proxenus sent him to Athens to enroll in Plato’s Academy to pursue a higher education (Mankiewicz, 28). At this time, Athens was considered the academic center of the universe. While enrolled in Plato’s Academy, he proved to be an exemplary scholar. As soon as he finished his education, he became part of the faculty there. Aristotle invested 20 years both as a student and colleague to Plato. When Plato passed away, his nephew became head of the Academy. Since Aristotle had disagreed with some of Plato’s philosophical treatises, he

Aristotle’s famous work entitled Physics, which contains a discussion of infinity, which Aristotle says can only exist in theory, due to its debatable properties. He explained that there were three different types of infinity which are actual, complete, and potential infinity. These definitions of infinity helped to bridge gaps between other mathematician’s theories on infinity. Aristotle also developed many theorems in his lifetime regarding mathematics, however most have been lost over time. Aristotle’s greatest contribution was entitled Analytics, as the basic mathematical study (Gillispie, 257). Aristotle believed that analytical methods should be connected and applied to every part of learning, like sciences and mathematics. He also developed a mathematical system based upon syllogisms and proofs which is known as The Scientific Method (Gillispie, 251). The Scientific Method was a way of using deduction based upon two pieces of information in order to solve a problem. Aristotle used A, B, and C to replace the physical words in order to show how the human brain will categorize information and make a deductive response. Aristotle participated in angle discoveries such as, two right angles, parallel lines, and alternate angles. Although Aristotle did not get credit for everything he might have accomplished, he was able to converse with others in his time and create leaps in the mathematical