Aristotle, discoverer of science

He lisped and limped on one leg, which did not prevent him from being a dandy of his time: bright clothes, expensive rings, a short haircut in the latest fashion of that time. An atypical appearance – and an independence unusual for an ancient philosopher: Plato’s favorite student, he dared to openly criticize him.

According to legend, Aristotle said: “Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer.” Perhaps because of this dispute, not Aristotle, but another student, Speusippus, Plato named the heir to his post as head of the Academy. The Academy was the name of the area in Athens, where there was a gymnasium (sports club for youth), in which Plato taught his students. Subsequently, the name passed to the school of Plato itself.

Aristotle faced the problem of misunderstanding between the student and the teacher when he himself became a teacher. He, a preacher of the golden mean and common sense, was invited to be educators to the 14-year-old Alexander of Macedon, a young man who was to become the ruler of the world. It is difficult to say whether he succeeded in teaching Alexander self-control and conveying his political ideals to him. In any case, it is known that Aristotle instilled in him a love for Homer.

When Alexander became king, the philosopher returned to Athens and founded a lyceum, a free educational institution, where he taught during walks, in conversations.

The Lyceum remained an institution of higher education and research institute for the next few centuries. And Aristotle went down in history as the discoverer of scientific knowledge of the world: European science drew from his writings, as from a bottomless treasury, throughout Antiquity, the Middle Ages and modern times. He introduced terminology that has not lost its meaning to this day, and he was the first to classify knowledge according to the principle that encyclopedias still follow.

Soul and body are one

Asking what force drives all living things, Aristotle began to study the relationship between the soul and the body. Is the soul just an addition to nature? Or is the body the instrument of the soul: the soul is the captain, and the body is the ship?

After many years of research, Aristotle writes in his treatise On the Soul that there is no essential difference between the soul and the body. Only together they constitute the vital principle, although the body is limited in time, and the soul is eternal. It is from this combination, unique to each person, that our individual differences arise, which complement the characteristics of the human race that are common to all people.

Strive for the golden mean

Aristotle thought a lot about what is good and what is bad in a person, from these thoughts his ethical teaching was born – the prototype of modern psychology. He defines virtue as having a middle ground between two types of depravity, one of which is from excess, the other from lack.

So, courage is the middle between reckless courage and cowardice, generosity is between extravagance and stinginess. The principle of the golden mean runs through all the works of Aristotle, it is also important in his political theory: an exemplary and most stable state (according to Aristotle, it is a mixture of oligarchy and democracy) should be based on a prosperous middle class. Not on the rich and not on the poor, because the rich are prone to depravity, and the poor to injustice.

Man is made for happiness

Aristotle was sure that the world is dominated not by chance, but by expediency: every creature and every organ is created by nature for a certain purpose. He had no doubt that man was created for happiness and goodness – this is his true destiny. The practical realization of the virtues should be a daily exercise.

You can achieve balance if you evenly divide your time between social life and your personal joys. Living in harmony with oneself and respecting the rules of cohabitation with other people, a free person can rise to a contemplative (intellectual) life and gain true wisdom. Aristotle believes that the gods live just such a life, and, therefore, having achieved wisdom, a person can become like the gods.

be happy together

Aristotle called man a social animal, because he is endowed with the ability to speak and loves to be among his own kind. Happiness can only be achieved in the company of other people. Public life gives a person the opportunity to enter into mutually beneficial and just relations with others.

From the point of view of the philosopher, the science of the state is the doctrine of the realization of the common good. The state should provide not only the life of its citizens – that is, the satisfaction of their basic physical needs – but also their good life, helping them to become happy.