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The Great Philosophers

Aristotle, father of logic and founder of western philosophy

In the first of a new series introducing the lives and works of some of history’s greatest minds, we examine the thought and legacy of the peripatetic philosopher Aristotle, whose ideas are as vital and alive today as they were in ancient Greece

Tuesday 25 May 2021 13:21 BST
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<p>A statue of Aristotle (384-322 BC) at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece</p>

A statue of Aristotle (384-322 BC) at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Imagine that you are Plato, coming to the end of your years, presiding over the now-famous Academy, enjoying a reputation among both your students in particular and Athenians in general. You hear, perhaps while lingering in a doorway, a murmured reference to the “Reader”, the “Mind of the Academy”. 

They are not talking about you, but a young upstart from the sticks, perhaps only 17 years old, called Aristotle. Would you find this galling?

In truth, we can only speculate about the relationship between Plato and Aristotle (384–322BC). We know that Aristotle’s father, a physician to the court of the King of Macedon, sent him to Athens when he was about 17 and that he joined the Academy, remaining there for 20 years, first as a student and eventually as a teacher. In the year that Plato died, Aristotle departed – no one knows whether he remained out of loyalty to Plato and left on the master’s death, or departed in disgust, having not been offered control of the school. We do know that his father’s connections led him to Macedonia, to tutor a 13-year-old, the future Alexander the Great.

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