Aristotle
384 BC – 322 BC
Known for: Philosopher who shaped Western thought
“Logic and observation became the foundation of knowledge”
Biography
Born in Stagira in northern Greece in 384 BCE, Aristotle arrived in Athens as a young man to study at Plato's Academy, where he would remain for nearly two decades. After Plato's death, he departed Athens, eventually serving as tutor to the young Alexander the Great before returning to establish his own school, the Lyceum, around 335 BCE. There, in the covered walkway known as the peripatos, he conducted his most productive years of teaching and inquiry, walking whilst discoursing with students on subjects spanning the cosmos to the human soul.
Aristotle's mind ranged across the landscape of human knowledge with remarkable breadth-he observed and classified plants and animals, examined the nature of logic and reasoning, explored ethics and politics, and pondered the very substance of being itself. His systematic approach to understanding the world, grounded in careful observation and rational analysis, would reverberate through centuries of Western thought. Though many of his scientific conclusions were later superseded, his method of inquiry-the rigorous pursuit of knowledge through observation and reason-became foundational to how humanity approaches truth, earning him recognition as a father of modern science itself.