Aristotle (384–322 BC) was one of the greatest polymaths of ancient Greece, a philosopher and scientist whose ideas dominated Western thought for centuries. Born in Stagira in northern Greece, he arrived in Athens at age 17 to study at Plato’s Academy, where he remained for about 20 years until Plato’s death. He then tutored the young Alexander the Great before returning to Athens to found his own school, the Lyceum, known for its emphasis on empirical observation and systematic research. His wide-ranging inquiries covered virtually every field of knowledge, making Aristotle books essential for understanding ancient philosophy, science, and ethics.

Aristotle’s philosophy is renowned for its systematic and empirical approach, contrasting with Plato’s idealism. He developed formal logic (including the syllogism), classified living organisms in early biology, explored physics and metaphysics through concepts like substance and causality, and defined the “golden mean” in ethics as the path to virtue. Key works include Nicomachean Ethics (on happiness and moral character), Politics (analyzing governments and the ideal state), Poetics (on tragedy and literature), and Metaphysics (on the nature of being). Through these profound texts, Aristotle profoundly shaped philosophy, science, education, and political theory, with his influence enduring in fields from logic to natural history more than two millennia later.

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