Biography

Early life and studies at the Academe

Aristotle was born at Stageira, a colony of Andros on the Macedonian peninsula 
Chalcidice in 384 BC. His father, Nicomachus, was court physician to King 
Amyntas III of Macedon. It is believed that Aristotle's ancestors held this 
position under various kings of Macedonia. As such, Aristotle's early education 
would probably have consisted of instruction in medicine and biology from his 
father. About his mother, Phaestis, little is known. It is known that she died 
early in Aristotle's life. When Nicomachus also died, in Aristotle's tenth 
year, he was left an orphan and placed under the guardianship of his uncle, 
Proxenus of Atarneus. He taught Aristotle Greek, rhetoric, and poetry 
(O'Connor et al., 2004). Aristotle was probably influenced by his father's 
medical knowledge; when he went to Athens at the age of 18, he was likely 
already trained in the investigation of natural phenomena.

From the ages of 18 to 37 Aristotle remained in Athens as a pupil of Plato and 
distinguished himself at the Academe. The relations between Plato and Aristotle 
have formed the subject of various legends, many of which depict Aristotle 
unfavourably. No doubt there were divergences of opinion between Plato, who 
took his stand on sublime, idealistic principles, and Aristotle, who even at 
that time showed a preference for the investigation of the facts and laws of 
the physical world. It is also probable that Plato suggested that Aristotle 
needed restraining rather than encouragement, but not that there was an open 
breach of friendship. In fact, Aristotle's conduct after the death of Plato, 
his continued association with Xenocrates and other Platonists, and his 
allusions in his writings to Plato's doctrines prove that while there were 
conflicts of opinion between Plato and Aristotle, there was no lack of cordial 
appreciation or mutual forbearance. Besides this, the legends that reflect 
Aristotle unfavourably are traceable to the Epicureans, who were known as 
slanderers. If such legends were circulated widely by patristic writers such 
as Justin Martyr and Gregory Nazianzen, the reason lies in the exaggerated 
esteem Aristotle was held in by the early Christian heretics, not in any 
well-grounded historical tradition.

Aristotle as philosopher and tutor

After the death of Plato (347 BC), Aristotle was considered as the next head of 
the Academe, a post that was eventually awarded to Plato's nephew. Aristotle 
then went with Xenocrates to the court of Hermias, ruler of Atarneus in Asia 
Minor, and married his niece and adopted daughter, Pythia. In 344 BC, Hermias 
was murdered in a rebellion (or a Persian attack?), and Aristotle went with 
his family to Mytilene. It is also reported that he stopped on Lesbos and 
briefly conducted biological research. Then, one or two years later, he was 
summoned to his native Stageira by King Philip II of Macedon to become the 
tutor of Alexander the Great, who was then 13.

Plutarch wrote that Aristotle not only imparted to Alexander a knowledge of 
ethics and politics, but also of the most profound secrets of philosophy. We 
have much proof that Alexander profited by contact with the philosopher, and 
that Aristotle made prudent and beneficial use of his influence over the 
young prince (although Bertrand Russell disputes this). Due to this influence, 
Alexander provided Aristotle with ample means for the acquisition of books 
and the pursuit of his scientific investigation.

According to sources such as Plutarch and Diogenes, Philip had Aristotle's 
hometown of Stageira burned during the 340s BC, and Aristotle successfully 
requested that Alexander rebuild it. During his tutorship of Alexander, 
Aristotle was reportedly considered a second time for leadership of the Academy; 
his companion Xenocrates was selected instead.

Founder and master of the Lyceum

In about 335 BC, Alexander departed for his Asiatic campaign, and Aristotle, 
who had served as an informal adviser (more or less) since Alexander ascended 
the Macedonian throne, returned to Athens and opened his own school of 
philosophy. He may, as Aulus Gellius says, have conducted a school of rhetoric 
during his former residence in Athens; but now, following Plato's example, he 
gave regular instruction in philosophy in a gymnasium dedicated to Apollo 
Lyceios, from which his school has come to be known as the Lyceum. (It was 
also called the Peripatetic School because Aristotle preferred to discuss 
problems of philosophy with his pupils while walking up and down -- 
peripateo -- the shaded walks -- peripatoi -- around the gymnasium.)

During the thirteen years (335 BC–322 BC) which he spent as teacher of the 
Lyceum, Aristotle composed most of his writings. Imitating Plato, he wrote 
"Dialogues" in which his doctrines were expounded in somewhat popular language. 
He also composed the several treatises (which will be mentioned below) on 
physics, metaphysics, and so forth, in which the exposition is more didactic 
and the language more technical than in the "Dialogues". These writings show 
to what good use he put the resources Alexander had provided for him. They 
show particularly how he succeeded in bringing together the works of his 
predecessors in Greek philosophy, and how he pursued, either personally or 
through others, his investigations in the realm of natural phenomena. Pliny 
claimed that Alexander placed under Aristotle's orders all the hunters, 
fishermen, and fowlers of the royal kingdom and all the overseers of the royal 
forests, lakes, ponds and cattle-ranges, and Aristotle's works on zoology 
make this statement more believeable. Aristotle was fully informed about the 
doctrines of his predecessors, and Strabo asserted that he was the first to 
accumulate a great library.

During the last years of Aristotle's life the relations between him and 
Alexander the Great became very strained, owing to the disgrace and punishment 
of Callisthenes whom Aristotle had recommended to Alexander. Nevertheless, 
Aristotle continued to be regarded at Athens as a friend of Alexander and a 
representative of Macedonia. Consequently, when Alexander's death became known 
in Athens, and the outbreak occurred which led to the Lamian war, Aristotle 
shared in the general unpopularity of the Macedonians. The charge of impiety, 
which had been brought against Anaxagoras and Socrates, was now, with even 
less reason, brought against Aristotle. He left the city, saying (according to 
many ancient authorities) that he would not give the Athenians a chance to 
sin a third time against philosophy. He took up residence at his country 
house at Chalcis, in Euboea, and there he died the following year, 322 BC. 
His death was due to a disease, reportedly 'of the stomach', from which he 
had long suffered. The story that his death was due to hemlock poisoning, 
as well as the legend that he threw himself into the sea "because he could 
not explain the tides," is without historical foundation.

Very little is known about Aristotle's personal appearance except from 
hostile sources. The statues and busts of Aristotle, possibly from the first 
years of the Peripatetic School, represent him as sharp and keen of 
countenance, and somewhat below the average height. His character—as 
revealed by his writings, his will (which is undoubtedly genuine), fragments 
of his letters and the allusions of his unprejudiced contemporaries—was that 
of a high-minded, kind-hearted man, devoted to his family and his friends, 
kind to his slaves, fair to his enemies and rivals, grateful towards his 
benefactors. When Platonism ceased to dominate the world of Christian 
speculation, and the works of Aristotle began to be studied without fear 
and prejudice, the personality of Aristotle appeared to the Christian 
writers of the 13th century, as it had to the unprejudiced pagan writers 
of his own day, as calm, majestic, untroubled by passion, and undimmed by 
any great moral defects, "the master of those who know".