He was at the academy for about 20 years. One story has him leaving because he doesn't like the direction the school takes after Plato died. Another story is that he fled a growing anti-Macedonian sentiment. After traveling for a bit he was invited to Macedon by King Philip II and there he became the tutor to Alexander the Great.
According to Wikipedia:
Aristotle not only studied almost every subject possible at the time, but
made significant contributions to most of them. In physical science, Aristotle
studied anatomy, astronomy, embryology, geography,
geology, meteorology, physics and zoology. In philosophy, he wrote on
aesthetics, ethics, government, metaphysics, politics, economics, psychology,
rhetoric and theology. He also studied education, foreign customs, literature
and poetry. His combined works constitute a virtual encyclopedia of Greek
knowledge. It has been suggested that Aristotle was probably the last person to
know everything there was to be known in his own time.
Not too shabby. Unfortunately it is thought that only about a third of his writings still survive. This is a true tragedy, one that wasn't really brought home to me until I read Umberto Eco's wonderful 'Name of the Rose'.
It's also unfortunate that most of what has survived of Aristotle's "writings" is really lecture notes compiled by his students that lack, shall we say, a rhetorical flair. Apparently Aristotle was actually an effective rhetorician, and it's a shame that many find his ideas dull because of the format in which they have survived.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that is a huge shame. I'm finding the writings to be interesting but I really have to slow down my reading to get the full ideas.
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