Quick Facts:
Born 384 BCE
Macedonian, not Athenian
Studied at Plato's Academy in Athens for 20 years, from 367-347 BCE
Tutored Alexander the Great in northern Greece beginning in 343 BCE
Opened the Lyceum in Athens in 334 BCE
Fled Athens in 323 BCE
Died 323 BCE
Died in Chalcis, shortly after fleeing Athens
Works
We know that Aristotle was a prolific writer, but we've unfortunately lost many of his original works. The works that we have only uncovered fragments of were Aristotle's writings that seemed to have been intended for the public. Alexander of Aphrodisias, a philosopher born in c.200 and known for commentating on Aristotle's works, suggested that Aristotle's works express two truths. The first truth is the exoteric truth, meant to be accessible to the public; this is what would have mostly comprised his works meant to be published, that we have lost, and may have been similar to the lectures he gave for the public. The second truth was the esoteric truth, which was meant to be palatable to his students at the Lyceum; this truth is what Aristotle would have gotten into long, deep conversations about with his students as they walked throughout the campus of the Lyceum. This theory makes plenty of sense, it would have been important for Aristotle to provide the public with a different, more palatable version of his truth than he did his students who could more easily engage in conversations with him about the topics. Many contemporary scholars believe that the writings we have fragments of may have been a transcript of Aristotle's early intellectual developments, rather than what he intended for public consumption.
That being said, we do have many of his notes that he used for teaching that were probably not originally intended for publication. These notes allow us to look deeper into the way that Aristotle thought. Luckily for us, Aristotle thought in systematic terms. He wanted to explore everything, but to do so in a way that makes sense, so that he would be able to draw connections between the topics he explored.
Views
Aristotle was an empiricist, he gathered ideas based on empirical evidence, observed the world around him with his senses, and drew conclusions from his findings. Fittingly so, Aristotle did not focus on mathematics as Plato did; it would be more accurate to say that Aristotle used biology as the basis for many of his philosophical discussions and views.
Aristotle's focus on understanding things in an orderly fashion laid the basis for many organization foundations we have today. For example, when he tried to classify the world into an ordered system, he laid the basis for taxonomy. But another example is that the way that he interconnected ideas laid the basis for strong argument structures where conclusions can be drawn from seemingly unrelated ideas. Aristotle had a remarkable impact on society, and his ways of thinking are still prevalent today.
Aristotle and... Medicine?
Aristotle is considered by many the "godfather" of modern medicine. He is credited for steering the medical field away from superstition and towards scientific reasoning and logic. While Hippocrates stands as the father of modern medicine, Aristotle's organized way of thinking has definitely had a large impact on the world.
Another interesting engagement with the medical field and Hippocrates is that Aristotle believed that the world was made up of hot, cold, dry, and wet elements - and though the world is disorderly, these elements are trying to get back into a natural, balanced state. Hippocrates, 460-375 BCE, also had the idea of these four elements; Hippocrates believed that these four elements also had four properties, which could be related to medicine: blood was hot, phlegm was cold, yellow bile was dry, and black bile was wet. Similarly to Aristotle, Hippocrates believed that these four elements needed to be in balance, and when they were, a person would be healthy. This is an example of how ancient thinkers went about their studies with very few boundaries before we put a label on "philosophy," it truly was a very large subject consisting of most everything.
Sources
Kenny, Anthony J.P., and Anselm H. Amadio. “Philosophy of Mind.”Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 30 Mar. 2020, www.britannica.com/biography/Aristotle/Philosophy-of-mind#ref254723.
Shields, Christopher. “Aristotle.”Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 29 July 2015, plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle/.
Sallam, H N. “Aristotle, godfather of evidence-based medicine.”Facts, views & vision in ObGynvol. 2,1 (2010): 11-9.
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