ABSTRACT
Aristotle was born in Stagira, on the border of Macedonia. His mother, Phaestis, was from a family of doctors, and his father, Nicomachus, was the court physician to the king of Macedonia. In 347 BC, after Plato's death, he left Athens and spent the next four years conducting zoological investigations on the islands of Assos and Lesbos. About 343 BC, he was called to Macedonia by King Philip to tutor the king's son the future Alexander the Great. There is no doubt that after Plato; Aristotle is the most influential philosopher of all time. In the early Middle Ages, his thought was preserved and commented upon by the great Arab philosophers. Aristotle's extant works lack the literary grace of Plato's. Accordingly, Aristotle began his philosophy not with reflection on or dialogue about eternal Forms but with observations of particular objects. Aristotle died a year later. A popular but again highly questionable story says he drowned investigating marine life.
