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Aristotle's approach to science differed from Plato's
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*Though [[Aristotle]]'s work in [[zoology]] was not without errors, it was the grandest biological synthesis of the time, and remained the ultimate authority for many centuries after his death. His observations on the anatomy of [[octopus]], [[cuttlefish]], crustaceans, and many other marine invertebrates are remarkably accurate, and could only have been made from first-hand experience with dissection. Aristotle described the embryological development of a [[chick]]; he distinguished [[whale]]s and [[dolphin]]s from [[fish]]; he described the chambered [[stomach]]s of [[ruminant]]s and the social organization of [[bee]]s; he noticed that some [[shark]]s give birth to live young -- his books on animals are filled with such observations, some of which were not confirmed until many centuries later. [http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/aristotle.html]
 
*Though [[Aristotle]]'s work in [[zoology]] was not without errors, it was the grandest biological synthesis of the time, and remained the ultimate authority for many centuries after his death. His observations on the anatomy of [[octopus]], [[cuttlefish]], crustaceans, and many other marine invertebrates are remarkably accurate, and could only have been made from first-hand experience with dissection. Aristotle described the embryological development of a [[chick]]; he distinguished [[whale]]s and [[dolphin]]s from [[fish]]; he described the chambered [[stomach]]s of [[ruminant]]s and the social organization of [[bee]]s; he noticed that some [[shark]]s give birth to live young -- his books on animals are filled with such observations, some of which were not confirmed until many centuries later. [http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/aristotle.html]
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*Aristotle's approach to science differed from Plato's. He agreed that the highest human faculty was reason, and its supreme activity was contemplation. However, in addition to studying what he called "first philosophy" - metaphysics and mathematics, the things Plato had worked on, Aristotle thought it also very important to study "second philosophy": the world around us, from physics and mechanics to biology. Perhaps being raised in the house of a physician had given him an interest in living things. [http://galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu/lectures/aristot2.html]
    
==External links==
 
==External links==
 
*[http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/aristotle.html Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)] - University of California Museum of Paleontology
 
*[http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/aristotle.html Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)] - University of California Museum of Paleontology
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