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[[Image:Aristotle.gif|thumb|150px|Aristotle]]
'''Aristotle''' lived from 384 to 322 BC. He was a [[Greek philosopher]] who was a student of [[Plato]] and the tutor of [[Alexander the Great]]. Aristotle emphasized reason and observation of the natural world, and he is believed by many to be the greatest [[philosopher]] of all [[time]] and the founder of [[empiricism]], the ontological grounding of [[science]].
Aristotle came to the [[Academy]] when he was seventeen and stayed there for twenty years until the death of [[Plato]]. Aristotle’s approach was in stark contrast to Plato's. Whereas Plato thought all true [[knowledge]] could be obtained [[a priori]]- a [[disembodied]] [[mind]] floating in a featureless void with no sense [[experience]] could work out everything there is to know- Aristotle thought that the natural world needed to be studied and observed for knowledge to be gained. He embarked on the massive task of observing and compiling as much information as possible on everything he could study at the time. In contrast to Plato’s interest in physics and maths, Aristotle was fascinated by biology, and classified over 500 animal species. He ultimately founded his own school, the Lyceum, and equipped it with specimens, libraries, maps and other accoutrements found in modern [[university]].
Aristotle also formulated [[Virtue Ethics]], a code of living which emphasises what sort of person we want to be when making a decision, rather than, as tends to be the focus in modern ethical thinking, the motives or the consequences of actions. When Aristotle's teachings were brought back to Europe at the end of the [[Dark Ages]] by [[Arab]] [[merchants]], [[Aquinas]], eager to reconcile Catholicism with Aristotle's secular empiricism, developed [[Natural Law Theory]].
Aristotle was not a [[theist]] and, like [[Plato]] and [[Socrates]], rejected the existence of the [[Old Gods]] many Athenians worshipped. However, he recognised the impossibility of an [[infinite regress]] of cause and effect in the natural world, and so postulated The [[Unmoved Mover]] as a [[First Cause]] of the natural world. This arguably makes Aristotle the first recorded [[deism|deist]], however his Unmoved Mover also found some employ in his understanding of the [[purpose]] or 'teleos' of natural objects.
== See also ==
*[[Socrates]]
*[[Raphael]]