Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

"A friend to all is a friend to none."

Who was Aristotle?

Aristotle was a student of Plato, having had studied at the Academy, and was a teacher to Alexander the Great. Throughout his life, he wrote somewhere close to 200 treatises (a formal and systematic writing on a subject), though only about 31 of those still exist. Aristotle proved himself to be of a brilliant mind, as he would end up making contributions to the fields of physics, biology, ethics, math, politics, and even theatre. He attempted to find some sort of method in which everything in life could be explained and learned. Famously, Aristotle rejected his teacher's belief on the concept of forms, which had said properties like beauty are entities independent of an object itself. Rather, Aristotle argued that they must be related and cannot be apart from each other. Like Plato, though, Aristotle formed a school, called the Lyceum in Athens.

Character-Aristotle definitely had his fair share of discussion on ethics, morals, and what makes a good life. Throughout his time, he wrote about topics like happiness, virtue, and three types of friendships. Aristotle also talked about a morality and how achieving a good life comes through reasoning. His view on ethics was that doing good was different than being good, and people need to prove their goodness in order for it to be meaningful. Interestingly, I couldn't find any grand example of him doing great deeds.

Rating: 8.5

Success-In the lists that I've Googled for greatest philosopher ever, Aristotle is the one who is consistently at the top. It's easy to understand since he basically contributed to every single thing we learn or learned about in school.

Rating: 10

Positive Contributions-As I've said with the philosophers before, Aristotle didn't save lives or anything that amazing. However, his quest for knowledge and his discoveries would leave a large impact in the fields like biology and logic. 

Rating: 5.5

Impact-Unlike Socrates and Plato, Aristotle did not have someone to pass his knowledge too and take over his work, making him the last of the prominent Greek philosophers. He did however tutor Alexander the Great for a time being. For me, it's difficult to gauge how much of a direct impact Aristotle had during his time, but through being the first biologist and influencing logic, he has made his name known today. If there was a contest for the greatest (however you want to define 'great') person to come out of Greece, Aristotle would be in the mix.

Rating: 8

TOTAL RATING: 8.1 (1st of 3)