Aristotle

This article is part of the Basic Liberalism Course -> Module 2: Liberalism and its ethical foundations

Personal Life and Education

The Greek philosopher Aristotle was born in Stagira (Macedonia) (384-322 BC). His father, Nicomachus, was the physician of King Amyntas III of Macedonia. At the age of seventeen, Aristotle moved to Athens, where he joined Plato's Academy, remaining there for about twenty years until his teacher's death in 347 BC. During this time, he not only deeply assimilated Platonic teachings but also began to develop his own philosophical system, characterized by more rigorous empirical observation and a systematic approach. After Plato's death, he traveled through Asia Minor, where he devoted himself to biological research and married Pythias, with whom he had a daughter.

A fundamental milestone in his life was his appointment in 343 BC as tutor to Alexander the Great, son of King Philip II of Macedonia. This relationship lasted several years, bringing him prestige and influence. Upon returning to Athens in 335 BC, Aristotle founded his own school, the Lyceum, also known as the Peripatetic school (from peripatos, meaning 'covered walkway' or 'walking area', since he taught while walking with his disciples). At the Lyceum, he not only taught but also established the first great library and research center in Western history, covering practically all fields of knowledge known in his time: logic, metaphysics, physics, biology, ethics, politics, poetics, and rhetoric.

The death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC triggered an anti-Macedonian sentiment in Athens, putting Aristotle in a dangerous situation due to his ties to the Macedonian royalty. To avoid being tried for impiety, and as he himself said, so that the Athenians would not sin a second time against philosophy (in reference to the condemnation of Socrates), he went into exile in Chalcis of Euboea, where he owned family properties. A year later, in 322 BC, Aristotle died, leaving an immense legacy of writings that, unlike those of his master Plato, were mostly preserved as class notes and technical treatises (esoteric writings). His thought became the main philosophical and intellectual system of the West during the Middle Ages, and his influence on science and philosophy is incalculable.

What books did he write?

Aristotle was an incredibly prolific author, and his works cover practically all fields of knowledge of his time. Most of the writings preserved today are his technical treatises or class notes (known as esoteric writings), compiled and edited by Andronicus of Rhodes in the 1st century BC. His most famous works are: "Nicomachean Ethics" and Politics, which consist of 8 books, and both are detailed below.

What was Aristotle's ethical thought? (Nicomachean Ethics)

The Ethics of Virtue

Nicomachean Ethics is Aristotle's central work on morality and the good life. In it he maintains that the ultimate end of human life is eudaimonia, translated as happiness, human flourishing or fulfilled life. This happiness is not momentary pleasure, but a way of living that allows the human being to fully realize their rational nature. According to Aristotle, we achieve eudaimonia by practicing the virtues, which are stable dispositions to act well.

Aristotle explains that moral virtue consists in finding the golden mean between two vicious extremes: for example, between recklessness and cowardice is courage; between extravagance and stinginess is generosity. Virtues are not possessed by nature, but are acquired through habitual practice, in the same way one learns an art. Along with moral virtues, there are also intellectual virtues, such as practical wisdom (phronesis), which guides action and allows correct choice.

The book also highlights the importance of friendship, justice and the contemplative life. Aristotle maintains that the human being is a social being, and that a good life requires deep bonds and a just community. He concludes by pointing out that the highest form of happiness is achieved in contemplative activity, where reason is fully exercised. Taken together, the work is a guide to living well, based on the development of character, reason and human relationships.

Aristotle shows a personal point of view, proposes that if one changes, living a life in virtue, the environment changes.

What did Aristotle think about the State? (Politics)

The eight books that constitute the work "Politics" by Aristotle analyze the nature, structures, and objectives of the Greek polis (city-state), establishing that politics is the master science that seeks the supreme good of man: happiness (eudaimonia).

Nature and End of the State (Books I-III)

Man is a "Political Animal" (Zoon Politikon), with this Aristotle means that the human being is naturally destined to live in the polis (City-State), since only in it can he develop his capacity for reason and achieve fulfillment. The polis arises naturally from the union of families (for daily needs) and then of villages (for broader needs), the polis being the self-sufficient association and the ultimate end of all of them. The Citizen is not any inhabitant. He is one who has the right and capacity to participate in the deliberative and judicial functions of government (taking into account that they accepted having slaves).

Classification of Governments

Aristotle classifies constitutions (forms of government) according to two key criteria: the number of rulers and the end they pursue (common good or self-interest).

Criterion	Right Governments (Seek the Common Good)	Deviant Governments (Seek Particular Interest)
One	Monarchy	Tyranny
Few	Aristocracy	Oligarchy (government of the rich)
Many	Republic (Politeia)	Democracy (government of the poor)

The best form of government

For Aristotle, The Republic (Politeia) is the best form of government achievable in practice. It is defined as a mixture of oligarchy (government of the rich) and democracy (government of the poor), seeking a balance that avoids extremes. The key to the stability of the State is the strengthening of the middle class. A society with a strong middle class is less prone to factions and revolutions than one polarized between rich and poor.

Causes of Revolutions and their Prevention

Revolutions (constitutional changes) arise mainly from the inequality and the desire for equality of those who do not have it, or from the arrogance and the greed of the rulers. To maintain constitutions, respect for the law, honest magistrates, moderation, and above all, that the guiding principle of the constitution be respected and not exceeded, are required.

The State

The Objective of the Polis (of the State) is not only survival, but to facilitate the virtuous and happy life for its citizens. Ethics (study of the individual good) culminates in Politics (study of the common good).

Aristotle also describes the ideal conditions of the territory (size, accessibility), the population (sufficient number for self-sufficiency, but not excessive) and the geographical disposition (proximity to the sea, defense).

In the perfect State, citizens must have free time for virtue (the exercise of reason), so the necessary functions (farmers, artisans, merchants) must be carried out by non-citizens or slaves.

The Importance of Education

The State must take the utmost care in the education of the young, since the virtue of the citizens is the only solid basis for the best constitution. Education must be common and public, regulated by law, and not left to individual discretion, because the end of the polis is one. It focuses on gymnastics (body), music (soul), and the learning of the laws to form virtuous citizens.

Criticisms of his ideas

Many of the criticisms against Aristotle were made hundreds of years after his death, as science advanced and new evidence was discovered, so they do not have much validity.

Aristotle was criticized for:

His physics and cosmology (surpassed by modern science)
- Geocentric universe: his vision of the cosmos with the Earth at the center was criticized after Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler.
- Motion and causality: his theory of the four causes and the “unmoved mover” was questioned by modern physics, which operates with very different concepts (laws of motion, forces, energy, etc.).
Criticisms of his scientific method
- Limited empiricism: although Aristotle observed nature, many say he did not conduct rigorous experiments. His conclusions were sometimes more speculative than proven.
- Scientific errors: he defended ideas now surpassed, such as that objects fall at speeds proportional to their weight or that living beings arise by spontaneous generation.
Epistemological and metaphysical criticisms
- Rejection of Platonic dualism, but with strong essentialism: many modern thinkers —especially empiricists and nominalists— questioned his idea that essences exist objectively in beings.
- “Too teleological” metaphysics: it was criticized for explaining reality by appealing to ends or purposes, something that modern science replaces with mechanical and causal explanations.
Ethical and political criticisms
- Justification of slavery: he considered that some humans were “slaves by nature”. This has been harshly rejected by modern and contemporary philosophers.
- Hierarchical vision of society: he defended a strongly stratified structure, limited by criteria such as gender, status, or citizenship.
- Subordinate role of women: he stated that woman is “by nature inferior” to man, which generated criticism especially from contemporary feminism.
Modern empiricists (Locke, Hume): questioned the Aristotelian idea that essences can be known directly.
Rationalists (Descartes): criticized that his physics was not very mathematical and too qualitative.
Kant: considered his analysis of experience insufficient, as it lacked the transcendental structures that make knowledge possible.
Modern science in general: replaced almost all of his physics, cosmology, and biology.

Criticisms of his person

Direct criticisms of Aristotle's person and private life are very few in Antiquity and almost all come from late sources, often hostile or anecdotal. The majority are gossip or propagandistic attacks that circulated centuries after his death.

In life, Aristotle was respected and feared, but after his death and especially in the Hellenistic and Roman period, some rival schools (Epicureans, Stoics who favored slander) spread negative anecdotes to discredit him. Almost all these accusations are late (from the 2nd century BC onwards), come from hostile sources, and lack solid historical basis. Contemporary or near-contemporary documents (such as those of Theophrastus or the fragments of Eudemus of Rhodes) contain no serious personal criticism.

What was Aristotle's legacy?

Aristotle, together with Plato, is the most influential figure in the entire history of Western philosophy and one of the most important in science and universal culture. His legacy is enormous, lasting, and multidisciplinary.

Philosophy and logic

Inventor of formal logic: The Prior and Posterior Analytics (the “Organon”) were the first logical system in history. The Aristotelian syllogism dominated logical thought until the 19th century.
- Formal Logic and Syllogism: He invented syllogistic logic or term logic, a mechanism of deductive inference where a conclusion is drawn from two premises. This system of reasoning was the standard for the analysis of validity and formal truth for centuries.
  
  Example of a syllogism: All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal.
- Axioms of Reason: He formulated fundamental principles of thought, such as the Principle of Non-Contradiction and the Principle of the Excluded Middle.
- Empiricism and Observation: Unlike his master Plato, Aristotle emphasized the empirical observation and induction as the starting point for knowledge, laying the foundations of the philosophy of science.
Foundation of Western metaphysics: concepts such as substance, essence, accident, potency/act, the four causes, the idea of an “unmoved mover” (God) influenced all subsequent philosophy (scholasticism, Kant, Heidegger, current analytic philosophy).
Virtue ethics (Nicomachean Ethics): the idea that happiness (eudaimonia) is activity of the soul in accordance with virtue and the “doctrine of the mean” remains one of the most vital ethical currents today.

Science and scientific method

Founder of numerous disciplines:
- Biology (History of Animals, Parts of Animals, Generation of Animals): first systematic classification of animals, detailed empirical observation.
- Zoology, psychology (De anima), meteorology, astronomy, physics.
Although his physics was surpassed, his idea of seeking the four causes (material, formal, efficient, and final) and his emphasis on empirical observation influenced the birth of modern science (even Galileo and Darwin cite him as a precursor in certain aspects).

Political philosophy

The Politics: the first great systematic theory of the State and forms of government (monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, and their degenerations).
Key concepts still in use: “political animal” (man is by nature a social and political being), classification of constitutions, idea of the polis as a community for living well.
Enormous influence on medieval political thought (Thomas Aquinas), modern (Machiavelli, Montesquieu, theory of the rule of law), and contemporary.

Middle Ages: the “master of those who know”

In the Islamic world (9th-12th centuries): Avicenna, Averroes, and Al-Farabi considered him “the Philosopher” par excellence. His works were translated and commented on exhaustively.
In Christian scholasticism (13th century): Thomas Aquinas synthesized Aristotelianism and Christianity → Catholic philosophy and theology for centuries was based on Aristotle.
Medieval universities fundamentally taught his logic, physics, and ethics.

Renaissance and Modern Age

Although the Scientific Revolution rejected his physics and cosmology, his logical method and his biology continued to be a reference.
He influenced thinkers as diverse as Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx (in the conception of man as a social animal), and Hannah Arendt (modern recovery of the concept of praxis and vita activa).

20th century and today

Virtue ethics: revival with authors such as Elizabeth Anscombe, Alasdair MacIntyre, Philippa Foot, and Martha Nussbaum (against Kantianism and utilitarianism).
Philosophy of biology: although his essentialism was criticized, there is still debate on teleology and functionalism in biology (Aristotle vs. Darwin).
Analytic philosophy: his logic, metaphysics of categories, and philosophy of language continue to be studied and discussed.
Education: the model of the Lyceum (collective research, specialization, library) is considered a precursor of the modern university.

Aristotle is the thinker who:

Created logic,
Founded almost all scientific and philosophical disciplines,
Shaped Western ethics for 2,300 years,
Was the intellectual basis of medieval Islam, scholastic Christianity, and much of modern political thought.

Few authors in the history of humanity have had such a broad, deep, and lasting impact in so many areas of knowledge.

Some phrases he wrote, said or left implicit

“Man is by nature a political animal.”
“Virtue is a mean between two extremes.”
“Friendship is a soul that dwells in two bodies.”
“We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
“The ultimate end of human life is happiness.”
“Doubt is the beginning of wisdom.”
"The ignorant asserts, the wise doubts and reflects."

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Last updated: 2025-11-21

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