125Aristotle 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. At seventeen, Aristotle was sent to Athens. There he
studied in Plato’s Academy for two decades, but, as he later wrote, he loved the
truth more than he loved Plato, and so he had no mind to remain a mere disciple.
In 347 B.C., after Plato’s death, he left Athens and spent the next four years con-
ducting zoological investigations on the islands of Assos and Lesbos.
About 343 B.C., he was called to Macedonia by King Philip to tutor the king’s
son—the future Alexander the Great. Upon Alexander’s ascension to the throne
seven years later, Aristotle returned to Athens to set up the Lyceum, a rival to the
Academy. Aristotle did much of his teaching walking up and down the colonnades
with advanced students. As a result, his school and philosophy came to be called by
the Greek word for walking around: <peripatetikos>, from which we get our word
“peripatetic.” Tradition has it that as Alexander the Great moved east, conquering
Persia and moving into India, he would send back biological specimens for
Aristotle’s school. Although most scholars doubt this popular story, it is neverthe-
less clear that under Alexander’s patronage, the Lyceum flourished.
However, the connection to Alexander proved a liability in the end. On
Alexander’s death in 323 B.C., Athenians went on a rampage against any and all
associated with him. Indicted on charges of impiety, Aristotle fled Athens, “lest,”
as he put it, “the Athenians sin twice against philosophy” (referring, of course, to
the unjust trial and death of Socrates). Aristotle died a year later. A popular but
again highly questionable story says he drowned investigating marine life.
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 commentedARISTOTLE
384–322 B.C.