ARISTOTLE

Aristotle is a towering figure in ancient Greek philosophy, making contributions to logic,

metaphysics, mathematics, physics, biology, botany, ethics, politics, agriculture, medicine, dance
and theatre. He was a student of Plato who in turn studied under Socrates. He was more
empirically-minded than Plato or Socrates and is famous for rejecting Plato's theory of forms.

As a prolific writer and polymath, Aristotle radically transformed most, if not all, areas of
knowledge he touched. It is no wonder that Aquinas referred to him simply as "The Philosopher."
In his lifetime, Aristotle wrote as many as 200 treatises, of which only 31 survive. Unfortunately
for us, these works are in the form of lecture notes and draft manuscripts never intended for
general readership, so they do not demonstrate his reputed polished prose style which attracted
many great followers, including the Roman Cicero. Aristotle was the first to classify areas of
human knowledge into distinct disciplines such as mathematics, biology, and ethics. Some of
these classifications are still used today.

As the father of the field of logic, he was the first to develop a formalized system for reasoning.
Aristotle observed that the validity of any argument can be determined by its structure rather
than its content. A classic example of a valid argument is his syllogism: All men are mortal;
Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal. Given the structure of this argument, as long as
the premises are true, then the conclusion is also guaranteed to be true. Aristotles brand of logic
dominated this area of thought until the rise of modern propositional logic and predicate logic
2000 years later.

Aristotles emphasis on good reasoning combined with his belief in the scientific method forms
the backdrop for most of his work. For example, in his work in ethics and politics, Aristotle
identifies the highest good with intellectual virtue; that is, a moral person is one who cultivates
certain virtues based on reasoning. And in his work on psychology and the soul, Aristotle
distinguishes sense perception from reason, which unifies and interprets the sense perceptions
and is the source of all knowledge.

PLATO
Synopsis

Born circa 428 B.C.E., ancient Greek philosopher Plato was a student of Socrates and a teacher of
Aristotle. His writings explored justice, beauty and equality, and also contained discussions in
aesthetics, political philosophy, theology, cosmology, epistemology and the philosophy of
language. Plato founded the Academy in Athens, one of the first institutions of higher learning in
the Western world. He died in Athens circa 348 B.C.E.
Background

Due to a lack of primary sources from the time period, much of Plato's life has been constructed
by scholars through his writings and the writings of contemporaries and classical historians.
Traditional history estimates Plato's birth was around 428 B.C.E., but more modern scholars,
tracing later events in his life, believe he was born between 424 and 423 B.C.E. Both of his
parents came from the Greek aristocracy. Plato's father, Ariston, descended from the kings of
Athens and Messenia. His mother, Perictione, is said to be related to the 6th century B.C.E. Greek
statesman Solon.

SOCRATES
Synopsis

Socrates was born circa 470 BC, in Athens, Greece. We know of his life through the writings of his
students, including Plato and Xenophon. His "Socratic method," laid the groundwork for Western
systems of logic and philosophy. When the political climate of Greece turned, Socrates was
sentenced to death by hemlock poisoning in 399 BC. He accepted this judgment rather than
fleeing into exile.

Early Years

Born circa 470 BC in Athens, Greece, Socrates's life is chronicled through only a few sourcesthe
dialogues of Plato and Xenophon and the plays of Aristophanes. Because these writings had
other purposes than reporting his life, it is likely none present a completely accurate picture.
However, collectively, they provide a unique and vivid portrayal of Socrates's philosophy and
personality.

Socrates was the son of Sophroniscus, an Athenian stone mason and sculptor, and Phaenarete, a
midwife. Because he wasn't from a noble family, he probably received a basic Greek education
and learned his father's craft at a young age. It is believed Socrates worked as mason for many
years before he devoted his life to philosophy. Contemporaries differ in their account of how
Socrates supported himself as a philosopher. Both Xenophon and Aristophanes state Socrates
received payment for teaching, while Plato writes Socrates explicitly denied accepting payment,
citing his poverty as proof.

Socrates married Xanthippe, a younger woman, who bore him three sonsLamprocles,
Sophroniscus and Menexenus. There is little known about her except for Xenophon's
characterization of Xanthippe as "undesirable." He writes she was not happy with Socrates's
second profession and complained that he wasnt supporting family as a philosopher. By his own
words, Socrates had little to do with his sons' upbringing and expressed far more interest in the
intellectual development of Athens' young boys.

Athenian law required all able bodied males serve as citizen soldiers, on call for duty from ages
18 until 60. According to Plato, Socrates served in the armored infantryknown as the hoplite
with shield, long spear and face mask. He participated in three military campaigns during the
Peloponnesian War, at Delium, Amphipolis, and Potidaea, where he saved the life of Alcibiades, a
popular Athenian general. Socrates was known for his courage in battle and fearlessness, a trait
that stayed with him throughout his life. After his trial, he compared his refusal to retreat from his
legal troubles to a soldier's refusal to retreat from battle when threatened with death.

Plato's Symposium provides the best details of Socrates's physical appearance. He was not the
ideal of Athenian masculinity. Short and stocky, with a snub nose and bulging eyes, Socrates
always seemed to appear to be staring. However, Plato pointed out that in the eyes of his
students, Socrates possessed a different kind of attractiveness, not based on a physical ideal but
on his brilliant debates and penetrating thought. Socrates always emphasized the importance of
the mind over the relative unimportance of the human body. This credo inspired Platos
philosophy of dividing reality into two separate realms, the world of the senses and the world of
ideas, declaring that the latter was the only important one.