Aristotle stands in the center of Raphael's fresco
next to his teacher, Plato. Aristotle, like his teacher Plato,
is carrying a book in one arm (The Ethics), but is pointing down
to the earth with the finger of his other hand. This symbolizes
his view that knowledge begins with a study of the natural world
around us.
Aristotle's father was a physician and he was born
into a family of means. He was sent to Athens to study at the
Academy founded by Plato where he attended lectures for 20 years.
Aristotle did not succeed Plato at the Academy because
they differed in some important ways in their views about how
to do philosophy, and in terms of their ideas about the world
around us. Aristotle placed far greater emphasis than his teacher
Plato on the reliability and value of observation in informing
us about reality. He made an enormous contribution to natural
science as well as to ethics and philosophy.
To read more about Aristotle and to study his writings,
examine the following web pages: