Aristotle - mid 300's B.C.

  • Aristotle was a philosopher/Greek philosopher
  • Born in 384 BCS in a Greek colony.
  • He was a student of Plato, who in turn studied under Socrates
  • Studied: Physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, zoology.He believed in reasoning rather than scientific experimentation. 
  • First to classify areas of human knowledge into distinct disciplines such as mathematics, biology, and ethics.He disagreed with Democritus an his theories.

  • He added to the four basic elements, fire, earth, air and water adding one more element called "Aether", which he claimed composed heavenly bodies.
  • Aristotle thought that the validity of an argument was based on it's structure: thesis. 
  • Views on physical science influenced Renaissance