A Great Mind

Aristotle was born in 384 BC.; with him came the birth of Western realism. He was a
student of Plato and a tutor to Alexander the Great (Founders 1). It is difficult to discuss the
philosophies of Aristotle without bringing up those of his former tutor, Plato. Aristotle's
philosophies diverted from Plato's, and led to Aristotle forming his own school, the Lyceum
(Wheelwright 1). The Lyceum was a philosophical school that dealt in matters such as
metaphysics, logic, ethics, and natural sciences. When teaching at the Lyceum, Aristotle had a
habit of walking about as he discoursed. It was in connection with this that his followers became
known in later years as the peripatetics, meaning "to walk about" (Owens 1). For the next thirteen
years he devoted his life to his teaching and composing his philosophical treatises. Aristotle's
contributions and theories in metaphysics, epistemology, and axiology are greatly appreciated
today and still used in recent developments. Ar...