Happy Birthday Aristotle

Queried about which person they would love to have dinner with, living or not, most generally select from their unwritten list of heroes. For many, this includes famous statesmen, celebrities, scientists, artists, mentors, and philosophers. Of all possibilities, Aristotle encompasses all these, and more. Did he make your mental list?

Born in northern Greece in 384BC and what could have been his 2400th birthday this year had eternal youth become a reality, Aristotle remains one of the greatest educators and thinkers of all time.

A disciple of Plato, and by extension Socrates, Aristotle grew up among royalty where his father, Nicomachus, was court physician to the King of Macedon.

Attending Plato’s Academy in Athens at the tender age of 18, Aristotle would excel in all fields, reading every publication available. Having Ivy League access to the most advanced knowledge of the day molded Aristotle’s mind and prompted him to develop contributory theories, some of which clashed with that of Plato and Socrates, creating rifts within the Academy. Plato would come to refer to Aristotle as ‘the foal’, a disparaging remark invoking how a foal would kick its mother/teacher.

Despite the frequent periods of disharmony between he and Plato, Aristotle remained at the Academy for 19 years, leaving only shortly after Plato’s death.

It was around this time that Aristotle would be asked by King Philip II to tutor his son, Alexander the Great when the future conqueror was just a wee lad and did not yet have his ‘Great’ moniker. It would seem Aristotle made a favorable impression on the royal family while accompanying his father to work, and for his tenure at the Academy.

Credited with inventing zoology as well as other fields of academic study, Aristotle is perhaps best known as a philosopher whose mark has been left on practically every genre of western philosophy, as well as the three major world religions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. In fact, medieval Muslims would refer to him as ‘The First Teacher’. Of his many essays and writings, Cicero would opine some three centuries later that Aristotle’s literary style was “a river of gold”.

Teaching at his own Athens based academy by this time, known as The Lyceum, Aristotle was the preeminent guru of his day in such varied fields as Biology, Zoology, Physics, Metaphysics, Logic, Ethics, Music, Poetry, Theatre, Government, and Politics. Today, some of his essays and theories have been credibly and successfully debunked, particularly in the fields of Physics and Ethics, and his views on the fairer of our species would now be regarded as Neanderthal-ish. However, when one considers the prevailing knowledge base in Aristotle’s time, he could be easily viewed as the most progressive contemporary think tank in the world.

In counselling the soon to be victorious Alexander the Great, Aristotle is known to have encouraged his pupil to be merciless and lay waste to rivals, so a peaceful man he could not be said. Given some of his works in the fields of Ethics and Philosophy, one has to wonder aloud if Aristotle’s writings were his own, or those of his Lyceum cadets.

Regardless, Aristotle’s legacies are many. If nothing else, he started a conversation in many scientific and artistic realms, so much so that inevitably many debates can begin with his treatise on the subject matter. Remarkably, they could also come full circle, as they have been either proven correct or could not be proven incorrect to this very day.

Aristotle died of natural causes in 322BC at the age of 62 years in Euboea, Greece.

The name Aristotle means ‘the best purpose’. In life, it is perhaps the best purpose to educate the generations to follow. Then, as now, Aristotle lived up to his name and in so doing, gave us all a present we silently celebrate on his birthday.

Happy Birthday Aristotle. May your 2400th year be as flavorful as the previous 2399 have been.

A few of the countless quotes from Aristotle include…

Happiness depends on ourselves.
A friend to all is a friend to none.
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.