Aristotle, one of the most influential philosophers and scientists in history, lived during the Classical period in Northern Greece.
He spent most of his life studying, teaching, and writing, leaving behind a legacy that has shaped Western thought for centuries.
But when did this great mind pass away?
In this article, we will explore the year of Aristotle’s death and the events leading up to it.
Join us as we delve into the life and times of this remarkable thinker.
What Year Did Aristotle Die
Aristotle died in 322 B.C. at the age of 63. He passed away in Chalcis, a city located in Euboea, which is a Greek island located northeast of Athens.
The cause of Aristotle’s death was a digestive complaint, which he had been suffering from for some time. He had requested to be buried next to his wife, who had passed away several years prior.
Aristotle’s death marked the end of an era for philosophy and science. His contributions to these fields were immense, and his teachings have influenced countless individuals throughout history.
Aristotle’s Early Life And Education
Aristotle was born in the city of Stagira in Northern Greece in 384 B.C. His father, Nicomachus, was the doctor to King Amyntas of Macedonia. Growing up as part of the aristocracy, Aristotle received a premium education and developed a keen interest in nature and anatomy.
As a youth, Aristotle likely had tutors who taught him about various subjects including reading, writing, philosophy, and mathematics. At the age of seventeen, he traveled to Athens to join Plato’s Academy where he spent nearly twenty years studying philosophy and logical thinking under Plato’s tutelage.
The Academy was not a traditional school or college, but rather a place where students challenged each other with questions and engaged in debates. Aristotle participated in these dialogues and eventually became a teacher at the Academy.
After Plato’s death, Aristotle left Athens and tutored Alexander the Great at the request of Philip II of Macedon. He returned to Athens in 335 B.C. and founded his own school, the Lyceum, where he spent most of the rest of his life studying, teaching, and writing.
Aristotle’s early life and education laid the foundation for his later contributions to philosophy and science. His experiences at the Academy and his time spent tutoring Alexander the Great helped shape his unique perspective on these fields.
Aristotle’s Contributions To Philosophy And Science
Aristotle is widely regarded as one of the greatest philosophers and scientists of all time. He made significant contributions to a variety of fields, including logic, metaphysics, ethics, politics, psychology, biology, and physics.
As the father of western logic, Aristotle developed a formal system for reasoning that emphasized good reasoning and deductive validity. He observed that the validity of any argument can be determined by its structure rather than its content, which led to the development of Aristotelian logic. This system dominated until the rise of modern propositional logic and predicate logic 2000 years later.
In his natural philosophy, Aristotle combined logic with observation to make general, causal claims. For example, in his biology, Aristotle used the concept of species to make empirical claims about the functions and behavior of individual animals. However, as revealed in his psychological works, Aristotle was not a reductive materialist. Instead, he thought of the body as the matter and the psyche as the form of each living animal.
In his metaphysics, Aristotle claimed that there must be a separate and unchanging being that is the source of all other beings. He believed that everything and everyone in the world had a purpose for existing and that these final purposes could be ascertained from observation of the known world.
In his ethics, Aristotle held that it is only by becoming excellent that one could achieve eudaimonia, a sort of happiness or blessedness that constitutes the best kind of human life. He believed that virtue is a mean between two extremes and that moral virtues can be acquired through habituation.
Aristotle’s contributions to philosophy and science have had a long-lasting influence on the development of Western philosophical theories. His works have been studied by countless scholars throughout history and continue to inspire philosophers to this day.
Aristotle’s Time In Athens And The Academy
Aristotle’s time in Athens and at the Academy was a crucial period in his life. He arrived in Athens at the age of 17 or 18 and joined Plato’s Academy, where he would remain for nearly 20 years until the age of 37. During this time, Aristotle was exposed to a wide range of philosophical ideas and became deeply influenced by Plato’s teachings.
After Plato’s death in 348 B.C., Aristotle left Athens and traveled to various parts of Greece, including the island of Lesbos and the city of Assus on the coast of Anatolia (present-day Turkey). While in Assus, he became friends with Hermias, a graduate of the Academy who ruled the city. Aristotle even married Hermias’s ward, Pythias.
During his time in Assus and Lesbos, Aristotle conducted extensive scientific research, particularly in the fields of zoology and marine biology. He made detailed observations of a wide variety of organisms, describing over 500 species in his treatises. Some of his observations were so accurate that they were not observed again until the invention of the microscope in the 17th century.
Despite an admixture of superstition and unlikely stories about rare species of fish, Aristotle’s biological works must be regarded as a stupendous achievement. His inquiries were conducted in a genuinely scientific spirit, and he was always ready to confess ignorance where evidence was insufficient.
In 343 or 342 B.C., Aristotle was summoned by Philip II to the Macedonian capital at Pella to act as tutor to Philip’s 13-year-old son, Alexander the Great. Although little is known about the content of Aristotle’s instruction, ancient sources report that during his campaigns Alexander arranged for biological specimens to be sent to his tutor from all parts of Greece and Asia Minor.
Aristotle’s time at the Academy and in Athens played a crucial role in shaping his philosophical and scientific ideas. His exposure to Plato’s teachings and the intellectual atmosphere of Athens helped to shape his synthesis of various philosophical ideas. His extensive scientific research during his travels in Greece provided the basis for his pioneering work in the fields of zoology and marine biology.
Aristotle’s Exile And Return To Athens
After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C., anti-Macedonian sentiment began to rise in Athens. As Aristotle was considered pro-Macedonian, he was charged with impiety and forced to flee the city. Bearing in mind the fate of Socrates, who was unjustly put to death, Aristotle went into voluntary exile to Chalcis.
During his exile, Aristotle continued to write and study. He also established a school in Chalcis, where he taught philosophy and science to his students. However, he yearned to return to Athens, a city that had played a significant role in his life.
In 335 B.C., Aristotle finally returned to Athens and established his own school, the Peripatetic School. The spirit of the school was one of questioning and scrutinizing different philosophical and scientific theories. Aristotle did not promote any specific views or doctrines, but rather encouraged his students to think critically and form their own opinions.
However, Aristotle’s return to Athens was short-lived. In 323 B.C., Alexander the Great died, and anti-Macedonian sentiment once again began to rise in Athens. As Aristotle was still considered pro-Macedonian, he fled the city once again and returned to Chalcis.
It was in Chalcis that Aristotle spent the remainder of his life. He continued to write and study until his death in 322 B.C. Despite his exile from Athens, Aristotle’s teachings continued to influence philosophy and science for centuries to come.
Aristotle’s Final Years And Death
After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C., anti-Macedonian sentiment once again forced Aristotle to flee Athens. He spent his final years in exile, traveling and writing extensively. Despite his declining health, he continued to work on his philosophical and scientific theories until the end of his life.
In 322 B.C., Aristotle fell ill with a digestive complaint that ultimately proved fatal. He died in Chalcis, surrounded by his closest friends and students. His passing was mourned by many, and his legacy continued to be celebrated for centuries to come.
Upon his death, Aristotle requested to be buried next to his wife, who had died several years prior. His wish was granted, and he was laid to rest in a tomb near her grave.
Aristotle’s death marked the end of a remarkable career that had spanned decades. His contributions to philosophy, science, and other fields have had a lasting impact on human knowledge and understanding. Even today, more than two millennia after his passing, he remains one of the most influential thinkers in history.
Legacy And Impact Of Aristotle’s Work
Aristotle’s legacy and impact on philosophy and science cannot be overstated. His thought was original, profound, wide-ranging, and systematic. His philosophical and scientific system became the framework and vehicle for both Christian Scholasticism and medieval Islamic philosophy. Even after the intellectual revolutions of the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment, Aristotelian concepts remained embedded in Western thinking.
Aristotle’s influence on subsequent philosophy and science has been significant. In the 13th century, St. Thomas Aquinas undertook to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy and science with Christian dogma, and through him, the theology and intellectual worldview of the Roman Catholic Church became Aristotelian. Since the mid-20th century, Aristotle’s ethics has inspired the field of virtue theory, an approach to ethics that emphasizes human well-being and the development of character.
Aristotle’s thought also constitutes an important current in other fields of contemporary philosophy, especially metaphysics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of science. He was the founder of formal logic, devising for it a finished system that for centuries was regarded as the sum of the discipline. He pioneered the study of zoology, both observational and theoretical, in which some of his work remained unsurpassed until the 19th century.
Aristotle’s influence extended beyond philosophy and science. His works profoundly shaped medieval scholarship and influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophies during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology. He was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as “The First Teacher,” and among medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas as simply “The Philosopher.” His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic and were studied by medieval scholars such as Peter Abelard and John Buridan.
Aristotle’s impact on ethics has been particularly significant. His Ethics (written for his son Nichomachus as a guide to good living) is still consulted as a philosophical touchstone in the study of ethics. He contributed to the understanding of physics, created the field and the study of what is known as metaphysics, wrote extensively on natural science and political philosophy, and his Poetics remains a classic of literary criticism.
In conclusion, Aristotle’s contributions to philosophy and science have left an indelible mark on human knowledge. His legacy and impact continue to be felt today, and his work remains a powerful current in contemporary philosophical debate.
