Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He founded the Lyceum and wrote on every subject: logic, metaphysics, ethics, politics, rhetoric, biology, and poetics. Unlike Plato's otherworldly Forms, Aristotle focused on empirical observation and classification. His Rhetoric remains the foundational text on persuasion (ethos, pathos, logos). His Nicomachean Ethics examines virtue, character, and the pursuit of Eudaimonia (human flourishing). His Politics analyzes real constitutions.
Who was Aristotle?
A Greek philosopher and student of Plato who tutored Alexander the Great and founded the Lyceum, writing on ethics, politics, rhetoric, and biology.
What are the three modes of persuasion (Rhetoric)?
Ethos (character/credibility), Pathos (emotion), Logos (logic/argument). All persuasion uses these three.
What is Eudaimonia?
Not happiness (pleasure), but "human flourishing" — living a life of rational activity in accordance with virtue over a complete lifetime.
What is the Golden Mean?
Virtue is the midpoint between two vices: one of excess, one of deficiency. Example: Courage is the mean between cowardice and recklessness.
What is Katharsis (Catharsis)?
The emotional purging of pity and fear through tragedy (drama), which restores psychological balance.
What is the difference between Aristotle and Plato?
Plato believed in a separate world of Forms; Aristotle believed forms exist within physical objects (you study many horses to understand "horseness").
What are the three good constitutions?
Monarchy (rule of one for the common good), Aristocracy (rule of the few virtuous), Polity (rule of many middle-class). Their corrupt forms: Tyranny, Oligarchy, Democracy.
What is Phronesis?
Practical wisdom — the ability to deliberate correctly about what is good for oneself and for humans in general. Required for virtue.
What is the Unmoved Mover?
God, not as a creator, but as the final cause (object of desire and thought) that moves the universe by being perfect, without being moved.
What is his most famous quote?
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
