Aristotle is one of the most well known philosophers in history. He was born in 384 BC in Stagira, which is in Macedonia. His father was personal physician to the king of Macedonia at that time, Amyntas. He lived until 322 BC when he died at a family estate in Euboea. Aristotle is credited with many great accomplishments during his time. He was pupil to a great mind, as well as a teacher to great leaders. Aristotle's thinking was beyond his time and rivaled the worldview at the time.
Aristotle is well known for his teachings to the son of the king of Macedonia at the time, Philip. The king's son was named Alexander; now known as Alexander the Great. When Alexander became king of Macedonia, Aristotle left for Athens where he began lecturing at …show more content…
He thought that each thing or event has more than one reason that helps to explain what, why, and where that thing or event is. Greek thinkers from earlier on thought that only one kind of cause could explain itself. Aristotle, on the other hand, said four could. The four causes he spoke of were: material cause, efficient cause, formal cause, and the final cause. For example, he would say that the material cause of a house is the supplies from which it was built. The efficient cause of the house would be the builder. The formal cause would be the shape the builder decided upon. The final cause would be the house's function, to be a home. Aristotle said that something could be understood more when its causes are in specific terms rather than in general ones. Therefore, Aristotle would say that it is more informative to know that a builder built the house rather than to know that it was built by a man. Even further, he would say that it was more informative to know who the builder was rather than just knowing that a builder built