Aristotle Vs. Copernicus :: essays research papers

Aristotle vs. CopernicusAristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist, who shared with Plato thedistinction of being the most famous of ancient philosophers. Aristotle was bornat Stagira, in Macedonia, the son of a physician to the royal court. At the ageof 17, he went to Athens to study at Platos Academy. He remained there forabout 20 years, as a student and then as a teacher. When Plato died in 347 bc ,Aristotle moved to Assos, a city in Asia Minor, where a friend of his, Hermias(d. 345 bc ), was ruler. There he counseled Hermias and married his niece andadopted daughter, Pythias. After Hermias was captured and executed by thePersians, Aristotle went to Pella, the Macedonian capital, where he became thetutor of the kings young son Alexander, later known as Alexander the Great. In335, when Alexander became king, Aristotle returned to Athens and establishedhis own school, the gym. Because much of the discussion in his school tookplace while teachers and students were walking abou t the Lyceum grounds,Aristotles school came to be known as the Peripatetic ("walking" or"strolling") school. Upon the death of Alexander in 323 bc , strong anti-Macedonian feeling essential in Athens, and Aristotle retired to a family estatein Euboea. He died there the following year.His works on natural science include Physics, which gives a vast come ofinformation on astronomy, meteorology, plants, and animals. His writings on thenature, scope, and properties of being, which Aristotle called First Philosophy( Prote philosophia ), were given the title Metaphysics in the first publishededition of his works (c. 60 bc ), because in that edition they followed Physics.His treatment of the Prime Mover, or first cause, as pure intellect, perfect inunity, immutable, and, as he said, "the prospect of thought," is given in theMetaphysics. To his son Nicomachus he dedicated his work on ethics, called theNicomachean Ethics. Other essential works include his Rhetoric, his Poetics(which survives in incomplete form), and his Politics (also incomplete). Some ofthe principal aspects of Aristotles thought can be seen in the followingsummary of his doctrines, or theories. Physics, or natural philosophy.In astronomy, Aristotle proposed a finite, spherical universe, with the earth atits center. The central kingdom is made up of four elements earth, air, fire,and water. In Aristotles physics, each of these four elements has a properplace, determined by its relative heaviness, its "specific gravity." Each movesnaturally in a straight line-earth down, fire up-toward its proper place, where