Aristotle Vs. Copernicus :: essays research papers

Aristotle vs. CopernicusAristotle was a classic philosopher and scientist, who shared with Plato thedistinction of being the most famous of ancient philosophers. Aristotle was born(p)at 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 on that point 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 and adopt daughter, Pythias. After Hermias was captured and executed by thePersians, Aristotle went to Pella, the Macedonian capital, where he became thetutor of the kings little son horse parsley, later known as horse parsley the Great. In335, when Alexander became king, Aristotle returned to Athens and establishedhis own tutor, the Lyceum. Because much of the discussion in his school tookplace while teachers and students were walking about 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 developed in Athens, and Aristotle retired to a family estatein Euboea. He died there the by-line year.His whole kit on natural science include Physics, which gives a vast cadence ofinformation on astronomy, meteorology, plants, and animals. His writings on thenature, scope, and properties of being, which Aristotle called First Philosophy( Prote philosophia ), were habituated the title Metaphysics in the basic 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 judgement of thought," is given in theMetaphysics. To his son Nicomachus he dedicated his work on ethics, called theNicomachean Ethics. Oth er essential works include his Rhetoric, his Poetics(which survives in incomplete form), and his government (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, ball-shaped universe, with the earth atits center. The central region is made up of 4 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 satisfying line-earth down, fire up-toward its proper place, where