Aristotle
From RationalWiki
Aristotle was an influential Greek drinker[1] thinker whose ideas formed a large part of the basis for Western thought, especially in politics.
He was Plato's pre-eminent student. We will not make a joke about homosexuality here. Really.
Aristotle's four elements, Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water [2] were an early attempt to describe all of nature as being composed of basic substances. The fifth element, "quintessence"[3] is basically his word for "soul".
Aristotelian concepts played a large part in the ethics and worldview of the Jewish apostate and amateur Rabbi, Jesus Christ.
As such, it took the West a long time to get over the fundamental errors (we all make misteaks, after all) and get things moving in a positive direction. The early Common Era in the West was marked with a high degree of dogmatism, as opposed to the fluid condition of philosophy in Greece, so instead of arguing with, improving, or even overthrowing Aristotelian concepts, his ideas were rather set in stone, contrary to how he and his peers treated ideas in his time.
Many credit Aristotle as being the first true scientist in the West, despite the ossification of science in the wake of the abuse of his principles.
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ See Monty Python's Philosophers' Song
- ↑ Water got pissed at being left out of the band, but, after all, she did keep shorting out the amps!
- ↑ A really cool word and part of a Squeeze (UK) song title.
