Aristotle Biography – For Kids & Teachers #Aristotle

Rachel do you know who was Aristotle? Oh you mean the great philosopher? Yes why don't you tell us his story today? Sure but before we start let me tell you what is philosophy? Philosophy is a Greek word which means love of wisdom. Philosophy is the study of some of the basic questions about human life like what can people learn from life? How can we be happy or what makes us sad? And philosophers are the people who study philosophy isn't it? Absolutely and now let's talk about Aristotle. Aristotle was born in North Greece in the city of Stagira around the year 384 BC. And BC means before the birth of Christ. If you want to know more about BC then watch our video on Alexander. Aristotle's father Nicomachus was the doctor to the King Aminthus of Macedonia. So Aristotle enjoyed the royal life since his birth. Yes growing up Aristotle became entrusted in nature. He learned about Greek gods, philosophy and mathematics. At the age of 17 Aristotle traveled to Athens to join Plato's Academy where he learned about philosophy and logical thinking. Who was Plato? Plato is one of the greatest philosophers of all times. Don't worry we will do his story very soon. Aristotle stayed in Plato's school for about 20 years. First as a student and later as a teacher. Plato's Academy was not a school or college like we have today. They didn't have classes on specific subjects taught by teachers. Instead the teachers and students challenged each other with questions and then discussed. Aristotle left Plato's Academy in 347 BC and traveled through Greece and Turkey. What made him different than other philosophers of his time? Aristotle had new ideas on how the world should be studied. He liked to take detailed observations. He even dissected animals to know about the function of each organ. So this was different than any of his contemporary Greek philosophers. They did all the work in mind but Aristotle always tested his ideas. Yes this method of working laid the foundation of the science study we do today. Aristotle spent a lot of time learning about biology. He was the first person to classify different types of animals into groups. Aristotle's way of classification was called homomorphism. Homomorphism means classification based on forms or how the animals looked. For example there are many bird forms like cranes, eagles, crows, bustards and sparrows. Rachel in our video on Alexander the Great you mentioned that Aristotle taught Alexander. I am happy you remember this Pip. In 343 BC King Philip II asked Aristotle to teach his son Alexander. Aristotle taught philosophy, logic, mathematics and many other subjects to Alexander. Alexander went on to conquer most of the civilized world and was called Alexander the Great. After teaching Alexander, Aristotle returned to Athens and opened his school. It was called the Peripatetic school where students learned the philosophy of Aristotle. I read that he worked on the five elements of nature. Yes during those times people believed that everything was made of four elements. Earth, water, air and fire. Aristotle proposed that there was a fifth element, aether and said that the stars, moon and the Sun were made of aether. Aristotle also worked on how people should behave. What does that mean? We all behave well and I am very good. Surely Pip but Aristotle talked about the mean. So the best way for people to behave was to avoid extremes. Like doing everything in a balanced way. Don't eat too many chocolates, don't watch too much TV, don't play video games all the time. Study, play and eat in a balanced way. That's a nice thought. I will practice the idea of mean. What do you say friends? Yay! The existing works of Aristotle are grouped into four categories. Organon, metaphysics, rhetoric and poetics. Great work to be remembered by the world forever. Aristotle died in 322 BC and sadly his students could not take his work to the world. Oh! So all that wisdom was lost? In the 13th century Aristotle was reintroduced to the western world through the works of western philosophers. Even today Aristotle's work remains a significant starting point for any argument in the field of logic, aesthetics, political theory and ethics. So friends, do you remember what philosophy is? It is the study of life, happiness, behavior. Yes! Now here is an activity for you. List out and make a picture of 5 things that make you happy and 5 things that make you sad. And if you want to know more about Aristotle then hop onto our website www.makemegenius.in to find amazing facts, quizzes and activities. We will be back soon with an interesting story on Leonardo da Vinci. But before we go, subscribe to our YouTube channel and press the bell icon so that you don't miss our exciting videos. See you soon!