The Peripatetic School of Aristotle – The Wandering School of Philosophy

 

 

Greek philosopher, Aristotle (384–322 BC), one of the greatest and most influential philosophers of all time, as well as being an important figure in the history of science, mathematics and theater, founded his philosophical school in Athens, known as the Peripatetic school, or simply the Peripatos, in 335 BC.

Peripatetic means “walking or wandering”.

 

 

Unlike his teacher, Plato (428 – 348 BC), who was a citizen of Athens; Aristotle was born in northern Greece, which made him a metic, meaning foreigner, i.e. not an Athenian.

Metics were obliged to pay tax to live in Athens, were not allowed to marry Athenians, nor own property; so Aristotle used the grounds of the Lyceum as a gathering place.

This was the norm in those days, when many philosophers wandered in the public parks of Athens, discussing the meaning of life, how to “Know thyself’ and why “The unexamined life is not worth living”, just as earlier philosophers, such as Socrates, had done before them.

 

The Lyceum

 

 

The Lyceum was originally a temple in Athens dedicated to Apollo Lyceus (“Apollo the wolf-god”), which later became a public area used for philosophical debate long before the time of Aristotle.

The Lyceum, located outside and east of Athens’s city wall, was not only as a centre of learning, it was the meeting place for the Athenian Assembly (before the Pnyx became the official meeting place in the fifth century) and the training ground for the military.

The Peripatetic gatherings at the Lyceum were conducted in a much more relaxed atmosphere than traditional schools and most likely without a set curriculum or the need for students to produce qualifications, nor pay fees.

 

The Wandering Philosopher

 

 

Aristotle was born in 384 BCE in the city of Stagira in Macedonia, his father Nichomacus, personal physician to King Amyntas of Macedonia, had died while Aristotle was still young.

Proxenus of Atarneus, his brother-in-law, then became his guardian and it was he who sent Aristotle to complete his education at Plato’s Academy in Athens, where Aristotle remained for over twenty years.

Despite being a model student, who frequently presented his personal essays on rhetoric, Aristotle often disagreed with Plato’s beliefs, with the result that, when it was time for Plato’s  successor to be chosen,  Aristotle was passed over in favour of Plato’s nephew Speusippus.

With no future at the Academy, he accompanied Xenocrates, philosopher, mathematician and one-time leader of the Platonic Academy from 339 – 314 BC, to Asia Minor where they stayed with Xenocrates’s friend, the tyrant Hermias of Atarneus.

It was here in Atarneus that Aristotle established his first school.

After rebelling against Persian rule in 340 BC, Hermias was exiled to Susa, capital of the Achaemenid Empire, by the Persian King, Artaxerxes III, where he eventually died.

Upon the exile of Hermias, Aristotle, along with Hermias’ daughter, Pythias (some say, his niece) and a follower of his; Theophrastus, left Atarneus and headed for the island of Lesbos where Aristotle married Pythias.

Here in Lesbos the couple had a daughter, whom they also named Pythias, after her mother.

In 343 BC, Philip II of Macedon, asked Aristotle to do him the honour of becoming tutor to his son Alexander, who was thirteen years old at the time.

 

 

 Aristotle accepted the position and travelled to Macedon (Also called Macedonia), where he became head of the royal academy of there.

Whilst teaching at the academy, Aristotle not only guided Alexander in the ways of the world, he also indoctrinated the impressionable young minds of two other future kings, Ptolemy and Cassander, with his beliefs.

 

335 BC – Aristotle Returns to Athens and Establishes the Peripatetic school

 

 

When Athens fell under Macedonian rule in 335 BC, Aristotle returned to Athens from Asia Minor and established the Lyceum; a school which eventually became a rival to Plato’s Academy 

Aristotle remained at his school in Athens for the next twelve years and it is during this period, from 335 to 323 BC, that Aristotle is thought to have composed many of his works.

Sadly, many of his works have not survived, of those which did manage to make it, the most important ones include; Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, On the Soul and Poetics.

The intention of the school was not to dwell or expand on any one specific conviction, but to explore all philosophical and scientific theories; in fact, his school has been compared to a factory that made professionals of any kind!

Aristotle split his study of philosophy into three parts: practical, theoretical, and productive.

Practical philosophy included the study of fields such as biology, mathematics and physics, theoretical philosophy included metaphysics and the study of the soul and productive philosophy concentrated on crafts, agriculture and the arts.

In contrast to Plato, Aristotle explained, that through observation, it was indeed possible to ascertain the end causes and purposes of existence and to identify these causes and purposes.

This philosophical way of thinking, known as teleology, would become one of the most significant philosophical concepts of the western world.

 

Aristotle Flees to Chalcis after the Death of Alexander the Great

 

 

In 323 BCE, after the death of Alexander the Great, Aristotle was forced to flee Athens with his family, when the political leadership reacted against the Macedonians again and his previously published works supporting Macedonian rule left him a target; he was considered an anti-Athenian, pro-Macedonian.

(Aristotle’s wife, Pythias, had died whilst they were in Athens and Herpyllis of Stagira, said to have been a maid of his wife, then became his mistress, together they produced a son whom Aristotle named after his father, Nicomachus)

After stating: “I will not allow the Athenians to sin twice against philosophy”, a reference to Athens’s trial and unjust execution of Socrates, Aristotle, went into voluntary exile to Chalcis, where he died one year later in 322 BCE at the age of 63.

Before leaving Athens, Aristotle had chosen his favorite student, Theophrastus, to succeed him as head of the school; he remained in the position for 36 years until his death in 286 BC.

Other leaders of the school in later years were Strato of Lampsacus, who served as head until 268, Lyco of Troas, Aristo of Ceos, Critolaus, Diodorus of Tyre,  Erymneus  and Andronicus of Rhodes who was the eleventh successor of Aristotle.

 

Aristotelianism:

The Philosophy of Aristotle

 

 

Unlike the works of his teacher, Plato, hardly any of the works of Aristotle remain today.

When it comes to Aristotle’s views and beliefs we mostly have to rely on notes, which still exist, written by his pupils.

Pick a subject; you name it, Aristotle, regarded as the father of the concept of formal logic, “philosophized” it; anatomy, zoology, physics and metaphysics, theology, rhetoric, psychology, geology and meteorology.

The most important works of Aristotle which have survived include Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, On the Soul and Poetics.

 

Aristotelian Logic

 

 

Up until the 20th century, Aristotle’s Logic was thought to be unequaled.

During the Renaissance, many of his theories about the Universe were used as the foundation for newer concepts formed by the astronomers of that era.

 

The three notions of science

 

 

 To Aristotle, Science had three basic characteristics; practical, poetical and theoretical.

Practical science concerned ethics and politics, poetical science; poetry and artistic undertakings and theoretical science covered physics, mathematics and metaphysics.

 

The five elements of the Universe

 

 

When it came to physics, Aristotle stated that there are five elements which make up the universe: fire, earth, air, water and aether.

 These elements are arranged corresponding to their gravitational pull from the centre of the universe.

If they happen to move from their natural position, they will automatically fall back into place without any undue force; heavy objects will sink in water, air bubbles will rise to the surface, rain water will fall to earth and flames shoot upwards into the air.

 

Biology

 

 

In Biology, particularly zoology, Aristotle divided animals into two groups: having blood and not having blood.

Those having blood were further divided; life bearing and egg bearing.

Animals without blood, he divided into three groups: insects, crustacea and testacea.

 

Ethics

 

 

Aristotle considered the idea of ethics to be a part of practical science, with actions being more important than reasoning.

A virtuous person, he said, should be happy with his lot and not desire more, in fact, he  introduced the “golden mean”  to emphasize this; “everything in moderation”.

 

Politics

 

 

“For the whole must of necessity be prior to the part“.

For Aristotle the city was a natural community which took priority over family, which, in turn, took priority over the individual.

He also famously stated that “man is by nature a political animal” and that the determining factor between humans and others in the animal kingdom, is the human’s ability to rationalize.

Aristotle believed politics to be like an organism rather than mechanical, a collection of parts of which one could not exist without the others; he was one of the first to think of the city as organic.

He believed that not only was it the role of the city to prevent injustice or to maintain economic stability, the city should also allow its citizens the possibility of living the good life: “The political partnership must be regarded, therefore, as being for the sake of noble actions, not for the sake of living together”.

 

Poetics

 

 

Aristotle is known for his belief that humans have many advantages over animals; one such belief is that humans have the ability to subject themselves to imitation.

He deemed all genres of art (epic poetry, comedy, tragedy, music) as an imitation, take for example his work “Poetics” where he divides poetry into two parts; comedy and tragedy, which both engage with imitation, which according to Aristotle, is natural in man.

Comedy, so he believed, makes the individual look worse than the average man, whilst, on the other hand, tragedy makes them look better as tragedy is the result of actions which cause the awakening of emotions, such as pity or fear, which consequently brings about a release of these emotions.

 

Aristotle’s Library:

The First European Library in History

 

 

Aristotle had always been an avid book collector; his collection was second to none and was continually added to by his former pupil, Alexander the Great, who would send plant and animal species as well as books, enabling Aristotle to create a library which attracted many pupils as there, they could study any subject available at the time.

Theophrastus, after becoming head of the school, continued to organize and stock up Aristotle’s library, most importantly of all he was the first to systematically catalogue botany.

 Although, as Aristotle before him, Theophrastus was not a citizen of Athens (he had met Aristotle in the 340s in his homeland of Lesbos) and therefore was not permitted to own property, in 315 BC, he had somehow managed to buy land near the main gym of the Lyceum along with several buildings which provided workspace for the library.

When he died, Theophrastus left the land he had acquired at the Lyceum to his friends, in order that they could continue their vocation; the teaching of philosophy, in the non-private tradition of the school.

 

The Decline of the Peripatetic School

 

 

With the rise of Neo-Platonism (and Christianity) in the 3rd century, Peripateticism fell into decline, however the Neo-Platonists did try to blend Aristotle’s philosophy with their own ideas and composed many accounts of Aristotle’s works.

Ironically it was not until 86 BC, when Athens was ransacked by the Roman general Sulla and all schools of philosophy in Athens were shut down, that there was a revival of the Peripatetic school.

General Sulla took the writings of Aristotle and Theophrastus back to Rome, where they formed the foundation for a new collection of Aristotle’s writings, put together by Andronicus of Rhodes;  “the Corpus Aristotelicum” which still exists today.

 

 Aristotle’s Lyceum today

 

 

In 1996, whilst clearing space for Athens’ new Museum of Modern Art, in central Athens, by the junction of Rigillis and Vasilissis Sofias Streets, next to the Athens War Museum and the National Conservatory, excavations revealed the remains of Aristotle’s Lyceum.

 First to be uncovered were a gymnasium and wrestling area of the original Lyceum.

When the importance of this amazing discovery was realized, it was decided to construct the Art Museum nearby and combine it with a Lyceum outdoor museum in order to give visitors easy access to both.

The complex was opened to the public in 2009.