Book 1: Chapter 19, Aristotle's Metaphysics Summary and Analysis

Aristotle should be viewed in relation to his predecessors and successors. He ended a certain period of Greek thought while his ideas found an equal only two thousand years later. His authority though contributed to a standstill in science.

Aristotle was born in 384 BC at Stagyra in Thrace. His father was a physician to the Macedonian king. At the age of eighteen he went to Athens, started learning from Plato, studying for twenty years in his Academy until Plato died in 384-7 BC. He traveled, married, and in 343 became Alexander's tutor. Alexander may have adopted Aristotle's philosophies although he displayed drunkenness, cruelty, and superstition due to his passions and ambitions. Aristotle influenced Alexander more than he did Aristotle. He believed in a golden mean and that states should have a limited number of people.

Between...