Ancient · 384–322 BC
Who influenced Aristotle?
Influences and legacy
Systematized everything from logic to biology; the framework medieval thought worked inside for 1,500 years.
Aristotle was influenced by Plato, and went on to influence Avicenna, Averroes, Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas, Ibn Khaldun, Martin Heidegger and 9 others. That is 16 lines of the 448 documented lines of influence between the 279 thinkers on this map.
Read on Wikipedia Portrait: After Lysippos, Public domain See the whole map
Who was Aristotle?
Born in Stagira in northern Greece, Aristotle joined Plato's Academy at about eighteen and stayed until he was around thirty-seven. After Plato's death he tutored the young Alexander the Great at the request of Philip II of Macedon, then founded the Peripatetic school at the Lyceum in Athens. His writings cover the natural sciences, logic, ethics, politics, psychology, linguistics, economics and the arts; only about a third of them survive.
His works hold the earliest known systematic study of logic, and his physics shaped learning until the Enlightenment. Medieval Muslim scholars called him "The First Teacher", and for Thomas Aquinas he was simply "The Philosopher". His ethics has found new life in modern virtue ethics.
Summarized from the lead of the Wikipedia article.
Who influenced Aristotle?
1 direct influence on this map, earliest first.
- Plato c. 428–348 BC
Who did Aristotle influence?
15 thinkers on this map draw directly on Aristotle.
- Theophrastus c. 371–287 BC
- Plotinus AD 204–270
- Boethius AD 477–524
- Al-Kindi c. 801–873
- Al-Farabi c. 872–950
- Avicenna 980–1037
- Peter Abelard 1079–1142
- Averroes 1126–1198
- Maimonides 1138–1204
- Robert Grosseteste c. 1175–1253
- Thomas Aquinas 1225–1274
- Siger of Brabant c. 1240–1284
- Ibn Khaldun 1332–1406
- Franz Brentano 1838–1917
- Martin Heidegger 1889–1976
The line of teachers behind Aristotle
The longest documented line of influence ending at Aristotle runs 5 generations back, to Thales of Miletus.
Two steps away from Aristotle
Indirect influences
- Through Plato: Pythagoras, Parmenides, Empedocles, Protagoras, Socrates, Philolaus
The second generation
- Through Martin Heidegger: Herbert Marcuse, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Jean-Paul Sartre, Emmanuel Levinas, Hannah Arendt, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida
- Through Avicenna: Al-Ghazali, Ibn Tufail, Suhrawardi, Ibn Arabi, Albertus Magnus
- Through Plotinus: Porphyry, Augustine of Hippo
- Through Thomas Aquinas: Duns Scotus, René Descartes
- Through Boethius: Christine de Pizan
- Through Al-Kindi: Al-Razi
Contemporaries of Aristotle
Thinkers on this map born within 25 years of Aristotle, with no direct line between them.
- Mencius c. 372–289 BC
- Zhuangzi c. 369–286 BC
- Crates of Thebes c. 365–285 BC
- Diogenes of Sinope c. 404–323 BC
- Pyrrho c. 360–270 BC
Aristotle by the numbers
- Direct influences
- 1
- Direct followers
- 15 — #2 of 279 on this map
- Thinkers upstream
- 14
- Thinkers downstream
- 179
- Wikipedia languages
- 232 — #2 of 54 among ancient philosophers
- Card rarity
- Legendary
Questions about Aristotle
- Who influenced Aristotle?
- Plato.
- Who did Aristotle influence?
- Theophrastus, Plotinus, Boethius, Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Avicenna, Peter Abelard, Averroes, Maimonides, Robert Grosseteste, Thomas Aquinas, Siger of Brabant, Ibn Khaldun, Franz Brentano and Martin Heidegger.
- When did Aristotle live?
- 384–322 BC. The map files Aristotle under the ancient world.
- How rare is the Aristotle card?
- Wikipedia carries an article on Aristotle in 232 languages, which makes it a Legendary card. Legendary starts at 100 languages, Epic at 50 and Rare at 25.
More ancient philosophers
- Confucius 551–479 BC
- Plato c. 428–348 BC
- Socrates c. 470–399 BC
- Pythagoras c. 570–495 BC
- Laozi c. 6th c. BC
- Cicero 106–43 BC
- Thales of Miletus c. 624–546 BC
- Marcus Aurelius AD 121–180