Page 34 - DPOL201_WESTERN_POLITICAL_THOUGHT_ENGLISH

Western Political Thought

Notes Not much was known about Aristotle’s character and personality, except that he had a sense of
humour, was a good speaker and extremely persuasive in conversation. There were many stories
about him. One account portrayed him as having squandered his wealth due to self-indulgence,
compelling him to join the army to avoid starvation.
In 367 BC Aristotle, 17 years of age, joined Plato’s Academy. He remained in the Academy for the
next 20 years, first as a student and then as a member of the faculty till 348 BC, and left the
Academy for Asia Minor after Plato’s death. Very likely, his departure had to do with the issue of
succession within the Academy. Besides Aristotle, Speusippus, Plato’s nephew, and Xenocrates
aspired for the position. Speusippus got it. If loyalty was the matter, then of the three, Xenocrates
should have succeeded Plato, for he remained a faithful adherent to Plato’s theory. Speusippus too
rejected Plato’s theory of ideas in its original form. Very likely, the reason was to keep the property
within the family and avoid the legal hassles of its transference to a non-Athenian. However, this
reason fell flat, for Xenocrates succeeded on the death of Speusippus in 335 BC. Aristotle’s decision
to leave Athens after Plato’s death could be partly because of his strained relations with Speusippus,
and partly due to the anti-Macedonian feelings in Athens. Aristotle had close links with Macedon.
In 336 BC, Alexander succeeded to the throne after the assassination of his father, which meant
having no time for studies. Aristotle left for Athens. Macedonia emerged as a dominant power in
the region. It began to establish an empire, when many Greek cities including Athens came under
its shadow, following the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC.

Aristotle’s trips to Asia Minor got him interested in natural sciences. He met an old
friend and an active politician, Hippias, whose niece he married. In 343 BC, Aristotle
accepted the offer of Philip of Macedon to tutor the 14-year-old young prince
Alexander.

Aristotle established his school, Lyceum, when he was denied an opportunity to head the academy
for the second time. From 335 BC till his death, he devoted himself to research, teaching and
administrative duties in Lyceum. Lyceum was more than a school or university. It was a public
leisure centre, where Aristotle lectured to his chosen students in the mornings and to the general
public in the evenings. Being an informal school, it had no examinations, degrees, syllabi, official
enrolment and fees.
Aristotle pursued his studies in biology and history in Lyceum. By then, he had collected a large
number of biological specimens. Many of them were sent by his students, including Alexander.
His students also helped him to collect and compile research material, based on which Aristotle
studied 158 constitutions. It has to be noted that amongst his contemporaries, Aristotle had the
largest collection of personal books and manuscripts. After Euripides, (480-406 BC) he was the
first to put together a library and lay down the principles of library classification. Plato referred to
Aristotle’s home as “the house of the reader”.
Meanwhile, Aristotle’s relations with Alexander got strained, reaching a breaking point in 326 BC,
when one of his close friends, a philosopher, Callisthcnes, accused Alexander of becoming an
oriental monarch. Callisthenes was imprisoned and subsequently killed. Perhaps Aristotle would
have suffered a similar fate, but for the fact that Alexander got busy with his plans to invade India.
Within Athens, Aristotle’s position became precarious, for he was seen as belonging to the pro-
Macedonian faction.
Macedonia as an empire under Alexander began to threaten the liberty and independence of small
city states that the Greeks had traditionally cherished. Alexander’s sudden death in 323 BC was

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