Name: Aristotle
Time Period: 384BC -- 322BC
Quote: "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
Brief Description: As Plato was the pupil of Socrates, so was Aristotle was pupil of Plato. Aristotle was also a Greek philosopher, but he was also more. Much more. He was a master of many subjects including Zoology, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Psychology, Botany, and Meteorology. Aristotle was perhaps, one of the greatest minds in history. He is also often regarded as civilizations first scientist. However he, like everyone else, had flaws. For example, Aristotle was an advocate of both slavery and the inferiority of women. One of his main theories was that "we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit". He put a lot of time and thought into self improvement and believed that happiness is a state of being and an experience, not just a temporary feeling derived from pleasure.
Current Relevance: We can learn a lot from Aristotle, and one of the things that we can learn is that we should strive to improve ourselves and reach and extend our potential. This not only will make us better human beings, but also will lead us to true happiness. Many people, especially young people, have fallen victim to low self esteem and feeling that they are "not good enough", but Aristotle teaches us that we are all "good enough", it is just a matter of who wants to strive for it or not. He who strives for happiness and excellence will be rewarded with it.
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