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Aristotle was born in 384 BC.; with him came the birth of Western realism. He was a student of Plato and a tutor to Alexander the Great (Founders 1). It is difficult to discuss the philosophies of Aristotle without bringing up those of his former tutor, Plato. Aristotle's philosophies diverted from Plato's, and led to Aristotle forming his own school, the Lyceum (Wheelwright 1). The Lyceum was a philosophical school that dealt in matters such as metaphysics, logic, ethics, and natural sciences. When teaching at the Lyceum, Aristotle had a habit of walking about as he discoursed. It was in connection with this that his followers became known in later years as the peripatetics, meaning "to walk about" (Owens 1). For the next thirteen years he devoted his life to his teaching and composing his philosophical treatises. Aristotle's contributions and theories in metaphysics, epistemology, and axiology are greatly appreciated today and still used in recent developments. Aristotle's editors gave the name "Metaphysics" to his works on first philosophy, either because they went beyond or followed after his physical investigations (Adler 1). Metaphysics are the theories of the nature of reality. Aristotle broke down Plato's dualism and replaced it with a hierarchy. He stated that both things and ideas are real, but ideas are better. Actually all things are a combination of matter and idea. For example: A chair may be wood, but it is more than just a block of wood.
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