Mathematician:Aristotle
Mathematician
Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης, Aristotélēs) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.
Frequently cited as having been the inventor of the field of study known as (classical) logic.
Phenomenally influential philosopher whose works (for better or for worse) shaped the entirety of the intellectual development of the Western world for over a millennium.
Most important from the point of view of mathematics for formulating the Principle of Non-Contradiction and the Law of the Excluded Middle.
Introduced the concept of a variable.
Nationality
Greek
History
- Born: 384 BCE, Stagirus, Macedonia, Greece
- Died: 322 BCE, Chalcis, Euboea, Greece
Theorems and Definitions
Definitions of concepts named for Aristotle can be found here.
Writings
Only about a third of the writings of Aristotle survive. As can be expected, those that did have been extensively studied and catalogued. The entire collection is referred to as the Corpus Aristotelicum.
A standard way of referring to them is by Bekker number, named for August Immanuel Bekker, who published a definitive version of Aristotle's works between $1831$ and $1870$.
Complete works by Bekker numbers
The following list is complete. The titles are in accordance with the standard set by the 1984 Revised Oxford Translation (The Complete Works of Aristotle, edited by Jonathan Barnes, 2 vols).
Also given are the Latin titles. Disputed works are marked by *, and ** marks a work generally agreed to be spurious.
Logic (Organon)
- (1a) Categories (or Categoriae)
- (16a) De Interpretatione ("On Interpretation")
- (24a) Prior Analytics (or Analytica Priora)
- (71a) Posterior Analytics (or Analytica Posteriora)
- (100a) Topics (or Topica)
- (164a) Sophistical Refutation (or De Sophisticis Elenchis)
Physics (the study of nature)
- (184a) Physics (or Physica)
- (268a) On the Heavens (or De Caelo)
- (314a) On Generation and Corruption (or De Generatione et Corruptione)
- (338a) Meteorology (or Meteorologica)
- (391a) On the Universe** (or De Mundo)
- (402a) On the Soul (or De Anima)
- The Parva Naturalia ("Little Physical Treatises"):
- (436a) Sense and Sensibilia (or De Sensu et Sensibilibus)
- (449b) On Memory (or De Memoria et Reminiscentia)
- (453b) On Sleep (or De Somno et Vigilia)
- (458a) On Dreams (or De Insomniis)
- (462b) On Divination in Sleep (or De Divinatione per Somnum)
- (464b) On Length and Shortness of Life (or De Longitudine et Brevitate Vitae)
- (467b) On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration (or De Juventute et Senectute, De Vita et Morte, De Respiratione)
- (481a) On Breath** (or De Spiritu)
- (486a) History of Animals (or Historia Animalium)
- (639a) Parts of Animals (or De Partibus Animalium)
- (698a) Movement of Animals (or De Motu Animalium)
- (704a) Progression of Animals (or De Incessu Animalium)
- (715a) Generation of Animals (or De Generatione Animalium)
- (791a) On Colors** (or De Coloribus)
- (800a) On Things Heard** (or De audibilibus)
- (805a) Physiognomonics** (or Physiognomonica)
- (815a) On Plants** (or De Plantis)
- (830a) On Marvellous Things Heard** (or De mirabilibus auscultationibus)
- (847a) Mechanics** (or Mechanica)
- (859a) Problems* (or Problemata)
- (968a) On Indivisible Lines** (or De Lineis Insecabilibus)
- (973a) The Situations and Names of Winds** (or Ventorum Situs)
- (974a) On Melissus, Xenophanes, and Gorgias**
Metaphysics
- (980a) Metaphysics (or Metaphysica)
Ethics and Politics
- (1094a) Nicomachean Ethics (or Ethica Nicomachea)
- (1181a) Great Ethics* (Magna Moralia)
- (1214a) Eudemian Ethics (or Ethica Eudemia)
- (1249a) On Virtues and Vices** (or De Virtutibus et Vitiis Libellus)
- (1252a) Politics (or Politica)
- (1343a) Economics* (or Oeconomica)
Rhetoric and Poetics
- (1354a) Rhetoric (or Ars Rhetorica)
- (1420a) Rhetoric to Alexander** (or Rhetorica ad Alexandrum)
- (1447a) Poetics (or Ars Poetica)
Sources
- 1921: Sir Thomas Heath: A History of Greek Mathematics: Volume $\text { I }$ ... (next): Preface
- 1946: Alfred Tarski: Introduction to Logic and to the Methodology of Deductive Sciences (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): $\S \text{II}.6$: Logical Constants (footnote)
- 1951: Willard Van Orman Quine: Mathematical Logic (revised ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Introduction
- 1959: A.H. Basson and D.J. O'Connor: Introduction to Symbolic Logic (3rd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text I$ Introductory: $1$. Symbolic Logic and Classical Logic
- 1966: Isaac Asimov: Understanding Physics ... (previous) ... (next): $\text {I}$: Motion, Sound and Heat: Chapter $1$: The Search for Knowledge: The Greek View of Motion
- 1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence
- 1989: Ephraim J. Borowski and Jonathan M. Borwein: Dictionary of Mathematics ... (previous) ... (next): Aristotelian logic
- 1991: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Geometry ... (previous) ... (next): A Chronological List Of Mathematicians
- 1992: George F. Simmons: Calculus Gems ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {A}.2$: Pythagoras (ca. $\text {580}$ – $\text {500}$ B.C.)
- 1993: Richard J. Trudeau: Introduction to Graph Theory ... (previous) ... (next): $1$. Pure Mathematics: Games
- 1997: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence
- 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Aristotle (384-322 bc)
- 2021: Richard Earl and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (6th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Aristotle (384-322 bc)