Aristotle studied with Plato for twenty years, and many of Plato's ideas can be seen in his works. However, Aristotle thought that Plato's unseen world of perfect forms was perfect nonsense.

He was altogether more down to earth than Plato. The natural world fascinated Aristotle, and he was often seen down on all fours, peering at plants or watching the antics of creepy-crawlies. He declared:

"There is something

marvellous

in all natural things"

 After Plato's death, Aristotle opened his own school, the Lyceum, where Plato's perfect forms were part of life, not apart from it.

Studying nature convinced him that everything was striving towards its own unique form of perfection. He knew that all acorns were potential oak trees, even though many landed on barren soil. He also knew that a duck's egg would never hatch into an eagle.

Aristotle was a great organizer. He looked at the chaotic jumble of creation and tried to sort it into tidy piles. His aim was to categorize all areas of human knowledge. He sifted through everything, even separating language into ten basic word-types.

But he did make errors, and pigeon-holing women as "unfinished men" was a big one. With no such thing as microbiology to prove otherwise, he said men carried the "seed". This put women on par with soil and deeply harmed their credibility centuries later.

He sorted everything on Earth into animal, vegetable, and mineral.

Aristotle excelled at marine biology and identified 500 different species of sea life.

Aristotle branded women second-class citizens, unfit for any legal or political rights.

Aristotle liked to walk and talk as he taught his students.

Aristotle tutored the young Alexander the Great.

He saw that every acorn
has the potential to grow
into an oak tree.		 He opened his
school in Athens
called the Lyceum.