Aristotle

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Aristotle, a profound Greek philosopher, was born in Greece in 384 B.C. He has been well known as the father of biology. He was Plato's pupil. His ethics and beliefs, or discoveries, influenced each other reciprocally.

He proposed scientific explanations for the causation of diseases which contributed to form the foundation of modern evidence-based medicine. Despite the popularity of superstitious beliefs in Greece around 400 B.C, he instead investigated anatomy of both human and animals. He worked on animals via direct observation and anatomical comparison through dissections, which suggested him the idea to classify different animal species. For example, his taxonomy relied on physical characteristics to divide animals into two groups such as those with red blood(vertebrates) and without (invertebrates).

Besides, he established methods for embryological investigation as well as revealing how reproduction works in a variety of different animals. For instance, he originated the theory that an organism develops gradually from undifferentiated material, later called epigenesis. His eyesight was very good - he could observe the tiny speck of blood pulsating from the chick's heart by naked eye when he cracked eggs. By this observation, he thought heart was central of the body. In addition, He believed that every organ in the organisms have adapted a shape for its function, and they have their specific uses.

Furthermore, he developed two concepts 'potentiality' and 'actuality'. In his view of 'potentiality', a pile of bricks has the potential to become a house. Building and sculpturing transform these objects from a kind of potential to a kind of 'actuality'. He reckoned actuality an end point of potentiality and the 'natural state' of things. He was very concerned with cause. He desired to know what caused movement around the earth, and he broke down this question into four parts: material, formal, efficient and final causes.

"Aristotle would have been puzzled to be described as a scientist; he was simply a philosopher in the literal meaning of the word: a lover of wisdom. But he spent his life trying to make sense of the world around him, and in ways that we would now describe as scientific." William Bynum wrote in his book.

1. Gracia, Diego, and Michael C. White. “The Structure of Medical Knowledge in Aristotle's Philosophy.” Sudhoffs Archiv, vol. 62, no. 1, 1978, pp. 1–36. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20776509 
2. Riess, Ernst. “Superstitions and Popular Beliefs in Greek Comedy.” The American Journal of Philology, vol. 18, no. 2, 1897, pp. 189–205. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/288171 
3. https://sites.google.com/site/aristotlethebiologist/aristotle-s-biology/classification 
4. Lawrence, Cera R., "On the Generation of Animals, by Aristotle". Embryo Project Encyclopedia (2010-10-02). ISSN: 1940-5030 http://embryo.asu.edu/handle/10776/2063. 
5. https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/aristotle-384-322-bce#:~:text=In%20natural%20philosophy%2C%20later%20called,undifferentiated%20material%2C%20later%20called%20epigenesis 
6. https://suneeldhand.com/2012/07/06/aristotles-overlooked-contribution-to-medicine/ 
7. https://interestingengineering.com/aristotles-ideas-laid-the-foundation-for-evidence-based-medicine 
8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4154333/#:~:text=Aristotle%2C%20one%20the%20greatest%20minds,and%20towards%20the%20scientific%20method
9. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/greek/greek_aristotle.html 
10. https://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/EA/ARISTOTLEann.html#:~:text=In%20particular%2C%20he%20believed%20in,air%2C%20fire%2C%20and%20water
11. William Bynum, A Little History of Science, New York: Yale University Press, 2013. pp. 25-29