Running head: SCIENCE OF ARISTOTLE 1

Aristotle, Father of Science

Caleb M. Woolston

Salt Lake Community College

SCIENCE OF ARISTOTLE 2

Aristotle, Father of Science

Introduction

So many people often ask, where did science come from? The truth is that science cannot

possibly have come from one source. No one man or group can claim responsibility for creating

science. Science as we know it today has changed so much in the many years we have known it

that it is wrong to give credit to one source. However, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle is

often dubbed the father of science. If the credit for the creation of science cannot be traced to one

person, why do we give Aristotle such a strongly worded nickname? In a time where we have

moved on from his developments, and where so many of them have been disproven, how does he

deserve this title? Simply put, Aristotle was the first philosopher to start asking questions about

how nature works. He lived during a time of extreme dogmatic thinking where Greek Gods were

the answer to the vast majority of life and nature’s problem. The evolution of philosophy, even

before Aristotle in the time of Socrates and Plato, led to the breaking of this dogmatic thinking in

the public's mind. Though this break was very slow, it was these great minds that led to

Aristotle’s philosophy of Naturalism. Naturalism was the philosophy that nature exists in a non

supernatural realm. It is completely discoverable so long as we use systematic methods of

observation. He began studying the world around him, and in doing so created an environment

that led to what we now call science.

Questions Lead to Discovery

As we look into how Aristotle's discoveries lead to what we call today science, we need

to ask, “what is science?”. The first step in the scientific process is to ask a question, and

Aristotle did just that. The culture he lived in was very focused Greek gods and supernatural
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cures. Even many philosophers were focused on answering questions without any sort of

empirical data or observations. Plato’s philosophy was centered on spiritual eidoses, which he

said were the object that all things were trying to become. Plato’s Academy, where Aristotle was

taught, led to this idea to being accepted by many mainstream philosophers and citizens of

ancient Greece. Breaking from this, Aristotle said that all things must be observed. He opened up

his own school, The Lyceum, based on this philosophy. He taught these methods to his students

as a way to further help make discoveries. Science relies on the idea that everything can and

must be observed and experimented with. It was originally Aristotle who said this, and thus

began scientific thinking. There is no room in science to give blanket answers, which is where

the supernatural beliefs of the Greeks came from. Aristotle broke this dogmatic approach and

gave us the approach of naturalism, which led to scientific questioning.

Diversity of Students

Science must be studied across all cultures. There is not one culture that should dominate

scientific study. This leads to one-sided developments and biases that favor one culture over

another. Aristotle broke this trend in ancient Greece by opening up his Lyceum to the middle

class of Greece. Plato’s Academy was very expensive, and was only available to the children of

nobility. Even when Plato’s closest friend and mentor Socrates was almost always near

homeless, Plato cut many citizens off from the ability to learn philosophy. Aristotle opened up

his Lyceum to the middle class of Greece and gave them an opportunity to learn his naturalism

and discovery of the world around them. Modern scientific discoveries rely on people from many

diverse backgrounds and economic statuses to be apart of the process, a principle that Aristotle

taught as part of his philosophy.

The Four Causes

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Aristotle first understood that questions can be answered in the same way. The world is

constantly changing around us, and Aristotle four observations about everything in the natural

world he observed. These observations are the substance of the thing, the potentiality of a thing,

what triggers change in a thing, and the meaning of the things existence. Aristotle taught his

students at the Lyceum to study these things about the world. These four causes are an early type

of scientific process. Modern scientists are constantly trying to find how things work and why

they change. Aristotle changed the way we think about the world by giving us principles about

what we are to observe about it.

Conclusion

Aristotle’s discoveries have led to what we call today science. Modern science is very

different than what Aristotle taught at the Lyceum, but science would not be what it is today if

Aristotle had not developed what he did. Naturalism was the key to early studies and discoveries

in the ancient world. It brought about changes in the public’s way of thinking. Rather than

dogmatic blanket or supernatural answers, people were now focused on methodically studying

the world around them. As these questions arose, Aristotle allowed ancient Greeks from a more

poor background to learn about his early methods. This diversity is central to modern scientific

learning. Aristotle further developed four causes as points of what to observe and study about a

thing. Though many of Aristotle’s discoveries have been disproving by more modern thinkers,

Aristotle deserves the title of father of science for what he did for the world.

Bibliography

Soccio, D. J. (2016). Archetypes of wisdom: An introduction to philosophy. Australia:

Wadsworth.
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Bennett, J. (2018). The Essential Cosmic Perspective. New York, NY: Pearson/Addison

Wesley.