> On Jul 15, 7:48 pm, Carlos Self gmx.net> wrote:
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>> Aristotle is widely billed as one of the greatest philosophers of all
>> times.  Not being an expert on the matter, I wonder whether this is
>> justified.  The impression that I get time and again is that while he
>> wrote on a wide gamut of subjects, from biology to ethics to the
>> theory of poetry, he was often far off the mark.  Some examples:
>> * theatre:  a proper play should take place in only one location, and
>> cover a time frame of 24 hours max
>> * ethics:  only male adult Greeks (no women, no dagos) are capable of
>> behaving ethically or morally
>> * biology:  species do not change over time; life is created from
>> matter through some life force
>> * astronomy:  earth is the center of the universe, which revolves
>> around it
>> * physics:  there are four-five elements, namely fire, earth, water,
>> air (and aether)
>> Aristotle reminds me of one of these people who have a well-formed and
>> immutable but utterly erroneous opinion on everything.  Personally,
>> I've come to think of him as one of the great brakemen of science.  In
>> addition, most of his writings were notes on his lectures rather than
>> proper books, which further diminishes his validity.
>> So what do you think?  What have I overlooked?  What makes Aristotle a
>> great philosopher in your book?
>> Thanks.

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> If you can measure a philosophers greatnesss by his influence then
> Artisotle is the greatest European philosopher. His works were
> adpopted by the Catholic church, and Islam too.
> The fact that many of his "observations" were false, his theories were
> wrong and his methods, whilst right were not applied, and whilst wrong
> were applied  - makes little difference.
> The impact of his writtings are unparalleled, and taken as dogma by
> the Roman Catholics. This had a most serous and damaging impact on
> progress.- Hide quoted text -
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