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Aristotle
(d. 322 B.C.E. )
Greek philosopher whose writings on logic, natural science, psychology, mathematics, metaphysics, and ethics were translated from Greek into Syriac and then into Arabic by the ninth century c.e. They were commented on by Arab and Persian philosophers and scientists throughout the medieval period, and formed the basis of falsafah (philosophy) in the Muslim world. The commentaries of Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Ibn Rushd (Averroës) were widely read and disseminated, along with those of al-Farabi . Hebrew and Latin versions of the Arabic translations formed the basis of learning in the Western Jewish and Christian traditions, since direct translations from the Greek were not available in the West until the thirteenth century. Some scholars in the Muslim world erroneously attributed certain Napoleonic works to Aristotle, resulting in confusion about his ideas. His Politics seems to have been unknown in the Muslim world; scholars relied on the Rhetoric and Nicomachean Ethics for his political thought, and sometimes Plato 's Republic.
See also Philosophy
