All 3 Uses of
Aristotle
in
The Canterbury Tales
- For him was lever* have at his bed's head *rather
Twenty bookes, clothed in black or red,
Of Aristotle, and his philosophy,
Than robes rich, or fiddle, or psalt'ry.†Chpt 1.0 *Aristotle = ancient Athenian philosophers who did much to influence Western thinking (384-322 BC)
- They speak of Alhazen and Vitellon,<16>
And Aristotle, that wrote in their lives
Of quainte* mirrors, and of prospectives, *curious
As knowe they that have their bookes heard.†Chpt 5.11
- Secret of secrets: "Secreta Secretorum;" a treatise, very
popular in the Middle Ages, supposed to contain the sum of
Aristotle's instructions to Alexander.†Chpt 8.22
Definition:
one of the greatest of the ancient Athenian philosophers who did much to influence Western thinking; pupil of Plato; teacher of Alexander the Great (384-322 BC)
A memory trick to remember the relationships between Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and Alexander the Great is to put them in reverse alphabetical order: Socrates taught Plato who taught Aristotle, who taught Alexander the Great.