A student of Plato’s for 20 years, Aristotle’s ideas were unquestionably influenced by his teacher. However, Aristotle developed his own doctrine, which he applied to many subjects.

Aristotle rejected Plato’s theory of forms (or theory of ideas). While Aristotle, too, believed in material (the physical being) and forms (the unchanging truths), unlike his teacher, he believed that it is the concrete (material) that has substantial being. Aristotle viewed the basic task of philosophy as explaining why and how things are, or how they become what they are. It is for this reason that Aristotle had not only a profound and lasting influence on philosophy but on scientific spirit.