Do atheists believe that Aristotle existed? If so, what evidence supports his existence?

Question

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How do you know he worte it? What proof do you have that the writings were not of someone else hand?
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Can anyone present his body as proof that he actually existed, OR should we have faith in history books?
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cynical (below) No. I do not have a problem with atheists. I do want to hear their side of the story and give examples.

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FOR ALL: Not trying to make believers of anyone. Simply opening discussion for thought.
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Answer 1

Geez, I thought you were smart. Come on, man. Think about your question.

Answer 2

Going to get a lot of answers making fun of you. But to the poster above who said we have his writings written by his own hand. Prove it. Prove he actually wrote those. Did you know there is doubt that Shakespeare actually wrote his plays and he is much closer in time than Aristotle. There is evidence that supports Aristotle's existence. But it is just as circumstantial as you claim the evidence is supporting that Jesus existed. The truth is that the poster is correct. Your doubts about the existence of Jesus could be applied to many historical figures. But you only attack Jesus because if He is real and what He claimed to be it means non-believers are on their way to Hell.

To those of you claiming that first person accounts prove his existence. We have that for Christ. There are mountains of historical documents mentioning Christ as well. Like it or not the Bible is a historical document. There is evidence that Christ existed and much of it is the same type of evidence that Aristotle existed. Why believe one existed and not the other?

Seahock - yes you can find writings attributed to him. Does that prove he wrote them? If there is doubt and it cannot be proven that shakespeare wrote his plays and he was alive much nearer present times. Then why would writing attributed to Aristostle be enough to prove his existence? The simple fact is there is no way to prove he existed. All evidence is circumstantial.

Answer 3

First of all, why would anyone want to lie about his existence? Secondly, we have PRIMARY sources. Those are his actual writings and documentations, not second hand. That right there is enough evidence to come to the conclusion that he obviously exists. Man you guys really are getting desperate.

To the guy above me: go to the library. I'm sure you can find some kind of information that tell you where they keep his actual writings and/or journals that he kept first hand. its not like every piece of evidence is second hand. This, in no way, compares to the evidence of Jesus's existance.

Answer 4

Born at Stagira in northern Greece, Aristotle was the most notable product of the educational program devised by Plato; he spent twenty years of his life studying at the Academy. When Plato died, Aristotle returned to his native Macedonia, where he is supposed to have participated in the education of Philip's son, Alexander (the Great). He came back to Athens with Alexander's approval in 335 and established his own school at the Lyceum, spending most of the rest of his life engaged there in research, teaching, and writing. His students acquired the name "peripatetics" from the master's habit of strolling about as he taught. Although the surviving works of Aristotle probably represent only a fragment of the whole, they include his investigations of an amazing range of subjects, from logic, philosophy, and ethics to physics, biology, psychology, politics, and rhetoric. Aristotle appears to have thought through his views as he wrote, returning to significant issues at different stages of his own development. The result is less a consistent system of thought than a complex record of Aristotle's thinking about many significant issues.
Aristotle is just a brilliant human being.. Aristotle is not god, an imaginary figure whose existence cannot be proven.

Answer 5

Aristotle is not worshiped. He was a philosopher in ancient Greece. He was a student of Plato and the teacher of Alexander the Great. He was also an excellent writer and fine scholar.

Edit--they have a will for Aristotle
http://www.stoa.org/diotima/anthology/wlgr/wlgr-greeklegal79.shtml

Answer 6

Yes, I do at least.
He wrote about things we can still prove today, physics, theater, poetry, logic, metaphysics, government, biology, zoology, ethics, and rhetorics.
We can still give physical evidence today about those things but as the centuries increase with time, we gain less faith and evidence for a higher power, in this case, god.
When we can continue to support consistent evidence in another century, then I'm sure we'll have more belief.

Answer 7

Aristotle is highly documented and left his own writings as well compared to the lack of custody chain of events and non support of history as in the fabled Christ Aristotle existed and even if he didn't who cares people go to what was done and said not whether he existed so you see the existence of Aristotle is irrelevant unlike the myth of Christ . No one claims Aristotle to be miraculous or a god now do they ? your point of question is entirely a moot one and leaves me nonplussed .

Answer 8

all atheists believe jesus existed let alone aristotle. why do you ask is what i wonder. the know that the buddha existed; mohammed, moses, however, they do not believe santa claus nor peter pan ever existed. did you know that many atheists believe in god but do not believe in things like jesus, mohammed, vishnu, or buddha being devine, supernatural or more than mortal, like you and i. since you are interested in the subject maybe you should study about these things.

Answer 9

Oh don't be rediculous! Simply put:
Why the hell would someone make up Aristotle? Do people worship him? How do you know George Washington was real? What about Galileo?

Answer 10

You have a good question going on but you need more detail. I know where you are going with this. You have no backbone for it. MORE DETAILS. Im going to stop you now, and say, " Why worry about the atheist?" Worry about your own belief.

Answer 11

Did Julius Caesar exist?! Did Alex the Great!?

Why does it matter!?