Breadth and Scope. In Aristotle there is a consistent pattern of deliberate, conscientious research on as broad a range of scientific fields as were recognized in antiquity, along with the creation of entirely new fields that had previously been unknown: logic, epistemology, cosmology, medicine, physiology, psychology, biology, zoology, botany, optics, acoustics, physics, dynamics, mathematics, astronomy, rhetoric, political science, ethics, and literary theory. Roughly 30 of his more than 150 books have survived. It should also be remembered that Aristotle was as deeply committed to teaching and cooperative work as he was to independent research. Just as important as his own writings, therefore, is the long tradition of scientific research that he set in motion and that continued to operate through many later generations of researchers, teachers, and students at the Lyceum.

Rules of Logic. Aristotle gave a remarkable degree of attention...