Aristotle (384-322 BCE) was born in Stagira on the northern Aegean coast to parents that both had involvements in medicine. His father was court physician to King Amyntus II of Macedonia. At seventeen years old he was sent to Athens to study under Plato at Plato’s Academy. Later in life, twelve years after Plato’s death, he returned to Athens to form the Lycaeum outside the city. Students at the Lycaeum collected manuscripts and it became one of the world’s first great libraries. Aristotle was also tutor to Alexander the Great! During his conquests, Alexander often sent Aristotle specimens of various plants and animals collected along his journey. These specimens contributed greatly to Aristotle's biological and taxonomic research.

After Plato’s death, Aristotle stayed at Assos and Lesbos, and it was there that he began to observe marine life and made the first forays into classifying organisms. In many ways, Aristotle was instrumental in laying the foundation of modern science as a discipline. Aristotle observed the world and developed explanations to rationalize it. He also encouraged scientific scrutiny and the sharing of knowledge. Modern science is described as the orderly and systematic comprehension, description, and explanation of natural phenomena. These are identical to Aristotle's principles of observation, description, explanation, study, and dissemination of findings. These key ideas are absolutely what gives science the necessary spirit of collaboration that it has today. Papers are peer-reviewed, experiments are replicated for repeatability and validity, and new findings are brought into the ever-growing fold that is scientific knowledge.

Jar ecosystems are enclosed, (often) self-sustaining microenvironments in a glass jar where plants, animals, microorganisms, and inorganic aquatic and terrestrial elements coexist and interact to create a thriving microecosystem. These jars provide a great way to observe the natural world and study how organisms interact with their natural environment. They are also relatively easy and cheap to build, providing a great way for people of all ages and demographics to get involved with the sciences and explore their natural curiosity!

Our goal in this project was to build jar ecosystems and observe the organisms within these microenvironments the same way Aristotle would have conducted his observations. Aristotle was a huge proponent of hands-on study, observation, and note-taking, so these were principles we followed when observing our jar ecosystems. We recorded notes on animals we observed in notebooks, detailing the different species and noting distinguishing physical characteristics for each of them, the number of individuals of each species, their behaviors, and fluctuations in population over time. After observing these microecosystems for over a month, we were able to make extensive notes on the different animals within the jars and we are still finding new animals we hadn't seen previously! This process has become a passion project and we will continue to observe and record notes on the jar ecosystems.

Shuttleworth, M. (2010, February 13). Aristotle's Zoology: A History of Biology. Aristotle's Zoology - History of Biology. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from https://explorable.com/aristotles-zoology

This article gives insight into the scientific achievements and experiments of Aristotle and touches on the philosophical beliefs and contributions of Anaximander and Theophrastus. In addition, it details Aristotle’s famous chicken egg experiment where he breaks open a series of eggs to study the day-by-day development of embryonic chickens. This article also gives a list of Aristotle’s known works including On the Parts of Animals. The article describes Aristotle’s method of taxonomic classification, grouping animals based on their physiological features and reproductive methods which Aristotle interpreted in terms of their habitat and lifestyle. The author of this article refers to Aristotle as the Father of Biology.

Aristotle. (2009). The Internet Classics Archive: On the parts of animals by Aristotle. The Internet Classics Archive | On the Parts of Animals by Aristotle. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/parts_animals.1.i.html

This text is a translation of Aristotle’s work On the Parts of Animals. In it, we clearly see Aristotle’s desire to make the classification of life a systematic science. Many parts are very wordy and sometimes convoluted, and this is likely because of the (at the time) novelty of this endeavor, translation, and the difference in styles of communication between Aristotle’s time and our modern methods of conveying ideas. In the text, Aristotle reveals that aside from curiosity, part of his reasoning for classifying and grouping animals was because of a desire for convenience. Aristotle says:

“For genera that are quite distinct yet oftentimes present many identical phenomena, sleep, for instance, respiration, growth, decay, death, and other similar affections and conditions, which may be passed over for the present, as we are not yet prepared to treat of them with clearness and precision. Now it is plain that if we deal with each species independently of the rest, we shall 'frequently be obliged to repeat the same statements over and over again; for horse and dog and man present, each and all, every one of the phenomena just enumerated. A discussion therefore of the attributes of each such species separately would necessarily involve frequent repetitions as to characters, themselves identical but recurring in animals specifically distinct.”

In addition, the text also features a quasi-Darwinian discussion of traits that give organisms selective advantage. Aristotle recognizes that certain features unique to certain organisms are necessary for them to survive in their particular environments. For example, fish have fins which allow them to better swim through water, catch food, and avoid predators. Aristotle reflects an idea that animals have their respective unique physiologies for a reason, which today we recognize as selective advantages that boost an organism's ability to survive and reproduce in its environment.

Ducarme, F. (2015, June 18). Why study invertebrates? A philosophical argument from Aristotle. No Bones. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from https://nmnh.typepad.com/no_bones/2015/06/why-study-invertebrates-a-philosophical-argument-from-aristotle.html

This article gives a brief history of invertebrate zoology and highlights Aristotle’s contributions to the field. It says that Aristotle held the observation, dissection, and study of small invertebrates in high esteem. Aristotle himself said:

“…we must proceed to treat of animals, without omitting, to the best of our ability, any member of the kingdom, be it sublime or ignoble. Indeed, even for those things that have no graces to charm our sense, nature has organized the beings it offers to our sight so well that, when we look at them, we can feel an immense pleasure if we are able to analyze and understand them, and are inclined to philosophy. Indeed, it would be strange if we could enjoy only mere representations of wildlife, admiring the mimetic skill of the painter or sculptor, and not to get even more passionate for the natural things themselves, whereas we can experience them directly.

We therefore must not be childishly repelled by the examination of the humbler animals. All things in nature are admirable.”

Indeed, Aristotle’s attitude towards these animals paved the way for entire subdisciplines of science, biology, and zoology. This article tells us that Aristotle’s study of invertebrates was so extensive that people named the mouth of sea urchins after him, calling it “Aristotle’s Lantern.”

Lennox, J. (2021, July 16). Aristotle's Biology. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-biology/#Bio

This article gives a detailed account of Aristotle’s life, background, history, philosophy, and scientific achievements and contributions. It presents a discussion on the importance of Aristotle’s thinking while also giving voice to the weaknesses therein. It gives the different ways Aristotle classified his animals, grouping them as bloodless (invertebrates), blooded (vertebrates), egg-bearing (egg-laying), and live-bearing (non-egg-laying). It also provides a fascinating example of how Aristotle described the features of birds. He described them as having wings, beaks, feathers, and two fleshless legs. Aristotle used sets of shared features like these to group animals together and categorize them, thus giving us the type of animal known as “bird.” His description of “fleshless” legs is strange to us today as we recognize that bird limbs have muscles, tendons, blood vessels, and other components of flesh as we know it. The article also details the manner in which Aristotle gave causes, explanations, and functions for different physiological features of animals, such as the neck and esophagus, detailing their importance and role in the body.

BeeVital. (2022, August 29). The role of propolis in the beehive. Propolis. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from https://beevitalpropolis.com/the-role-of-propolis-in-the-beehive/

This article discusses the history of Aristotle’s glass beehive and his fondness for studying bees. We are told that Aristotle had the glass beehive so that he could observe the inner workings of the hive and the queen. However, he was unable to make many long-term observations as the bees had smeared the glass with a substance called propolis to block out the light! Bees use propolis to weatherproof hives and keep out light and predators. A different kind of propolis is used for structural purposes: narrowing channels and strengthening cell walls. The article also discusses other information about propolis such as its applications and other history.

History.com Editors. (2009, November 9). Aristotle. History.com. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/aristotle

This article offers a deep dive into the history, contributions, and impact of Aristotle, as well as his political, academic, and didactic experiences. In addition to background information, it also discusses Aristotle’s Lyceum, listing it as one of the world's first great libraries. The article includes information on his relationship with Alexander the Great. Aristotle was Alexander’s teacher, and Alexander sponsored Aristotle, granting him large sums of money to fund his studies and sending him specimens of plants and animals collected during Alexander’s conquests. It mentions Aristotle’s stay at Assos and Lesbos and describes this time as his first foray into marine biology. The article also discusses information about Aristotle outside the scope of this project, such as his teachings on rhetoric, metaphysics, poetry, and morals. Aristotle truly was a well-rounded scholar and intellect as many of the Ancient Greek philosopher-thinkers were.

Manktelow, M. (2010). History of Taxonomy. Uppsala University Department of Systematic Biology. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from http://www.atbi.eu/summerschool/files/summerschool/Manktelow_Syllabus.pdf

This article offers an in-depth history of taxonomy as a scientific discipline. It discusses early humans’ needs to distinguish poisonous plants from plants used for food, Ancient Egyptian and Chinese taxonomy, Aristotle’s grouping of animals, and other aspects of ancient taxonomy. It also details the history of modern taxonomy with Carl Linnaeus’s system of naming developed in the 18^th century, Charles Darwin and other thinkers’ ideas of evolutionary trees, and even modern nomenclature systems developed in the 21^st century such as PhyloCode. This article presents a fascinating overview of the many thinkers that shaped the way we view organisms today and instills a sense of appreciation for the long road it took to get to our modern level of taxonomic understanding.

Lennox, J. G. (2001). Aristotle's Philosophy of Biology – Studies in the Origins of Life Science. Cambridge University Press.

This book presents a deep dive into scholarly discussions of Aristotle’s biology, from his methods of observation, systems of classification, and explanations of physiological characteristics of different organisms. This book presents the syllogistic conclusions method in which Aristotle noted that a specific animal had a certain feature, other animals shared that same feature, and therefore those animals must belong to the same group. Additionally, in it we find Aristotle’s statement that birds have beaks in virtue of being a bird. Again, this causes an element of confusion, as it is uncertain whether he is saying birds have beaks because they are birds or because they require beaks to live the lifestyle of a bird. This book is extremely extensive and is a great source on all things Aristotle.