Hi. Hi, I'm Peter Adamson, and you're listening to the History of Philosophy podcast, brought to you

with the support of King's College London and the Lever Hume Trust online at

W.W. History of Philosophy.net. Today's episode

Mr. Know It All Aristotle's Life and works.

In 2005, the BBC had a competition in which people were invited to vote for the greatest

philosopher of all time.

About 30,000 people voted, and the eventual winner was Karl Marx.

Yeah, I know.

Anyway, while this competition was going on, I mentioned it to a colleague of mine who was

also a historian of philosophy.

He said, what a strange idea.

I asked him why he thought it was strange, and after a moment's consideration, he said,

well, to begin with, the answer is so obviously Aristotle.

I laughed and said the competition wasn't to name the most influential philosopher of all time,

but the greatest philosopher of all time. He said, oh I see, but still the answer is so

obviously Aristotle. That conversation is a telling one I think. It's not so much that my

colleague was a partisan of Aristotle, who in case you're wondering only came ninth in the poll.

It's more my initial reaction to his puzzlement.

Greatest philosopher of all time? That's a matter of taste. But most influential

philosopher of all time? At least in the Western tradition, there is a clear victor in the race

for this title, Aristotle.

Although his works did not dominate the philosophical scene in the centuries immediately following his death,

...