Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, polymath, student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates, Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. His writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and science, politics and metaphysics. His views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. Their influence extended into the Renaissance and were not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment. He died in 322 BC of natural causes at the age of 62. Engraving from "The History of Philosophy" by Thomas Stanley published in three successive volumes between 1655 and 1661.