Theophrastus

This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources. Find sources: "Theophrastus" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Theophrastus
Statue of Theophrastus, Palermo Botanical Garden
Born	c. 371 BC Eresos
Died	c. 287 BC (aged 83 or 84) Athens
Era	Ancient philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Peripatetic school
Main interests	Ethics, grammar, history, logic, metaphysics, natural history, physics, botany
Notable ideas	Prosleptic and hypothetical syllogisms[1] Modus ponens and modus tollens[2]

Theophrastus (/ˌθiː.əˈfræstəs/; Ancient Greek: Θεόφραστος, romanized: Theóphrastos, lit. 'godly phrased'; c. 371 – c. 287 BC)^[3] was a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.^[4] His given name was Τύρταμος (Túrtamos); his nickname Θεόφραστος (Theóphrastos) was given by Aristotle, his teacher, for his "divine style of expression".

He came to Athens at a young age and initially studied in Plato's school. After Plato's death, he attached himself to Aristotle who took to Theophrastus in his writings. When Aristotle fled Athens, Theophrastus took over as head of the Lyceum.^[4] Theophrastus presided over the Peripatetic school for thirty-six years, during which time the school flourished greatly. He is often considered the father of botany for his works on plants.^[5] After his death, the Athenians honoured him with a public funeral. His successor as head of the school was Strato of Lampsacus.

The interests of Theophrastus were wide ranging, including biology, physics, ethics and metaphysics. His two surviving botanical works, Enquiry into Plants (Historia Plantarum) and On the Causes of Plants, were an important influence on Renaissance science. There are also surviving works On Moral Characters, On Sense Perception, and On Stones, as well as fragments on Physics and Metaphysics. In philosophy, he studied grammar and language and continued Aristotle's work on logic. He also regarded space as the mere arrangement and position of bodies, time as an accident of motion, and motion as a necessary consequence of all activity.^{[citation needed]} In ethics, he regarded happiness as depending on external influences as well as on virtue.