Aristotle

About Aristotle

Aristotle (384–322 BCE) stands as one of history's foundational thinkers, ranking #12 in overall historical importance due to the sheer breadth and depth of his influence. As a student of Plato and a teacher of Alexander the Great, his work established the framework for much of Western philosophy and science. His contributions span logic (formalizing the syllogism), metaphysics, ethics (most famously in the Nicomachean Ethics), politics, and early biology, shaping intellectual inquiry for over two millennia.

Despite this massive historical footprint, Aristotle’s modern internet attention appears appropriately scaled, earning an Attention Gap score of approximately 1x. His 2.0 million Wikipedia views in 2025 place him below several less historically significant contemporaries; for instance, Jesus (#28 importance) commanded 5.4M views and Alexander the Great (#16 importance) garnered 4.1M views. However, his direct philosophical peer, Gautama Buddha (#2 importance), surprisingly received only 410K views, indicating a significant gap favoring Aristotle’s modern visibility over that of the founder of [Buddhism](/history/learn/buddhism-for-kids-explained).

Looking at recent trends, Aristotle’s attention shows a slight cooling, with Wikipedia views declining by 11.2% year-over-year in 2025. Furthermore, the momentum between Q1 and Q3 2025 suggests a 12% drop in the rate of engagement, indicating that while his importance remains high, current public interest is waning slightly compared to earlier in the year.