Human Intelligence

Episode
Travellers - Aristotle
Broadcast Info
2025 (14 mins)
Description
Aristotle was a philosopher, teacher, collector and all-round polymath. He was also, importantly, a traveller, who allowed new places, especially the rich biodiversity he encountered on the island of Lesbos, to shape his thinking profoundly. Aristotle’s observations about the natural world were remarkably accurate. Many were proved correct by modern science thousands of years later. He dissected animals, not as his contemporaries did, to understand the will of the gods, but to understand animals for their own sakes. He believed - and encouraged us to consider - that everyone has an innate curiosity about the world, that everyone can try to understand its wonder.
Genre
History

How to cite this record

The Open University, "Human Intelligence". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/252715 (Accessed 25 Dec 2025)