Aristotelian means of Aristotle, or following Aristotle's way of thinking. You can also call a person an Aristotelian if they follow his philosophy. Aristotle (384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and scientist: a student of Plato, and later the teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote about science, how cities should be run, right and wrong, and literature. When someone says an Aristotelian idea, they usually mean a habit that comes from him or from people who stayed close to his system — putting things into careful groups, asking what a thing is for, arguing from what we can observe. It is a school-and-books word, not street talk. Though actually, later European schools argued for centuries about what Aristotle “really” said, so the word can point to the man, to his books, or to a whole later tradition that used his name.