Ancient Greek philosopher, scientist, and foremost intellect during the Classical period. Living from 384-322 B.C.E., Aristotle was first a student of Plato. His writings spanned across mathematics, science, and the humanities. As the pioneer of the study of zoology, Aristotle was considered a great scientific mind, but it is particularly his contributions to the field of philosophy and as founder of formal logic that his thought has pervaded Western culture. His Poetics exerted a profound influence on European literature and its criticism, giving rise to the neoclassical literary standards of the 16th to the later 18th centuries.