Greek Period.

 The origin of biology as a science seeking knowledge of living things for its own sake, rather than for the sake of contributing to human well-being, is found above all in the works of aristotle (c. 384–322 b.c.). Aristotle founded biology as a school and was the foremost biologist of antiquity.

• Aristotle’s studies of living things can be divided into three kinds. He regarded living things as composed of matter and form, and he regarded the soul being the natural form distinguishing living natural things from other natural things. His treatise On the Soul treats the soul in itself. The second kind of treatise studies those activities of living things that are explained in terms of both soul and body, but chiefly in terms of the soul (e.g., On Memory, On Sense and Sensation ). The final group of treatises examine those aspects of living things that are understood chiefly in terms of the body (e.g., Parts of Animals, Generation of Animals ). In these latter treatises Aristotle first seeks to establish what the facts are, and then to seek causal explanations for them. His insistence on observation, his search for causes behind observed facts, his emphasis on seeking the final causes of organisms’ parts and activities, along with his use of biological methods such as dissection and even (some limited) experiment, and his development of biological concepts, such as that of classification, have merited him the title of Father of Biology.