Plato ranks among the most familiar ancient philosophers, along with his teacher, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle.

In addition to writing philosophical dialogues - used to teach logic, ethics, rhetoric, religion, and mathematics as well as philosophy - he founded Athens' Academy, the Western world's first institution of higher learning.

Aristotle was born in the Macedonian city of Stagira in 384 BC, and died in 322. He studied in Plato's Academy in Athens and later became tutor to Alexander the Great, before establishing his own school in Athens, called the Lyceum. His writings, which were of extraordinary range, profoundly affected the whole course of ancient, medieval and modern philosophy. Many of them have survived, including The Nicomachean Ethics, The Politics and Poetics, among others.