Replies

Not an atheist. Aristotle was a polytheist.

If anybody stands on his shoulders, it would be Aquinas.

Aristotle formulated the language of the syllogism; Whether logic is an invention can be debated, but Aristotle wasn't the inventor.

Aristotle also recognized that induction wasn't the only path to first principles (First principles figure quite large in his practical ethics).

If Rand finds fault in Aristotle for viewing essences as metaphysical (read: Aristotle is wrong to say not all first principles are inductive or deductive), a strange double allegiance appears: she doesn't take to Aristotle as the teacher any more than Kant did (he also exalted his logic). We're told she disliked Kant, but on this most important point of first principles, while hoping to rise on the shoulders of Aristotle, she is closer to lopping off Aristotle's head in order to reign as Kant II.

Question: Did Aristotle believe in a god/gods or was he an atheist?

Aristotle believed in God, but not a God any Christian would recognize.

Hank