Tag: Aristotle

Politics by Aristotle

Aristotle’s politics strike me as rather conservative. He believes some democracy is good, but not too much. The lower classes should be kept firmly in their place, and the upper classes should not have their property rights disturbed. He emphatically does not believe that all men are equal. He believes that education should be a …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/07/12/politics-by-aristotle/

The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

I am by now used to Aristotle’s inimitable dullness, but this is actually one of his more readable and engaging works. What constitutes the good life? Aristotle believes that a happy life is necessarily a virtuous life, something I myself have grave doubts about. Unlike most Americans, he believes virtue is best exercised in the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/05/07/the-nicomachean-ethics-by-aristotle/

De Anima by Aristotle

I think of “soul” as another word for consciousness, but Aristotle says remarkably little about consciousness in this book. For Aristotle the primary characteristic of the soul is that it moves or animates the body. The secondary characteristic is that it is endowed with perception through the physical sense organs. By the time he comes …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/08/21/de-anima-by-aristotle/