ARISTOTLE !!!

SO who was Aristotle ??  I would like to tell you, on the strength of what is known about his life, how I imagine him to have been, and how I imagine him to have led his life.


IT seems to me that Aristotle, in his mature years, would have been one of those highly cultured men who knows how to listen, is passionately interested in reality, and is curious about everything there was to be discovered. Such men remain alert and attentive without being overwhelmed by information, because they have judgement. They know how to distinguish between what is true and what is false, what is essential and what is secondary. They know how to identify good intuitions. They are steady and open, capable of enthusiasm. They know how to join in the heat of the chase but also  how to stop, be silent, look, and contemplate. They seek to unify their knowledge, to establish a unity within themselves. That is why they take time alone to meditate and internalize what they know, to weigh things up. they are less interested in the sum total of their knowledge than in having an accurate vision of the world, less interested in what people think of them than in the truth itself.


I do not think it would be an exaggeration to say that Aristotle was a uniquely exceptional person, he was a kind of a walking encyclopedia. Plato actually nicknamed him "the reader".

What is the highest activity in life ? For Aristotle, the quest for happiness is linked to this question. By "highest activity" we are meant to understand the finest, most sublime activity, the one that is going to to enable us to progress furthest in the development of our humanity.  Happiness, virtue, the quest for truth and friendship -- especially friendship, constitute the essence of a fulfilled life, at least according to Aristotle.

The questions that interested Aristotle passionately had also been a passionate interest of  many men and women throughout the ages, they are timeless questions of serious concern to anyone wishing to live his or her life to the full, to parents wanting to point their children in the right direction, in accordance with certain values. What kind of education leads to a life that is fully human? What should be taught and how should it be taught?? There are also social and political implications . Indeed, the task of any government, or political leader is to organise society in such a way  that the largest possible number of people can live well within it, and not just for a certain and definite elite. 





With the help of  J. Vanier, an authority on Aristotle, thanks as usual for listening.