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Who can claim Aristotle?

aeon.co

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Re: Who can claim Aristotle?

#2
In "The Perfect Critic", T.S. Eliot wrote that "Aristotle is a person who has suffered from the adherence of persons who must be regarded less as his disciples than as his votaries. One must be firmly distrustful of accepting Aristotle in a canonical spirit; this is to lose the whole living force of him."

I find it curious to see no mention of one rather large institution, the Roman Catholic Church, which for about a century regarded St. Thomas Aquinas as its official theologian and philosopher; and of course Aquinas drew heavily on Aristotle. I have no idea, though, whether neo-Scholasticism persists as a major influence.

A number of British philosophers of the last century engaged with Aristotle's ethical writing: Foote, Hampshire, Kenny, and McIntyre come to mind.

Re: Who can claim Aristotle?

#3
post #2

In "The Perfect Critic", T.S. Eliot wrote that "Aristotle is a person who has suffered from the adherence of persons who must be regarded less as his disciples than as his votaries. One must be firmly distrustful of accepting Aristotle in a canonical spirit; this is to lose the whole living force of him." I find it curious to see no mention of one rather large institution, the Roman Catholic Church, which for about a…

The Catholic Church does retain elements of Aristotelian metaphysics in its theology. A great example is the Catholic teaching of transubstantiation, wherein subject and accident terminology is utilized to explain how bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ while retaining the characteristics of the original elements. Church history is fascinating, even if one isn't a Christian.

Re: Who can claim Aristotle?

#4
Interesting perspective.

I’ve always had a distaste for Aristotle, preferring Plato, but after reading this I’m wondering if that stemmed more from the additional lens of the person introducing him to me.

Might have to revisit his work as my older self.

Re: Who can claim Aristotle?

#5

Interesting perspective. I’ve always had a distaste for Aristotle, preferring Plato, but after reading this I’m wondering if that stemmed more from the additional lens of the person introducing him to me. Might have to revisit his work as my older self.

A decent argument can be made that most of modern life is based of Aristotle's metaphysics:

* https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43277412-aristotle-s-rev...

And that most 'Western values' are basically Christian in origin (with an undercurrent of Aristotle):

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_(Holland_book)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_WEIRDest_People_in_the_Wor...

MacIntyre argues that when it comes to ethics, the only two viable options are Aristotle or Nietzsche:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Virtue

Certainly Plato is influential, but he doesn't seem to have any practical use in day-to-day life.

Re: Who can claim Aristotle?

#8

Interesting perspective. I’ve always had a distaste for Aristotle, preferring Plato, but after reading this I’m wondering if that stemmed more from the additional lens of the person introducing him to me. Might have to revisit his work as my older self.

A decent argument can be made that most of modern life is based of Aristotle's metaphysics: * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43277412-aristotle-s-rev... And that most 'Western values' are basically Christian in origin (with an undercurrent of Aristotle): * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_(Holland_book) * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_WEIRDest_People_in_the_Wor... MacIntyre argues that when it comes to…

Interesting reads, thanks

I think the broadest most practical day to day knowledge stems from Plato, née Socrates, “I do not think I know what I do not know”

Re: Who can claim Aristotle?

#9

Worth a reminder that we don't have to do all-or-nothing. Aristotle has some good/useful points ( eudaimonia ) and some that we probably want to leave behind (slavery).

We never left slavery behind, we just moved it overseas.

And equally abhorrently, as the 13th amendment and now California can attest, to the incarcerated

> Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

“Californians voted against outlawing slavery. Why did proposition 6 fail?”

https://www.kqed.org/news/12013392/californians-voted-agains...

Re: Who can claim Aristotle?

#10
I think Aristotle had the greatest mind of any human who ever lived.

The older I get the more I realize that there are a thousand true and intelligent things you can say about any topic. Magazines, journals, and libraries are full to the brim of intelligent people writing intelligent things. But an extremely minuscule portion of that huge mass is made of writing that gets right to the heart of the matter.

And Aristotle is the writer I've encountered the most who constantly gets right to the essence or core of what he's discussing, moving past the trivialities and the unessential to illuminate deep truths in a logical way. It's why a short essay like his Poetics--which in many ways is a limited work for the modern day because it deals wiih a very specific type of ancient literature--is still pored over by modern writers and screenwriters because of the deep dramatic truths it lays out.

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