Aristotle — ‘the master’, the most influential philosopher ever

Aristotle was born around 384 BC in the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia, where his father was the royal doctor. His first big job was tutoring Alexander the Great who, soon after, went out and conquered the known world. Aristotle then headed off to Athens, worked with Plato for a bit, then branched out on his own. He founded a little school called the Lyceum. French secondary schools - ‘the lycees’ - are named in honour of this venture. He liked to walk about while teaching and discussing ideas. His followers were nicknamed ‘peripatetics’ - ‘the wanderers.’ His many books are actually lecture notes. Aristotle was fascinated by how many things actually work: how does a chick grow in an egg? How do liquid reproduce? And most importantly what makes a human life and a whole society, go well? For Aristotle, philosophy was about practical wisdom. Here are four big philosophical questions he answered.

1.What makes people happy?

In the Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle set himself the task of identifying the factors that lead people to have a good life - or not. He suggested that good and successful people all possess distinct ‘virtues’ - and proposed that we should get better at identifying what these are, so that we can nurture them in ourselves and honor them in others. Aristotle zeroed in on 11 virtues: Courage, Temperance, Liberality, Magnificence, Magnanimity, Pride, Patience, Truthfulness, Wittiness, Friendliness, Modesty. Aristotle also observed that every virtue seems to be bang in the middle of two vices. It occupies what he termed ‘the golden mean’ between two extremes of character. For example:

Modesty is the golden mean between Shamlessness and Shyness; Courage is the golden mean between Cowardice and Rashness.

‘Moral goodness’ says Aristotle ‘is the result of habit’. It takes time, practice, encouragement. So, Aristotle thinks, people who lack virtue should be understood as unfortunate rather than wicked. What they need is not scolding or being thrown into prison, but better teachers and more guidance.

2. What is art for?

The blockbuster art at that time was tragedy. Athenians watched gory plays at community festivals in huge open air theatres.

Aristotle wrote a ‘how to write great plays’ manual: the Poetics. The purpose of art, as Aristotle sees it, is to make profound truths about life stick in minds.

3. What are friends for?

Aristotle identifies (in Nicomachean Ethics) three different kinds of friendship: (1)There’s friendship that comes about when each person is seeking fun, their ‘chief interest is in their own pleasure and the opportunity of the moment’ which the other person provides.

(2)There are friendships that are really strategic acquaintances:’they take pleasure in each other’s company only in so far as they have hopes of advantage of it’.

(3)The true friend is not someone who is just like you. He/she is someone you care about as much as you care about yourself.The sorrows of a true friend are your sorrows, their joys are yours. It makes you more vulnerable- should anything befall this person. But it is hugely strengthening: you are relieved from the too small orbit of your own thoughts and worries, you expand into the life of another, together you become larger, clever, more resilient, more fair minded. You share virtues and cancel out each other’s defects. Friendship teaches us what we ought to be. It is quite literally - the best part of life.

4. How can ideas cut through in a busy world?

Like a lot of people, Aristotle was struck by the fact that the best argument doesn't always win the debate or the battle. He wanted to know why this happens and what we can do about it. …He invented the art of what we still today call Rhetoric: the art of getting people to agree with you. He wanted thoughtful, serious and well-intentioned people to learn how to be persuasive- to reach those who don’t agree already. He makes some timeless points: You have to recognize, acknowledge and sooth people’s fears. You have to see the emotional side of the issue…and edge round it accordingly. You have to make it funny- because attention spans are short.