August 19, 2025 • 13 mins
In this engaging little Blue Book No. 39, renowned author Will Durant explores the life and teachings of Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.), a brilliant Macedonian thinker who was once a student of Plato and later became the mentor of Alexander the Great. While Alexander set out to conquer the world, Aristotle returned to Athens to establish the Lyceum, where he made groundbreaking contributions to biology, logic, literary theory, ethics, and political science. Rejecting the abstract ideals of his teacher Plato, Aristotle focused on the natural world, famously studying the development of the chick embryo. He viewed the universe as a dynamic interplay of matter in motion, with God as its initial driving force. Contrary to the belief that social evils stem from private property, Aristotle argued they arise from the inherent flaws of human nature. He believed that while we find catharsis in tragic theater, real life necessitates a pursuit of balance, reason, dignity, and the golden mean in all aspects. (Pamela Nagami, M.D.)
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter seven of the Story of Aristotle's Philosophy by Will Durant.
This librovox recording is in the public domain recording by
Pamelinagami Ethics and the Nature of Happiness. And Yet, as
Aristotle developed and young men crowded about him to be
taught and formed, more and more his mind turned from
(00:24):
the details of science to the larger and vaguer problems
of conduct and character. It came to him more clearly
that above all questions of the physical world, there loomed
the question of questions, What is the best life? What
is life's supreme good? What is virtue? How shall we
(00:44):
find happiness and fulfillment? He is realistically simple in his ethics.
His scientific training keeps him from the preaching of superhuman
ideals and empty councils of perfection. In Aristotle, says Santiana,
the conception of human nature is perfectly sound. Every ideal
(01:05):
has a natural basis, and everything natural has an ideal development.
Aristotle begins by frankly recognizing that the aim of life
is not goodness for its own sake, but happiness, for
we choose happiness for itself, and never with a view
to anything further whereas we choose honor, pleasure intellect because
(01:28):
we believe that through them we shall be made happy.
But he realizes that to call happiness the supreme good
is a mere truism. What is wanted is some clearer
account of the nature of happiness and the way to it.
He hopes to find this way by asking wherein man
differs from other beings, and by presuming that man's happiness
(01:51):
will lie in the full functioning of this specifically human quality. Now,
the peculiar excellence of man is his power of thought.
It is by this that he surpasses and rules all
other forms of life. And as the growth of this
faculty has given him his supremacy, so we may presume
(02:11):
its development will give him fulfillment and happiness. The chief
condition of happiness, then, barring certain physical prerequisites, is the
life of reason. The specific glory and power of man. Virtue,
or rather excellence, will depend on clear judgment, self control,
(02:34):
symmetry of desire, artistry of means. Footnote. The word excellence
is probably the fittest translation of the Greek arete, usually
mistranslated virtue. The reader will avoid misunderstanding Plato and Aristotle
if where translators write virtue, he will substitute excellence, ability,
(02:57):
or capacity. Greek auritae is the Roman weirtus. Both imply
a masculine sort of excellence ares god of war weir
a male. Classical Antiquity conceived virtue in terms of man,
just as Medieval Christianity conceived it in terms of woman.
(03:18):
And footnote, it is not the possession of the simple man,
nor the gift of innocent intent, but the achievement of
experience in the fully developed man. Yet there is a
road to it, a guide to excellence, which may save
many detours and delays. It is the middle way, the
golden mean. The qualities of character can be arranged in triads,
(03:44):
in each of which the first and last qualities will
be extremes and vices, and the middle quality of virtue
are an excellence. So between cowardice and rashness is courage.
Between stinginess and extravagance is liberality. Between sloth and greed
is ambition. Between humility and pride is modesty, Between secrecy
(04:10):
and loquacity, honesty between moroseness and buffoonery, good humor, between
quarrelsomeness and flattery, Friendship between hamlets in decisiveness, and Quixote's
impulsiveness is self control. Right, then, in ethics or conduct,
(04:31):
is not different from right in mathematics or engineering. It
means correct fit what works best to the best result.
The golden mean, however, is not like the mathematical mean,
an exact average of two precisely calculable extremes. It fluctuates
with the collateral circumstances of each situation, and discovers itself
(04:56):
only to mature and flexible reason. Excellence is in art
one by training and habituation. We do not act rightly
because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have
these because we have acted rightly. These virtues are formed
in man by his doing the actions we are what
(05:19):
we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but
a habit. The good of man is a working of
the soul in the way of excellence in a complete life.
For as it is not one swallow or one fine
day that makes the spring, so it is not one
day or a short time that makes a man blessed
(05:39):
and happy. Youth is the age of extremes. If the
young commit a fault, it is always on the side
of excess and exaggeration. The great difficulty of youth, and
of many of youth's elders, is to get out of
one extreme without falling into its opposite. For one extreme
(06:00):
easily passes into the other, whether through over correction or elsewise.
Insincerity doth protest too much, and humility hovers on the
precipice of conceit. Those who are consciously of one extreme
will give the name of virtue not to the mean,
but to the opposite extreme. Sometimes this is well, for
(06:21):
if we are conscious of erring in one extreme, we
should aim at the other, and so we may reach
the middle position as men do and straightening bent timber.
But unconscious extremists look upon the golden mean as the
greatest vice they expel toward each other. The man in
the middle position, the brave man, is called rash by
(06:43):
the coward, and cowardly by the rash man, and in
other cases accordingly so. In modern politics, the liberal is
called conservative, and radical by the radical and the conservative.
It is obvious that this doctor of the mean is
the formulation of a characteristic attitude which appears in almost
(07:04):
every system of Greek philosophy. Plato had had it in
mind when he called virtue harmonious action, Socrates when he
identified virtue with knowledge. The Seven Wise Men had established
the tradition by engraving on the Temple of Apollo at
Delphi the motto medanagan nothing in excess. Perhaps, as Nietzsche claims,
(07:28):
all these were attempts of the Greeks to check their
own violence and impulsiveness of character. More truly, they reflected
the Greek feeling that passions are not of themselves vices,
but the raw material of both vice and virtue, according
as they function in excess and disproportion, or in measure
(07:50):
in harmony. But the Golden Mean, says our matter of fact, philosopher,
is not all of the secret of happiness. We must
have two fair share of worldly goods. Poverty makes one
stingy in grasping, while possessions give one that freedom from
care and greed, which is the source of aristocratic ease
(08:11):
and charm. The noblest of these external aids to happiness
is friendship. Indeed, friendship is more necessary to the happy
than to the unhappy, for happiness is multiplied by being shared.
It is more important than justice, for when men are friends,
justice is unnecessary, But when men are just, friendship is
(08:35):
still a boon. A friend is one's soul in two bodies.
Yet friendship implies few friends rather than many. He who
has many friends has no friend, and to be a
friend to many people in the way of perfect friendship
is impossible. Fine friendship requires duration rather than fitful intensity,
(08:57):
and this implies stability of character. It is two altered
character that we must attribute the dissolving kaleidoscope of friendship,
and friendship requires equality, for gratitude gives it at best
a slippery basis. Benefactors are commonly held to have more
friendship for the objects of their kindness than these for them.
(09:21):
The account of the matter which satisfies most persons is
that the one are debtors and the other creditors, and
the debtors wish their creditors out of the way, while
the creditors are anxious that their debtors should be preserved.
Aristotle rejects this interpretation. He prefers to believe that the
greater tenderness of the benefactor is to be explained on
(09:45):
the analogy of the artist's affection for his work or
the mother's for her child. We love that which we
have made, and yet though external goods and relationships are
necessary to happiness, its essence remains within us in rounded
knowledge and clarity of soul. Surely sense pleasure is not
(10:06):
the way. That road is a circle, as Socrates phrased
the coarser epicurean idea, we scratch that we may itch,
an itch that we may scratch. Nor can a political
career be the way, for therein we walk subject to
the whims of the people, and nothing is so fickle
(10:27):
as the crowd. No happiness must be a pleasure of
the mind, and we may trust it only when it
comes from the pursuit or the capture of truth. The
operation of the intellect aims at no end beyond itself,
and finds in itself the pleasure which stimulates it to
further operation. And since the attributes of self sufficiency, on
(10:52):
weariedness and capacity for rest plainly belong to this occupation,
in it must lie perfect happiness. Aristotle's ideal man, however,
is no mere metaphysician. He does not expose himself needlessly
to danger, since there are few things for which he
cares sufficiently, but he is willing in great crises to
(11:15):
give even his life knowing that under certain conditions it
is not worth while to live. He is of a
disposition to do men's service, though he is ashamed to
have a service done to him. To confer a kindness
is a mark of superiority. To receive one is a
mark of subordination. He does not take part in public displays.
(11:39):
He is open in his dislikes and preferences. He talks
and acts frankly because of his contempt for men and things.
He is never fired with admiration, since there is nothing
great in his eyes. He cannot live in complaisance with others,
except it be a friend. Complaisance is the characteristic of
(12:01):
a slave. He never feels malice, and always forgets and
passes over injuries. He is not fond of talking. It
is no concern of his that he should be praised
or that others should be blamed. He does not speak
evil of others, even of his enemies, unless it be
(12:21):
to themselves. His carriages sedate, his voice deep, his speech measured.
He is not given to hurry, for he is concerned
about only a few things. He is not prone to vehemence,
for he thinks nothing very important. A shrill voice and
hasty steps come to a man through care. He bears
(12:43):
the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the
best of his circumstances. Like a skillful general who marshals
his limited forces with all the strategy of war. He
is his own best friend and takes delight in privacy,
whereas the man of no virtue or ability is his
own worst enemy and is afraid of solitude. Such is
(13:07):
the superman of Aristotle. End of Chapter seven
Chapter seven of the Story of Aristotle's Philosophy by Will Durant.
This librovox recording is in the public domain recording by
Pamelinagami Ethics and the Nature of Happiness. And Yet, as
Aristotle developed and young men crowded about him to be
taught and formed, more and more his mind turned from
(00:24):
the details of science to the larger and vaguer problems
of conduct and character. It came to him more clearly
that above all questions of the physical world, there loomed
the question of questions, What is the best life? What
is life's supreme good? What is virtue? How shall we
(00:44):
find happiness and fulfillment? He is realistically simple in his ethics.
His scientific training keeps him from the preaching of superhuman
ideals and empty councils of perfection. In Aristotle, says Santiana,
the conception of human nature is perfectly sound. Every ideal
(01:05):
has a natural basis, and everything natural has an ideal development.
Aristotle begins by frankly recognizing that the aim of life
is not goodness for its own sake, but happiness, for
we choose happiness for itself, and never with a view
to anything further whereas we choose honor, pleasure intellect because
(01:28):
we believe that through them we shall be made happy.
But he realizes that to call happiness the supreme good
is a mere truism. What is wanted is some clearer
account of the nature of happiness and the way to it.
He hopes to find this way by asking wherein man
differs from other beings, and by presuming that man's happiness
(01:51):
will lie in the full functioning of this specifically human quality. Now,
the peculiar excellence of man is his power of thought.
It is by this that he surpasses and rules all
other forms of life. And as the growth of this
faculty has given him his supremacy, so we may presume
(02:11):
its development will give him fulfillment and happiness. The chief
condition of happiness, then, barring certain physical prerequisites, is the
life of reason. The specific glory and power of man. Virtue,
or rather excellence, will depend on clear judgment, self control,
(02:34):
symmetry of desire, artistry of means. Footnote. The word excellence
is probably the fittest translation of the Greek arete, usually
mistranslated virtue. The reader will avoid misunderstanding Plato and Aristotle
if where translators write virtue, he will substitute excellence, ability,
(02:57):
or capacity. Greek auritae is the Roman weirtus. Both imply
a masculine sort of excellence ares god of war weir
a male. Classical Antiquity conceived virtue in terms of man,
just as Medieval Christianity conceived it in terms of woman.
(03:18):
And footnote, it is not the possession of the simple man,
nor the gift of innocent intent, but the achievement of
experience in the fully developed man. Yet there is a
road to it, a guide to excellence, which may save
many detours and delays. It is the middle way, the
golden mean. The qualities of character can be arranged in triads,
(03:44):
in each of which the first and last qualities will
be extremes and vices, and the middle quality of virtue
are an excellence. So between cowardice and rashness is courage.
Between stinginess and extravagance is liberality. Between sloth and greed
is ambition. Between humility and pride is modesty, Between secrecy
(04:10):
and loquacity, honesty between moroseness and buffoonery, good humor, between
quarrelsomeness and flattery, Friendship between hamlets in decisiveness, and Quixote's
impulsiveness is self control. Right, then, in ethics or conduct,
(04:31):
is not different from right in mathematics or engineering. It
means correct fit what works best to the best result.
The golden mean, however, is not like the mathematical mean,
an exact average of two precisely calculable extremes. It fluctuates
with the collateral circumstances of each situation, and discovers itself
(04:56):
only to mature and flexible reason. Excellence is in art
one by training and habituation. We do not act rightly
because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have
these because we have acted rightly. These virtues are formed
in man by his doing the actions we are what
(05:19):
we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but
a habit. The good of man is a working of
the soul in the way of excellence in a complete life.
For as it is not one swallow or one fine
day that makes the spring, so it is not one
day or a short time that makes a man blessed
(05:39):
and happy. Youth is the age of extremes. If the
young commit a fault, it is always on the side
of excess and exaggeration. The great difficulty of youth, and
of many of youth's elders, is to get out of
one extreme without falling into its opposite. For one extreme
(06:00):
easily passes into the other, whether through over correction or elsewise.
Insincerity doth protest too much, and humility hovers on the
precipice of conceit. Those who are consciously of one extreme
will give the name of virtue not to the mean,
but to the opposite extreme. Sometimes this is well, for
(06:21):
if we are conscious of erring in one extreme, we
should aim at the other, and so we may reach
the middle position as men do and straightening bent timber.
But unconscious extremists look upon the golden mean as the
greatest vice they expel toward each other. The man in
the middle position, the brave man, is called rash by
(06:43):
the coward, and cowardly by the rash man, and in
other cases accordingly so. In modern politics, the liberal is
called conservative, and radical by the radical and the conservative.
It is obvious that this doctor of the mean is
the formulation of a characteristic attitude which appears in almost
(07:04):
every system of Greek philosophy. Plato had had it in
mind when he called virtue harmonious action, Socrates when he
identified virtue with knowledge. The Seven Wise Men had established
the tradition by engraving on the Temple of Apollo at
Delphi the motto medanagan nothing in excess. Perhaps, as Nietzsche claims,
(07:28):
all these were attempts of the Greeks to check their
own violence and impulsiveness of character. More truly, they reflected
the Greek feeling that passions are not of themselves vices,
but the raw material of both vice and virtue, according
as they function in excess and disproportion, or in measure
(07:50):
in harmony. But the Golden Mean, says our matter of fact, philosopher,
is not all of the secret of happiness. We must
have two fair share of worldly goods. Poverty makes one
stingy in grasping, while possessions give one that freedom from
care and greed, which is the source of aristocratic ease
(08:11):
and charm. The noblest of these external aids to happiness
is friendship. Indeed, friendship is more necessary to the happy
than to the unhappy, for happiness is multiplied by being shared.
It is more important than justice, for when men are friends,
justice is unnecessary, But when men are just, friendship is
(08:35):
still a boon. A friend is one's soul in two bodies.
Yet friendship implies few friends rather than many. He who
has many friends has no friend, and to be a
friend to many people in the way of perfect friendship
is impossible. Fine friendship requires duration rather than fitful intensity,
(08:57):
and this implies stability of character. It is two altered
character that we must attribute the dissolving kaleidoscope of friendship,
and friendship requires equality, for gratitude gives it at best
a slippery basis. Benefactors are commonly held to have more
friendship for the objects of their kindness than these for them.
(09:21):
The account of the matter which satisfies most persons is
that the one are debtors and the other creditors, and
the debtors wish their creditors out of the way, while
the creditors are anxious that their debtors should be preserved.
Aristotle rejects this interpretation. He prefers to believe that the
greater tenderness of the benefactor is to be explained on
(09:45):
the analogy of the artist's affection for his work or
the mother's for her child. We love that which we
have made, and yet though external goods and relationships are
necessary to happiness, its essence remains within us in rounded
knowledge and clarity of soul. Surely sense pleasure is not
(10:06):
the way. That road is a circle, as Socrates phrased
the coarser epicurean idea, we scratch that we may itch,
an itch that we may scratch. Nor can a political
career be the way, for therein we walk subject to
the whims of the people, and nothing is so fickle
(10:27):
as the crowd. No happiness must be a pleasure of
the mind, and we may trust it only when it
comes from the pursuit or the capture of truth. The
operation of the intellect aims at no end beyond itself,
and finds in itself the pleasure which stimulates it to
further operation. And since the attributes of self sufficiency, on
(10:52):
weariedness and capacity for rest plainly belong to this occupation,
in it must lie perfect happiness. Aristotle's ideal man, however,
is no mere metaphysician. He does not expose himself needlessly
to danger, since there are few things for which he
cares sufficiently, but he is willing in great crises to
(11:15):
give even his life knowing that under certain conditions it
is not worth while to live. He is of a
disposition to do men's service, though he is ashamed to
have a service done to him. To confer a kindness
is a mark of superiority. To receive one is a
mark of subordination. He does not take part in public displays.
(11:39):
He is open in his dislikes and preferences. He talks
and acts frankly because of his contempt for men and things.
He is never fired with admiration, since there is nothing
great in his eyes. He cannot live in complaisance with others,
except it be a friend. Complaisance is the characteristic of
(12:01):
a slave. He never feels malice, and always forgets and
passes over injuries. He is not fond of talking. It
is no concern of his that he should be praised
or that others should be blamed. He does not speak
evil of others, even of his enemies, unless it be
(12:21):
to themselves. His carriages sedate, his voice deep, his speech measured.
He is not given to hurry, for he is concerned
about only a few things. He is not prone to vehemence,
for he thinks nothing very important. A shrill voice and
hasty steps come to a man through care. He bears
(12:43):
the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the
best of his circumstances. Like a skillful general who marshals
his limited forces with all the strategy of war. He
is his own best friend and takes delight in privacy,
whereas the man of no virtue or ability is his
own worst enemy and is afraid of solitude. Such is
(13:07):
the superman of Aristotle. End of Chapter seven
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