12 - Story of Aristotles Philosophy by Will Durant

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.)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section eleven of the Story of Aristotle's Philosophy by Will Durant.
This librovox recording is in the public domain recording by Pamelinagami,
chapter ten later, Life and Death. Meanwhile, life had become
unmanageably complicated for our philosopher. He found himself, on the

(00:23):
one hand, embroiled with Alexander for protesting against the execution
of Callisthenes, a nephew of Aristotle, who had refused to
worship Alexander as a god. And Alexander had answered the
protest by hinting that it was quite within his omnipotence
to put even philosophers to death. At the same time,

(00:45):
Aristotle was busy defending Alexander. Among the Athenians. He preferred
Greek solidarity to city patriotism, and thought culture and science
would flourish better when petty sovereignties and disputes were ended,
and he saw in Alexander what Geta was to see
in Napoleon, the philosophic unity of a chaotic and intolerably

(01:08):
manifold world. The Athenians, hungering for liberty, growled at Aristotle
and became bitter when Alexander had a statue of the
philosopher put up in the heart of the hostile city.
In his turmoil. We get an impression of Aristotle quite
contrary to that left upon us by his ethics. Here

(01:31):
is a man not cold and inhumanly calm, but a fighter,
pursuing his titanic work in a circle of enemies on
every side, the successors of Plato at the academy, the
oratorical school of Isocrates, and the angry crowds that hung
on Demosthenes acid eloquence, intrigued and clamored for his exile

(01:55):
or his death. And then suddenly, in three twenty three
Alexander died. Athens went wild with patriotic joy, the Macedonian
party was overthrown, and Athenian independence was proclaimed. Antipater, successor
of Alexander and intimate friend of Aristotle, marched upon the

(02:19):
rebellious city. Most of the Macedonian party fled Eurymedon, a
chief priest brought in an indictment against Aristotle, charging him
with having taught that prayer and sacrifice were of no avail.
Aristotle saw himself fated to be tried by juries and crowds.
Incomparably more hostile than those that had murdered Socrates. Very wisely,

(02:44):
he left the city, saying that he would not give
Athens a chance to sin a second time against philosophy.
There was no cowardice in this. An accused person at
Athens had always the option of preferring exile arrived at Chalsus,
Aristotle fell ill. Diogenes Lartius tells us that the old philosopher,

(03:07):
in utter disappointment with the turn of all things against him,
committed suicide by drinking hemlock, however induced. His illness proved fatal,
and a few months after leaving Athens three twenty two
b c. The lonely Aristotle died. In the same year,
and at the same age sixty two, Demosthenes, greatest of

(03:31):
Alexander's enemies, drank poison. Within twelve months, Greece had lost
her greatest ruler, her greatest orator, and her greatest philosopher.
The glory that had been Greece faded now in the
dawn of the Roman sun, and the grandeur that was
Rome was the pomp of power rather than the light

(03:52):
of thought. And then that grandeur, too decayed. That little
light went almost out for a thousand years, darkness brooded
over the face of Europe. All the world awaited the
resurrection of philosophy. End of Chapter eleven. Recording by Pamel Nagami,

(04:14):
m D. In Encino, California, February twenty twenty one. End
of the Story of Aristotle's Philosophy by Will Durant