Aristotle

Title: Aristotle – Understanding the World’s Greatest Philosopher
Author: John Sellars
Publisher: Pelican Books, 2023 (First)
ISBN: 9780241615638
Pages: 128

Aristotle was undoubtedly the greatest philosopher of the Western world whose immense clout guided quests for knowledge in Europe for several centuries. He was the last word on points of contention among scholars. Even in the modern world, he has an assured place in the pantheon of philosophers. Though many people will be put off by the term 'philosophy', it means only a rational study of the fundamentals of a given thing. Some part of philosophical enquiry every human should do because it is the only route to a happy life in the fullest sense. It's an extension of our natural human curiosity. One who wonders at the beauty and complexity of the natural world through a TV documentary is also participating in the same activity that Aristotle and his companions did. This short book is ideal for novices like me getting aware of the complexities of philosophical thought. It provides nothing in detail, and acts only as a primer. The author himself admits that this book does not cover anything in depth but gives only a taste, an opportunity, to get a flavour of who Aristotle was, what he thought and his vast impact. John Sellars is an academic, being a lecturer in philosophy at Royal Holloway University in London. He is the author of many books which are translated into over a dozen languages. This book claims that Aristotle's ideas and concepts are the basis of our natural ways of thinking in science, philosophy or logic.

Aristotle was the disciple of Plato, who himself was a disciple of Socrates. Aristotle has derived many ideas from Platonic thought and Sellars introduces the salient points of Plato's ideas in a highly simplified way, but even this treatise may appear cumbersome in some places. Plato put forward his theory of ideal forms. The objects we encounter in the changing physical world are but copies of more perfect, unchanging ideal forms. Aristotle was a strident critic of his teacher Plato while also remaining deeply influenced by him. Aristotle's 'physics' is the study of the natural world. In it, he tackles the most fundamental questions connected to the study of nature – like causation, divisibility and infinity. It includes some wild guesses like spontaneous generation of some species in the flora and fauna of the world. However, it should be taken as no more than an educated guess until truth is uncovered through further observation. Sellars notes with regret that there are some influential modern books which depict Aristotle in a very bad light as to appear like a champion of superstition and conservatism. They imply that Aristotle loathed experiments of any kind and fully immersed only in mental exercises. I remember reviewing a book claiming that Aristotle believed that women had more teeth in their mouth than men, yet he did not care to verify this hypothesis even though he had married twice! This is untrue and it is clear that Aristotle studied lifeforms extensively while he was in Lesbos Island and dissected them for analysis.

The author introduces the books in the traditional sequence of Aristotle's logical works one by one and very briefly. The logical arguments and conclusions that are derived from them are examined. So are the peculiar way of some arguments initiated by the great philosopher. Opening a claim like 'for the sake of argument' and pursue wherever it goes is a method put forth by Aristotle. To argue for and against a particular view in order to test it is another tool in his arsenal. Aristotle classified data related to animals and in his logical works set out formal rules for further analysis on this data. This is clearly a part of the modern 'scientific method'. To have done either of these would have been a major achievement, to have done both is truly awe-inspiring. He believed that the role of human beings is the activity of the soul in accordance with reason, or rational thinking, to understand the world around us.

Even though Aristotle's reputation transcends time and reaches out to us still, some of his ideas are stunningly outdated and some are politically incorrect to express in today's society. Whatever may be one's intellectual merit, everybody is a prisoner of the zeitgeist and perhaps unknowingly it restricts the range of one's thought. Likewise, Aristotle justified slavery or at least didn't find any qualms in keeping slaves himself. He claimed that some people can legitimately be described as 'natural slaves' and that women are naturally ruled by men. The author then holds his nose and supports this assertion by alluding the term 'natural slave' as someone who is mentally impaired and in need of someone else's help, yet concedes that Aristotle seems to assume that it is perfectly normal for most households to include slaves. Regarding women, he does a tight-rope walk by claiming that 'by nature' might mean 'for the most part' or 'usually what happens'. Aristotle was also biased towards the ideal of the 'city state' as a political unit to live under. If a man is focussed entirely on subsistence, he is closer to an animal. A rich human life which requires contemplation mandates a reflective intellectual pursuit. A city-state provides the infrastructure to make it happen. Even though Aristotle was Alexander the Great's tutor, there is no real evidence of any influence between them. Aristotle makes no mention of Alexander in his works and there is no trace of any of Aristotle's ideas shaping Alexander's subsequent behaviour.

This book really has a large scope in picturizing Aristotle's contribution to the society he lived in. His writings on the art forms such as drama or play still find relevance in today's art even though cinema has fully appropriated what was originally meant for the exclusive use of plays. The book contains an analysis of Athenian drama and its components. Aristotle thought about why people enjoyed tragic plays. We can enjoy, he says, a pleasurable release when we experience extreme emotions such as pity and fear. He calls this a moment of purification in which any excess of these emotions get cleared, restoring us to a state of balance. We enjoy them because we know in our mind that even though we may be sharing the emotions of the characters, at the end of the play we can go back to the comfort of our homes. A work of art can prompt us to experience difficult emotions in a relatively safe and artificial setting helping us to process the real emotions that befall us in our own lives. The idea of philosophy is anointed with a touch of elitism as conceived by great masters such as Aristotle. Leisure was one of the things required for anyone to do philosophy. You should not be overburdened with distracting practical responsibilities and to have basic necessities of life provided for. It is absolutely not intended for menial labourers whose wages would not allow them to skip work for any meaningful length of time. Lyceum was a community of scholars in this sense, of individuals wealthy enough not to have to work all day.

As noted earlier, this book is an excellent primer for stepping into the world of philosophy and highly recommended for novices who are serious about the job. Ordinary readers may better leave it aside.

Rating: 4 Star