The man who at Delos set forth in the precinct of the god his own opinion composed an inscription for the forecourt of the temple of Leto in which he distinguished goodness, beauty and pleasantness as not all being properties of the same thing. His verses are: Justice is fairest, and Health is best, But to win one’s desire is the pleasantest. Theog. 255f. But for our part let us… Read more
There are different terms for different parts of a Greek drama, some of which modern scholars took from Aristotle and other ancient drama critics. The typical structure of an Ancient Greek tragedy is a series of alternating dialogue and choral lyric sections. (There are exceptions, and technical divisions naturally do not explain intellectual and emotional “soft power” aspects of a great Greek tragedy.) The dialogue sections are in typically speechverse,… Read more
Every art and every investigation, and likewise every practical pursuit or undertaking, seems to aim at some good: hence it has been well said that the Good is That at which all things aim. (It is true that a certain variety is to be observed among the ends at which the arts and sciences aim: in some cases the activity of practising the art is itself the end, whereas in… Read more
We have now discussed the physical characteristics of animals and their methods of generation. Their habits and their modes of living vary according to their character and their food…. Opening of Book 8, translation by D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson. For November, we will read selections from Aristotle’s History of Animals. In the Prefatory Note to his translation[1], D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson puts the composition of these studies in Aristotle’s middle age, started… Read more
We were pleased to welcome Susan Sauvé Meyer, University of Pennsylvania, for an Open House discussion about her new translation abridged from the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle. The discussion was streamed live on Friday October 20 at 11 a.m. EDT on the Kosmos Society YouTube channel, and was recorded. In preparation for this event you might like to read: her article ‘Aristotelian virtues for social media‘ an article from the… Read more