Saturday, January 24, 2009

"All men by nature desire to know" Aristotle


Aristotle knows - curiosity is a natural thing. We want to know everything about everything. Aristotle believed philosophy should be studied in a precise order. Learning logic allows us to explain how facts about the world relate to each other. He actually developed the theory of syllogisms - you probably remember :
All men are mortal
Socrates is a man
Therefore, Socrates is mortal
That represents the sequence of logical thought.
After logic Aristotle says Science - or natural phenomena should be next and the final study should be practical philosophy which includes ethics and politics. Putting those two words, ethics and politics, in the same sentence seems a bit - well, like an oxymoron. Ethics - combined as it should be with politics, is it ever? We can always hope.
Mean time Arie would make a good hero in my next novel perhaps - he was a very clear thinker - do his thoughts go with love? lust? or sex? Perhaps not. Does logic come into play in these circumstances? Perhaps not. Ethics? Politics? well maybe politics...
Some food for thought none-the-less.
www.billiewilliams.com

No comments: