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To: cornelis

Cornelis -- I know Aristotle's "Ethics" extremely well; it's a kind of Bible for me. The Greek revolution was the philosophical focus on the natural ordering of the universe, the notion of moral absolutes based in man's nature as a rational being and the ability of humans to create their own moral character.

I like Aristotle's distinction between eudaemonia (translated 'happiness' or 'flourishing') and makareos (sp?) which mean's 'blessed.' One can create virtues in one's soul and still be happy at a deep level even in adverse situations. (Ayn Rand has Roark in 'Fountainhead' say of his pain that it only goes down so deep.) The blessed individual has a virtuous soul and circumstances in his/her favor.

Also note that for Aristotle, God was at base the prime mover, a principle to get the universe going and avoid an infinite regress. (See "Metaphysics.")

To the extent that we can get people in our society focusing on the lessons from Aristotle, the "Iliad" and other classical thinkers, we'll be returning to a civilization worthy of those great thinkers and writers.

Ed Hudgins


39 posted on 06/26/2004 11:08:16 AM PDT by Ed Hudgins (Aristotle's Ethics)
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To: Ed Hudgins
it was the secular elements that distinguished the classical culture from the Bronze Age

Secularization was important, enough to charge Socrates with atheism--which he denied of course, and so did all the other Ionian thinkers hailed for science. It were sophists who preferred the above distintion. What gave classical culture its continuity with the Bronze Age was the pressure to close the gap between man and God.

41 posted on 06/26/2004 11:22:12 AM PDT by cornelis (There is life to every note. - Isaac Stern, From Mao to Mozart.)
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