This guest post was first published at Freedom and Flourishing by my friend Winton Bates, author of the excellent book Freedom, Progress and Human Flourishing.*
In my view, Aristotelians are people who seek guidance from Aristotle's Ethics in considering how to live their lives.
I was prompted to consider this thanks to an article by John Sellars entitled "How to be an Aristotelian" (recently published in Antigone). While thinking about the question I read Sellars’ new book, Aristotle, Understanding the World’s Greatest Philosopher.* By coincidence, at the same time I was reading Stoicism Today, Volume 4,* which contains an article by John Sellars entitled "Hard Truths and Happiness". The approach that Sellars adopts in discussing what it means to be a Stoic seems to also be relevant when considering what it means to be an Aristotelian. (I also think many of the articles in Stoicism Today are worth reading. It is fascinating to read about how people seek to apply this ancient philosophy in their daily lives.)
I will begin by outlining Sellars’ view about what it means to be a Stoic, and discuss the view Sellars presents of what it means to be an Aristotelian in his Antigone article before moving to a discussion of the approach he adopts in his book, and conclude with some comments on what it means to be an Aristotelian:
In my view, Aristotelians are people who seek guidance from Aristotle's Ethics in considering how to live their lives.
I was prompted to consider this thanks to an article by John Sellars entitled "How to be an Aristotelian" (recently published in Antigone). While thinking about the question I read Sellars’ new book, Aristotle, Understanding the World’s Greatest Philosopher.* By coincidence, at the same time I was reading Stoicism Today, Volume 4,* which contains an article by John Sellars entitled "Hard Truths and Happiness". The approach that Sellars adopts in discussing what it means to be a Stoic seems to also be relevant when considering what it means to be an Aristotelian. (I also think many of the articles in Stoicism Today are worth reading. It is fascinating to read about how people seek to apply this ancient philosophy in their daily lives.)
I will begin by outlining Sellars’ view about what it means to be a Stoic, and discuss the view Sellars presents of what it means to be an Aristotelian in his Antigone article before moving to a discussion of the approach he adopts in his book, and conclude with some comments on what it means to be an Aristotelian:
