Quote:
Originally Posted by IRL";p="
Aristotle.
His only weakness was that he never declared himself a prophet and his teachings divine.  Because his works dwarf anything that any other man has brought humanity, and to think we lost most of it to boot. |
I cant answer the question, but, IRL, poor Aristotle was rooted in his own time; for a person to be considered in this sense their views must be such as to survive, appreciably, the passage of their own temporal, momentary culture.
Im with Russell in consideration of Aristotle's estimation of what constitutes the 'magnanimous man' - a boor, nothing short of that.....yuck!
And much of his 'genius' is mere consistent, plodding, common sense - ok, so he teased it out and wrote-it-down. Champion, for that? Thats why no religion could be born of his utterances - there was no divine spark (and even his mates, living in his own day, knew this).
Give me a raving nutter who stumbles upon truth as he/she writhes in the passion of their being, any day, over this. Blake comes to mind, as just such a nutter, inspired of a divine essence (but dont quote me on that)
Get thee behind me, Aristotle!