CHAPTER VI.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ARISTOTLE pages 275-329

I. Recent Aristotelian literature, 275—Reaction in favour of Aristotle’s philosophy, 277—and accompanying misinterpretation of its meaning, 278—Zeller’s partiality for Aristotle, 280.

II. Life of Aristotle, 280—His relation to Plato, 281-Aristotle and Hermeias; 284—Aristotle and Alexander, 285—Aristotle’s residence in Athens, flight, and death, 288—His choice of a successor, 288—Provisions of his will, 289—Personal appearance, 289—Anecdotes illustrating his character, 290—Want of self-reliance and originality, 291.

III. Prevalent misconception of the difference between Aristotle and Plato, 291—Plato a practical, Aristotle a theoretical genius, 293—Contrast offered by their views of theology, ethics, and politics, 294—Aristotle’s ideal of a State, 296—His want of political insight and prevision, 297—Worthlessness of his theories at the present day, 298.

IV. Strength and weakness of Aristotle’s _Rhetoric_, 299—Erroneous theory of aesthetic enjoyment put forward in his _Poetics_, 300—The true nature of tragic emotion, 303—Importance of female characters in tragedy, 303—Necessity of poetic injustice, 305—Theory of the Catharsis, 306—Aristotle’s rules for reasoning compiled from Plato, 307—The _Organon_ in Ceylon, 307.

V. Aristotle’s unequalled intellectual enthusiasm, 308—Illustrations from his writings, 309—His total failure in every physical science except zoology and anatomy, 311—His repeated rejection of the just views put forward by other philosophers, 312—Complete antithesis between his theory of Nature and ours, 316.

VI. Supreme mastery shown by Aristotle in dealing with the surface of things, 318—His inability to go below the surface, 319—In what points he was inferior to his predecessors, 320—His standpoint necessarily determined by the development of Greek thought, 321—Analogous development of the Attic drama, 323.

VII. Periodical return to the Aristotelian method, 325—The systematising power of Aristotle exemplified in all his writings, 326—but chiefly in those relating to the descriptive sciences, 327—His biological generalisations, 328—How they are explained and corrected by the theory of evolution, 329.