- This topic has 1 voice and 1 reply.
-
Posts
-
Hmmm, or are they really contradictions??Here Aristotle extols the virtues of the successful athletePart V, Rhetoric 1361
Excellence in size is to surpass ordinary people in height, thickness, and breadth by just as much as will not make one's movements slower in consequence. Athletic excellence of the body consists in size, strength, and swiftness; swiftness implying strength. He who can fling forward his legs in a certain way, and move them fast and far, is good at running; he who can grip and hold down is good at wrestling; he who can drive an adversary from his ground with the right blow is a good boxer: he who can do both the last is a good pancratiast, while he who can do all is an 'all-round' athlete.
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/rhetoric.mb.txtYet here, Aristotle warns of the excessiveness in athletic training among youthsPolitics, 8.4.4
It is an admitted principle, that gymnastic exercises should be employed in education, and that for children they should be of a lighter kind, avoiding severe diet or painful toil, lest the growth of the body be impaired. The evil of excessive training in early years is strikingly proved by the example of the Olympic victors; for not more than two or three of them have gained a prize both as boys and as men; their early training and severe gymnastic exercises exhausted their constitutions. When boyhood is over, three years should be spent in other studies; the period of life which follows may then be devoted to hard exercise and strict diet. Men ought not to labor at the same time with their minds and with their bodies; for the two kinds of labor are opposed to one another; the labor of the body impedes the mind, and the labor of the mind the body.
(in a simple interpretation, Aristotle is pointing out that although the youths were successful Olympic champions, as adults they could not continue their success with athletics.)http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.8.eight.htmlSo how does one handle these apparent contradictions? I think looking at the context of Rhetoric and Politics the answer will be found. In Rhetoric, Aristotle is describing the differences in virtue of youths, those in the prime of life, and old age and is showing how values or emotions such as fear, courage, and wealth change as one reaches a different period in his life.
So much for the types of character that distinguish youth, old age, and the prime of life.
In Politics, he is placing an emphasis on education and warns of excessiveness in any one category. In other words, don't get too carried away on one subject, be well-rounded instead. He also explains that youths and younger adults tend to get carried away with one thing or another and need to mature in order to reach and maintain a good balance.
