Aristotle was not just a great philosopher; the ancient Greek scholar also wrote about poetry, drama, comedy, biology, physics, politics, and music. His thirst for understanding the world seemed boundless.When his works were studied in the Middle Ages, he became known as not just a philosopher but “The Philosopher.” In the poet Dante’s 1472 epic poem Divine Comedy, Aristotle is called “the master of those who know.”Living in the fourth century B.C., Aristotle was the student of the renowned philosopher Plato and in turn became the tutor of Alexander the Great, then the prince of Macedonia. While serving at the royal courts, Aristotle became deeply concerned with how people might achieve eudaimonia, a Greek word meaning to flourish as a human being. To Aristotle’s mind, thriving in life was all a matter of character and virtue.Aristotle believed that humans could learn to be virtuous by making a habit of moral acts — in other words, if you practiced acting like a good person, you would eventually become good.“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them,” he wrote in Nicomachean Ethics, one of his most influential works. “Men become builders by building and lyre players by playing the lyre; so too we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”Aristotle saw virtue as a balance between two extremes. The brave person, for instance, was one who avoided acting like a coward (considered a vice) but was also not rash or foolhardy (a vice on the other end of the spectrum). He believed moderation brought out the best in all people and made human society harmonious.
