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Greek Getaway 07.30-08.22.2019

Summer travels to Greece with friends & photos 🙂

By mtoyoda, 5 yearsSeptember 11, 2019 ago

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Aristotle’s thoughts on friendship may be my fav

Aristotle’s thoughts on friendship may be my favourite. A lot is happening lately, but I’m somehow sure I’ll be good, since I’m unbelievably lucky–supported and surrounded by my kind partner, fantastic friends and family.
I wish you the most enriching of relationships too,
AristotleWalks 🥰

Nicomachean Ethics Θ1 1155a3-16
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα περὶ φιλίας ἕποιτ᾽ ἂν διελθεῖν: ἔστι γὰρ ἀρετή τις ἢ μετ᾽ ἀρετῆς, ἔτι δ᾽ ἀναγκαιότατον εἰς τὸν βίον. ἄνευ γὰρ φίλων οὐδεὶς ἕλοιτ᾽ ἂν ζῆν, ἔχων τὰ λοιπὰ ἀγαθὰ πάντα: καὶ γὰρ πλουτοῦσι καὶ ἀρχὰς καὶ δυναστείας κεκτημένοις δοκεῖ φίλων μάλιστ᾽ εἶναι χρεία: τί γὰρ ὄφελος τῆς τοιαύτης εὐετηρίας ἀφαιρεθείσης εὐεργεσίας, ἣ γίγνεται μάλιστα καὶ ἐπαινετωτάτη πρὸς φίλους; ἢ πῶς ἂν τηρηθείη καὶ σῴζοιτ᾽ ἄνευ φίλων; ὅσῳ γὰρ πλείων, τοσούτῳ ἐπισφαλεστέρα. ἐν πενίᾳ τε καὶ ταῖς λοιπαῖς δυστυχίαις μόνην οἴονται καταφυγὴν εἶναι τοὺς φίλους. καὶ νέοις δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἀναμάρτητον καὶ πρεσβυτέροις πρὸς θεραπείαν καὶ τὸ ἐλλεῖπον τῆς πράξεως δι᾽ ἀσθένειαν βοηθείας, τοῖς τ᾽ ἐν ἀκμῇ πρὸς τὰς καλὰς πράξεις: “σύν τε δύ᾽ ἐρχομένω:” καὶ γὰρ νοῆσαι καὶ πρᾶξαι δυνατώτεροι.

“After these [topics], we should discuss friendship, since it’s a kind of excellence or accompanies excellence and, moreover, is most necessary for life. For no one would choose to live without friends, even if they had everything else there is to have. Indeed it seems that the rich or the ones who hold rule and power over others need friends most of all, for what use does prosperity have for those from whom [the possibility] to act well, which we do most and is most praiseworthy towards friends, has been taken away? Or how would the wealth be watched and kept safe without [help from] friends? For the greater it is, the greater the risk. Also in poverty and the other misfortunes it is thought that friends are our only refuge. And [friends are necessary] for the young to avoid mistakes, for the old to be cared for and supported in the things they cannot do due to physical weakness, and for those in their prime to accomplish fine actions. For ‘when two go forth together’, they are better able to perceive and act [than as one].”

Translation & Background (Naxos in 2019) by me 😊 a two-part photo :)

Feeling the right amount of fear for your challeng

Feeling the right amount of fear for your challenges? It’s not good to be afraid of things you shouldn’t be afraid of, but it’s also not good to not be afraid of the things you should be afraid of. Don’t be a coward but don’t be a fool. Aristotle advocates for habituating yourself out of the things you shouldn’t be afraid of—do them, it’ll make you more courageous! But he thinks someone who doesn’t experience fear for anything is an idiot. We are *supposed to be* afraid of some things. Hitting the sweet spot is easier said than done, haha—but worth striving for! I struggle with this.
I wish you a flawlessly fearful or flawlessly fearless weekend.
Faithfully yours,
AristotleWalks 🥰

Ethica Nicomachea Β2 1104a20-25
ὅ τε γὰρ πάντα φεύγων καὶ φοβούμενος καὶ μηδὲν ὑπομένων δειλὸς γίνεται, ὅ τε μηδὲν ὅλως φοβούμενος ἀλλὰ πρὸς πάντα βαδίζων θρασύς· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὁ μὲν πάσης ἡδονῆς ἀπολαύων καὶ μηδεμιᾶς ἀπεχόμενος ἀκόλαστος, ὥσπερ οἱ ἄγροικοι, ἀναίσθητός τις·

Translation: “...for someone who runs away from everything because of fear and endures nothing becomes cowardly, but someone who is afraid of nothing at all and marches on towards everything becomes rash/audacious/insolent; and similarly, someone who takes advantage of every pleasure and refrains from none becomes self-indulgent/gluttonous/licentious, but someone who turns away from every pleasure, as boors do, is without any sense.”

Translation by me for a modern audience.
Background shot by me 😊 looks better in the group of 3, from Praça do Comércio in Lisboa :)

James Clear’s Atomic Habits sounds eerily simila

James Clear’s Atomic Habits sounds eerily similar, no? Developing good traits can feel straining at the start. But as we make them our regular habits, they start to feel good, because they become part of who we are. I was happy to find many Aristotelian ideas in AH when I read it on Wednesday 🙂 I’m on Day 5 of developing a habit to read German philosophy and drink 3 liters of water every day. What habits are you trying to develop? Or struggling to?
Wishing you a contemplative day, und viel Erfolg! (great success!)
AristotleWalks 🥰

Ars Rhetorica Α11 1370a7-14
παρὰ φύσιν γὰρ ἡ βία, διὸ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον λυπηρόν, καὶ ὀρθῶς εἴρηται
“πᾶν γὰρ ἀναγκαῖον πρᾶγμ’ ἀνιαρὸν ἔφυ”
τὰς δ’ ἐπιμελείας καὶ τὰς σπουδὰς καὶ τὰς συντονίας λυπηράς· ἀναγκαῖα γὰρ καὶ βίαια ταῦτα, ἐὰν μὴ ἐθισθῶσιν· οὕτω δὲ τὸ ἔθος ποιεῖ ἡδύ.

Modern English: “Being forced to do things goes against our natures. This is why what we have to do is painful to do. Evenus of Paros was correct in saying “All necessary things are annoying.” Duties and serious pursuits and exerting ourselves are painful, because these are things we force ourselves to do, unless we’ve made them into our habits. Habit makes these things pleasurable.”

Closer to the Greek: “For compulsion is against nature. This is why what is necessary is painful, and [Evenus of Paros] rightly said, ‘Every necessary matter is naturally annoying.’ Duties and zealous efforts and exertions are painful; for these are necessarily compulsions, unless they have become habitual; then habit makes them pleasurable.”

We know it’s Evenus of Paros, a 5th century BC elegiac poet, because Aristotle quotes him on this in the Eudemian Ethics B7 (Kennedy, p. 88).

Translation by me for a modern audience.
Background shot by me 😊 from Praça do Comércio in Lisboa :)

I decide to do 52+ posts this year. Happy New Year

I decide to do 52+ posts this year. Happy New Year everybody! 🥳🎉✨
The past few weeks I’ve been working non-stop on an Aristotle paper, haha 🙂 Today is a short post because I have to get back to that, but I wanted to wish you all a happy new year!
Wishing you, as always, a contemplative day,
AristotleWalks 🥰

Ethica Nicomachea book Zeta Bekker lines 1139a23-5
δεῖ διὰ ταῦτα μὲν τόν τε λόγον ἀληθῆ εἶναι καὶ τὴν ὄρεξιν ὀρθήν, εἴπερ ἡ προαίρεσις σπουδαία…

“For these reasons, it is necessary for what issues in from reason to be true and for desire to be correct, if the decision is to be excellent. ”

Or, paraphrased: ‘For a decision to be excellent, it must arise from true reasons and correct desires’.

Translation by me trying to make Aristotle readable for a modern audience that doesn’t full-time study Aristotle.
Background shot by me 😊 you can’t tell yet but it’s part ⅓ of a photo from Praça do Comércio in Lisboa!

what did you do for others today? ☺ was it towar

what did you do for others today? ☺ was it towards justice or injustice, generosity or stinginess, moderation or self-indulgence? so many ways to exist, but only one towards excellence, or so Aristotle thinks 🙂
I hope I can someday attain all the character and intellectual virtues, but what am I saying, of course I can, it’s up to you! or so Aristotle thinks, anyway 😉
Wishing you a contemplative weekend,
AristotleWalks 🥰

Ethica Nicomachea book Beta Bekker lines 1103b6-17
ἔτι ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν καὶ διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν καὶ γίνεται πᾶσα ἀρετὴ καὶ φθείρεται, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τέχνη: ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ κιθαρίζειν καὶ οἱ ἀγαθοὶ καὶ κακοὶ γίνονται κιθαρισταί. ἀνάλογον δὲ καὶ οἰκοδόμοι καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ πάντες: ἐκ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ εὖ οἰκοδομεῖν ἀγαθοὶ οἰκοδόμοι ἔσονται, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ κακῶς κακοί. εἰ γὰρ μὴ οὕτως εἶχεν, οὐδὲν ἂν ἔδει τοῦ διδάξοντος, ἀλλὰ πάντες ἂν ἐγίνοντο ἀγαθοὶ ἢ κακοί. οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀρετῶν ἔχει: πράττοντες γὰρ τὰ ἐν τοῖς συναλλάγμασι τοῖς πρὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους γινόμεθα οἳ μὲν δίκαιοι οἳ δὲ ἄδικοι, πράττοντες δὲ τὰ ἐν τοῖς δεινοῖς καὶ ἐθιζόμενοι φοβεῖσθαι ἢ θαρρεῖν οἳ μὲν ἀνδρεῖοι οἳ δὲ δειλοί. (Bywater, Oxford Classical Texts)

“It is from and through [doing] the same things that every virtue is developed and destroyed, and similarly for every skill, for it is from playing the cithara (a Greek instrument) that both good and bad cithara-players come to exist. House-building and everything else resemble this too, for building houses well cultivates good builders, building badly cultivates bad ones. For if this were not the case, then there would be no need for anyone to teach [these skills], instead everyone would just become either good or bad [at these things]. Thus it is also in the case of the virtues, for *it is through acting the way we do in our dealings with other people that some of us become just and others unjust*; through acting as we do in frightening situations, and becoming habituated to be afraid or to be confident, that some of us become courageous and others become cowardly.”

Translation by Broadie-Rowe (2002) with revisions by me to be readable for a modern audience that doesn’t full-time study Aristotle.
Background shot by me 😊

…because acting wisely, he thinks, requires awar

…because acting wisely, he thinks, requires awareness of the particular facts of the situation. Have you paid enough attention to the relevant factors while decision-making lately? Aristotle thinks this is super tricky–my life confirms this haha 🙂
Wishing you a contemplative day,
AristotleWalks 🥰

Ethica Nicomachea Book Ε Bekker lines 1141b14-18
οὐδ’ ἐστὶν ἡ φρόνησις τῶν καθόλου μόνον, ἀλλὰ δεῖ καὶ τὰ καθ’ ἔκαστα γνωρίζειν‧ πρακτικὴ γάρ, ἡ δὲ πρᾶξις περὶ τὰ καθ’ ἕκαστα. διὸ καὶ ἔνιοι οὐκ εἰδότες ἑτέρων εἰδότων πρακτικώτεροι, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις οἱ ἔμπειροι‧ (Bywater)

“Practical wisdom (phronesis) is not only concerned with universal [truths]. It is, rather, necessary to be acquainted with the particulars [i.e., the facts about the situation]. For practical wisdom is action-centric, and action concerns the particulars [of the situation]. That’s why some people without knowledge of the universals are more effective in action than those who know them. This is especially the case for experienced people.”

Translation by me @masako.toyoda with reference to Broadie-Rowe (2002).
Background photo shot by me in Lisbon, Portugal of Praça do Comércio 😊

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