ABSTRACT
Aristotle divides personality characteristics into two main categories: virtues and vices. His concern is, of course, philosophical; in the Nicomachean and Eudemian Ethics, moral, to teach men how to become good and virtuous (agathos); and social in Politics, in order to advise how one can be a good citizen (polites). In addition to the above factors, age and gender determine to a certain degree several special characteristics, which are added to the profile and behaviour of a person. For the emotional sphere of young people’s life, the Stagirite makes a comprehensive description showing the extreme ways of their age. They love their friends and companions more than the persons of other ages do, and they like to live all day with them. A factor accounting for the insecurity of old age is in some cases a disturbance of memory. In On Memory, Aristotle refers to that and the reasons he gives are psychopathologically very correct.
