ABSTRACT
Depending upon the ancient sources we prefer, Aristotle emerges to the modern era as a man with one or the other of two remarkably dissimilar profiles.1 According to one tradition, presumably inaugurated and flamed primarily by his enemies, Aristotle was, if intellectually capable, a ghastly sort of man: obnoxious and disagreeable, conceited and overbearing. According to an equally well-attested and completely opposing tradition, Aristotle was, on the contrary, not only a genius beyond all measure, but a considerate soul, fervently devoted to his friends and passionately interested in the enhancement of human knowledge in all its forms. Armed with either one or the other of these assessments, it is possible to find corroborating evidence when combing through Aristotle’s extant writings.2 Although neither approach is likely to yield an accurate portrait of Aristotle, there is a methodological moral in surveying the excesses of each.
