ABSTRACT
Apart from the capabilities and potentialities with which Nature has supplied Man, did Aristotle accept that the environment also is influential in the shaping of the personality? On the contrary, if there is ample food in the environment the animals live in peace; in the text there is the example of crocodiles which in ancient Egypt the priests managed to tame by caring for and feeding. There are cases of animals and birds which show a change in their behaviour when they lose their partner and remain alone in their environment. Aristotle discusses in addition the effect of the human environment on animals and how their behaviour and characterological qualities can be altered. In order to understand the way that Aristotle accepts the channels through which the environment affects the formation of the personality, it is necessary to examine first the psychic qualities that he considers as existing in Man at his birth and during the first years of life.
