“Knowing yourself is the
beginning of all wisdom” – Aristotle
Aristotelian follows the beliefs and teachings of Aristotle,
a Greek philosopher 384 BCE – 322 BCE. Aristotle believed his objective was to
find a universal process of reasoning, which would allow man to learn every
conceivable thing about reality. He believed there was a defined logical
process to everything. Therefore an Aristotelian, is a person who’s thought
process is reliant on their previous experiences (empirical), experimentation
(scientific) and practical judgement which is independent from any other source
but their own (commonsensical).
“Excellence is an art won by training and
habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we
rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotle
Aristotelian is a widely accepted philosophy and became the
official philosophy of the Roman Catholic Church, allowing it to instigate itself
with religion without contradicting it. This may be due to the majority of
Aristotle’s ideas and beliefs being based on observation and experimentation.
He therefore had evidence to back up his work and words.
I believe I follow Aristotle’s teachings and beliefs in many
aspects of my life and I believe that to continue to grow and develop it is
important for me to experience and try as much as possible. To see not only if
I want to continue but to see if I enjoy it and to find out who I am. I have
realised this particularly in the last few years and it has helped me to
discover who I am and who I want to be. However, I also recognise I still have
a large amount of development to do and many more mistakes to learn from. We
are always asking ourselves ‘why did I do that?’ and ‘why didn’t I learn
before?’ I agree with the belief that we have to repeat our mistakes until we
are confident on the signs leading up to the ‘mistake’, therefore making it
avoidable later but we must repeat the process until, like Aristotle says, it
becomes habit. We are not born with the logic to instantly recognise what is
wrong and what is right. We have to be taught it and see it and experience it.
“Those who educate children well are more
to be honoured than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those
the art of living well.” – Aristotle
In the most recent years of my life, I feel I have made many
milestones and opportunities to learn from. Beginning with finishing compulsory
school and making major decisions for my future, including University and
continuing my education. I also took a gap year, working for half the year in a
job I had throughout 6th form and then backpacking on my own to New
Zealand, Australia and Singapore. I met many people who I’ll never forget and
hope to remain in touch with. I also learnt a massive amount about myself. How
I crave adventure and am now somewhat addicted to travelling and seeing as much
of the world as possible but most of all meeting the people and swapping
experiences. I will take these experiences and challenges and use this
information in my present and future to become a better and stronger person.
And how to remain happy.
“Men generally agree that the highest good
attainable by action is happiness, and identify living well and doing well with
happiness.” - Aristotle
