Human Destinies: Philosophical Essays in Memory of Gerald Hanratty

Chapter One: Human Nature and Destiny in Aristotle

o n e Human nature and Destiny in aristotle Fran O’Rourke aristotle’s inquiry into human nature is manifold and far-reaching.1 each aspect of his philosophy discloses an understanding of man as unique—distinguished by his diversity. aristotle’s man merits the Odyssean epithet πολύτροπος: of many turns, versatile and resourceful. superficially his creative and adaptive character is confirmed by the titles of aristotle’s various treatises. a cursory review indicates that man is a living, breathing animal endowed with soul; he investigates the world and deliberates how he himself should live, pondering his actions as dramatically represented by the tragic poets. aristotelian man sleeps, dreams, and is anxious about old age; living in a political state and fascinated by the animal world, he looks to the heavens in hope of discerning his destiny. unsurprisingly man is the model and exemplar for aristotle’s investigations in the animal world. man is at once that which he knows best, and the best of what he knows. aristotle introduces the History of Animals with an appropriate analogy: “First we should consider the parts of the human body. every nation reckons currency with reference 19 20 Fran O’Rourke to the standard most familiar to itself; and we must do the same in other fields: man is, of necessity, the animal most familiar to us.”2 in Parts of Animals he declares: “the shape of his external parts is better known than that of other animals.”3 through his observations as biologist aristotle claims to indicate a variety of physical characteristics marking off man from other species. man is the only creature whose hair goes gray, who laughs and can be tickled.4 He is the only animal with different eye colors—or at least the species with the greatest variety—and the only one, moreover, with eyelashes on both lids.5 While uniquely he can learn to make equal use of both hands, he is also the only animal that cannot move his ears.6 these quirky characteristics are of course mere obiter dicta and in no way intended as a serious catalog. most philosophically significant is aristotle’s observation that man is the only animal that stands upright , looks ahead, and projects his voice straight in front.7 there is for aristotle a higher purpose in this anatomical difference: “For nature, as we declare, does nothing without purpose; and man alone of the animals possesses speech.”8 What distinguishes man most properly from other animals is the possession of logos. this is the source of all that is distinctive of human nature and behavior. it provides, moreover , the internal goal or telos for the elements which together make up his constitution. in one of those universalizing accounts which reveal his deep sense of metaphysical order and synthesis, aristotle offers the following panorama concerning diverse life forms: since it is the nature of plants to permanently remain in one location, they do not have a great variety of heterogeneous parts. For where there are few functions, few organs are required for their performance . . . . in those animals, however, that have not only life but also sensation, there is a greater multiplicity of parts; there is more diversity in some than in others, the greatest variety being found in those animals whose nature it is to share not only in life [τοῦ ζῆν], but in the good life [τοῦ εῦ ζῆν]. such is mankind, for of the animals known to us, man alone partakes of the divine, or at least more than all the rest.9 Human nature and Destiny in aristotle 21 man’s special place in the cosmos provides the ultimate reason for certain aspects of his makeup that are indispensable to his nature and function. aristotle thus discerns cosmic purpose in the unique design of human anatomy. instead of forelegs and forefeet, man has hands and arms, which allow him to turn his upper body toward the higher regions of the universe.10 there is even transcendent purpose in the distribution of the human body: “man is the only animal that stands upright, and this is because his nature and essence are divine. now the business of that which is most divine is to think and to be intelligent; and this would not be easy if there were a great deal of the body at the top weighing it down, for weight hampers the motion of the intellect and of the common...