The Sage's C.V.

Creating the Good Life :Applying Aristotle's Wisdom to Find Meaning and Happiness
by James O'Toole

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Although Aristotle lived two and a half millennia ago, I was able to discover a good deal about his career: In addition to his own writings, observations about him by contemporaries survive, and, miraculously, a copy of his will has come down through the ages. Nonetheless, I also found enormous gaps in knowledge about his personal life and motivations. After all, he lived in an era in which autobiography was self-indulgent. But from what we know as fact and what we can reasonably surmise, it would appear Aristotle was more like people today than one might expect, considering the enormous gulf in time separating antiquity from the 21st century. Of course, he wasn't exactly like us; he never heard of a PC, a BMW, a VCR, or an IRA, and he was definitely not P.C. But he was surprisingly like us in terms of his interpersonal relationships and the life and career challenges he faced. He wrote about the concerns of practical men and women as opposed to the more esoteric issues that preoccupy academics, and his political and ethical teachings were intended for the leadership class of his society. "The Ancient," as I think of him, was a teacher of bright, educated generalists in government and commerce as opposed to scholars and specialists.

Aristotle was born in 384 B.C. in a Greek colony in Macedonia. His father, Nicomachus, was court physician to the king of Macedonia, Alexander the Great's grandfather. Nicomachus died when Aristotle was 17, and he was then sent to the Athenian Academy, where he studied under Plato until he was 37. (He was either a slow learner or a precursor of the modern graduate student.) Like everyone, Aristotle had his shortcomings, weaknesses, and even vices. He was a bit of a dandy in his youth, sporting the latest designer fashions in cloaks and sandals, and was said to have worn ostentatious rings. He engaged in conspicuous consumption: He had the finest collection of books in Athens; his teacher, Plato, was said to be envious. As a student, he occasionally was arrogant: He would sit in Plato's class at the Academy and point out errors in his teacher's logic. Plato was not necessarily paying him a compliment in dubbing him "the mind." There is reason to believe he was smugly ambitious in midlife. When Plato died, Aristotle assumed he was the obvious candidate to succeed as head of the Academy. But it was not to be. Apparently, Aristotle's arrogance had alienated so many members of the faculty that he was passed over in favor of his best friend. He left Athens hurt, if not in a huff.

On the rebound from the disappointments of his academic career, Aristotle moved back to Macedonia, where he became tutor to Alexander from the time the prince was 13 until he was 16 years old. Significantly, Aristotle did not attempt to turn Alexander into an intellectual: "It is not merely unnecessary for a king to become a philosopher, it even may be a disadvantage," Aristotle wrote. "Instead, a king should take the advice of true philosophers. Then he would fill his reign with good deeds, not good words." Alas, it must have seemed to Aristotle that Alexander suffered from attention deficit disorder during his tutorials, because there is little evidence that the teacher had any more than a slight influence on his student's behavior then or later.

Nonetheless, we have reason to believe that Aristotle's home life in Macedonia was richer and emotionally more rewarding than his work life was with Alexander. After the career setback in Athens, Aristotle married an 18-year-old noblewoman, Pythias. They soon had a daughter, whom they also named Pythias. Based on what he wrote, Aristotle was deeply in love with his bride: "As for adultery, let it be held disgraceful for any man or woman to be found in any way unfaithful once they are married and call each other husband and wife." Sadly, the young wife died before the prime of her life. Aristotle never remarried but spent the rest of his days with a mistress, Herpyllis, who bore him a son, Nicomachus.

During the 13 years he was away from Athens, we may surmise that Aristotle gained wisdom and, perhaps, humility. Clearly, he sought to become self-aware. He worked to discover the unconscious appetites that had derailed his career. Abandoning those inappropriate desires, he disciplined himself to aim, instead, for "goods" that would make him truly virtuous and happy. To develop his potential, he read everything he could get his hands on and seriously studied all subjects imaginable. He made friends among others similarly inclined, and together they spent days and months discussing scientific and philosophical questions, challenging each other when one of them offered a facile answer to a complex question. In addition, Aristotle applied his growing store of learning, wisdom, and understanding to the practical problems that beset his community.

After years of such effort and around the beginning of that all-important sixth decade of life, he felt he understood, finally, what it meant to be happy. He concluded that true happiness results not from winning the admiration of others or from being appointed to a position of power (like deanship of the Academy); instead, happiness derives from dedication to the goal of living a good life, and that such a life entails a never-ending quest for knowledge and wisdom.

He returned to Athens at age 50, perhaps wishing to make amends and to convince his former colleagues to reform the Academy's idealistic and metaphysical curriculum by adopting a more realistic and scientific approach to learning and research. Again he was rebuffed (long memories among faculty sorts are as ingrained as their unwillingness to forgive). Unable to change the existing academic system, he acted like an entrepreneur today who finds himself frustrated inside established institutions: He started his own business, the Lyceum. Specializing in biological research and historical studies, the Lyceum ultimately became the model for formal higher education in the West. (The French still call their high schools lycées.) He led the institution for a dozen years, until anti-Macedonian agitation erupted in Athens and he was forced to retreat from the city.

Aristotle died in exile at about age 62 in 322 B.C. His friends remembered him for his loyalty, kindness, and generosity. What is striking about his life is that he appears to have practiced what he preached. He spent his last quarter century unswervingly dedicated to the pursuit of wisdom in exactly the way he recommended to others.

© 2005 by James O'Toole. All rights reserved. No Part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

About the Author

James O'Toole, is research professor in the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California and Mortimer J. Adler Senior Fellow of the Aspen Institute. He has written 14 books, the most recent being Leadership A-Z.