An article in The Guardian (Lessons from my dying therapist: care less, have fun – and accept the inevitable) made me download Edit Hall’s book Aristotle’s way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life. She covers ten aspects of life from ‘Happiness’ to ‘Mortality’.

As I devoured the book (I found it a compelling and stimulating read) it made me realise how much Aristotle had covered, thousands of years ago, that we believe are new ways of thinking about life today. As Hall says, “There is comfort in a dialogue with a human mind from so long ago, because it makes you realise how little has changed about the human condition, despite all our supposed technological advances.”

 On happiness: ‘John F. Kennedy summed up Aristotelian happiness in a single sentence: “The full use of your powers along lines of excellence in a life affording scope.”

Aristotle is clear that a one size fits all approach to life is flawed, he is consummately pragmatic. He is especially interesting regarding ethical decisions: “Aristotelians call themselves ‘moral particularists’. Each situation and dilemma requires detailed engagement with its nitty-gritty particulars. When it comes to ethics, the devil really can be in the detail.”

On education he is, however, adamant about the vital role it plays in society but, again, remains pragmatic: “But it remains his conviction that there should be a proper system of public governance of education. Parents today who reluctantly resort to private schools because they are not happy with what is offered by the state can take comfort from his concession that ‘when the matter is neglected by the community, however, it would seem to be the duty of the individual to assist his own children and friends to live good lives, or even if not able to do so successfully, at all events to make this the aim’.”

In making decisions he set out a number of rules:

“The first rule followed by the competent deliberator according to the ancient Greeks is ‘don’t deliberate in haste’. Impulsiveness has no place in deliberation.”

“The second rule is to verify all information.”

“Verifying information is closely related to the third rule, to consult and listen to an expert adviser. The adviser needs to be disinterested (not uninterested), and not standing to gain or lose from your decision.”

“The fourth imperative is to consult or at least look at the situation from the perspective of all parties who will be affected.”

“Rule number five is to examine all known precedents, both those in your personal life and history.”

“Rule number six: calibrate the likelihood of different outcomes and prepare for every single one you think is possible.”

“Besides likely and predictable outcomes, the seventh rule requires that you also think about that inconsiderate factor of luck. Factor in all the random possibilities you can possibly envisage. What unanticipated events might drastically affect how things proceed?”

Reflecting on these principles made me wonder if the PPE many of our politicians seem to study actually has any influence on the way they make decisions?

I did enjoy the injunction “don’t drink and deliberate’!

The elegant explanation of Aristotle’s thinking about debate, discourse and communication again contain most of the principles I have been taught in my career and as a coach: “Emotions and thought underlie Aristotle’s virtue ethics, but are also integral to his advice on persuasion. Some of his most interesting empirical observations on cognition through speech–how people take in information delivered in words–also occur in the Rhetoric. His entire theory is built on the relationship between the communicator and the audience, and how emotions and language create that relationship.” “Aristotle thinks that analogies are invaluable in persuading your listener.”  “Finally, the observation of Aristotle’s that has most potential to transform your own persuasiveness is that there is far less difference than usually assumed between effective speech and effective writing. ‘Generally speaking, whatever you write should be easy to read or easy to utter, which is the same thing.’”

On self knowledge I found the following statement encapsulated something I have learned by experience: “Simply demeaning someone else, bitching about them either to their face or behind their back, makes the insolent person feel, temporarily, better about themselves. Aristotle shows remarkable psychological acuity in seeing that people who need to criticise others constantly have a problem with respecting themselves.”

Aristotle makes a compelling argument for Democracy, as well as appreciating its flaws: “In his Rhetoric he defines the goals of different constitutions in a way which makes democracy appear preferable: the goal of democracy is liberty, as opposed to wealth (the goal of oligarchy), high culture and obedience to law (the goal of aristocracy), and self-protection (the goal of tyranny). He points out that the constitution with the most ‘scope for friendship and justice between ruler and subjects’ is democracy, ‘where the citizens being equal have many things in common’.”  Perhaps some of my current dissatisfaction with the government in the UK is that it it seems to be favouring oligarchy?

The most relevant section of the book, from my perspective, was around mortality.  Aristotle did not believe in an after life but he did believe in how we make the most of the life we have.

“Aristotle’s distinction between surviving biologically and living a deliberated life directed towards happiness can therefore help you sympathise with the homeless and the hungry, refugees and exiles, the disabled and the mortally ill, and with abused animals. So there is no point in feeling guilty about having sufficient time to think about becoming the Best Possible You. The most ethically developed person is the most likely to want to help the disadvantaged and the damaged. Be grateful that you are in this fortunate position and get on with Project Happiness.”  He also emphasised that leisure was much more important then work. “The objective of work is usually to sustain our lives biologically, an objective we share with other animals. But the objective of leisure can and should be to sustain other aspects of our lives which make us uniquely human: our souls, our minds, our personal and civic relationships. Leisure is therefore wasted if we do not use it purposively.” Also, how important the arts were for humans: “History offers us a gymnasium for developing our ethical muscles. And so does fiction.”

Edith Hall’s writing brought Aristotle’s thinking to life for me.  I made copious notes of which only a portion are here as an appetiser to make you want to devour for yourself the feast of thinking it provides.