At the time Aristotle wrote this book, in 350 BC, he was well aware of the work of his contemporary, Hippocrates, who had been dead for 20 years. Hippocrates had more pragmatically contemplated the same problem and had divided the human personality into four general categories: [the humors of] choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic and sanguine.

The purpose of Aristotle's intellectual investigation was to instill the ideas of personal morality and virtue and then hold others to these [presumably our] standards. While

The wondrous Oracle at Delphi, who predated Aristotle by perhaps a thousand years, had the correct answer which was "Know thyself!" When this is achieved, a person just might be able to place himself in the position of another and begin to understand the actions of that person. At this juncture, what would have been judgment of what might or should have been done, will become an understanding of the reasons for that "different" person's actions.

With the expansion of democracy in this century and the idea of individual equality, there comes an ideological extension that people are "alike and should behave accordingly." This can be carried further using Aristotle's belief that "proper" action causes development of a "virtuous" personality t

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Approximate Word count = 501
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)