X.9 (p. 256)
“However this may be: if, as has been said, a person needs to be brought up and habituated in the right way in order to be good, and then live accordingly under a regime of decent behavior, neither counter-voluntarily nor voluntarily doing what is bad; and if this will come about when people live in accordance with a kind of intelligence or correct principle of order, with the force to make itself felt: well, a father’s prescriptions do not have the requisite force, or the element of compulsion; nor indeed do the orders of any single man, unless he is a king or similar person; but law does have the power to compel, being a form of words deriving from a kind of wisdom and intelligence. “
I found this passage interesting because I believe that your family can shape you into anything they want. Parental influences determine the character and the behavior of the children. This, in turn, can make a person good or bad. I find this rather depressing, because is it really the child’s fault then that they are bad? Should the parent receive the punishment if the child acts out in school? Should all children be viewed as innocent?
I.12 (p.12)
“Thus the dead do seem to be somehow affected when their loved ones do well, and similarly when they do badly, but in such a way and to such an extent as neither to render the happy unhappy nor do anything else of the sort.”
I found this passage particularly puzzling because I did not see Aristotle’s connection from living beings to those who are dead. I do not understand how a person who is dead can be affected by anything. I can understand that the physical body of the person may be harmed, but I do not see how anything else can be changed. Is he saying that the dead people having a living soul? Why is it necessary to be concerned with the people that are dead?
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2 comments:
I don't know if I necessarily believe that your family can shape you into anything.
My sister and I were raised the same way, but we're hugely different. A lot of times the craziest kids at parties turn out to have pastors or ultra-conservatives as parents. I know several former Amish guys that have no Amish values at all.
I'm sure that sometimes your family shapes you in some ways, but not universally or exclusively.
I totally agree with that. There are exceptions to everything. I am just saying, on average, most people behave how their parents shaped them. This does not mean they are identical to their parents, it means that they are the product of their partenting styles.
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