Single Idea 5858

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature]

Full Idea

The body is in its prime from the ages of thirty to thirty-five, and the soul around the age of forty-nine.

Gist of Idea

Men are physically prime at thirty-five, and mentally prime at forty-nine

Source

Aristotle (The Art of Rhetoric [c.350 BCE], 1390b09)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'The Art of Rhetoric', ed/tr. Lawson-Tancred,H.C. [Penguin 1991], p.177


A Reaction

Wonderfully specific! It is important that Aristotle is interested in these questions. The good for man follows the path laid out by nature, in which a man rises to his highest good in maturity, and then declines from it into old age.