Why Aristotle shouldn't be cancelled. (Last paragraph of my Afterword to The Philosophy of AristotleSignet/Penguin 2011): "In conclusion, a general remark about reading Aristotle. Aristotle never doubts that there are humans who are natural slaves, & for whom it is good and /1of7

just to be the property of another human being. As justification he invokes the natural inferiority of women to men, which he equally never doubts, thus adding insult to injury. There existed thinkers contemporary with Aristotle who questioned either assumption. /2

Not so Aristotle. His philosophical imagination has deplorable limits. This fact is a useful reminder. Even the greatest thinkers are prone to fall for the prejudices of their times and err on essential issues. How should we respond? /3

For one thing, it is useful to distinguish between an author and their work. What you have in your hands is a copy of a selection of Aristotle’s surviving philosophical works. And whereas with people, we sometimes have to take them or leave them, /4

with a philosopher’s theories, we neither have to adopt nor reject them wholesale. We can pick & choose –just as in the case of an elaborate buffet meal. More than that: The fact that there are some obvious (to us!) errors in a thinker’s work should remind us to be on our toes /5

with respect to everything they say. Aristotle has been studied for over 2000 years, but slavery & the subordination of women were still justified with reference to Aristotle’s works less than 200 years ago. The point of reading philosophical works is never to just memorize and/6

believe the theories expounded in them, nor to put their author on a pedestal. Rather, critical study of Aristotle should lead us to form our own reasoned opinions, with truth trumping Aristotle, where there is a discrepancy between the two. Undoubtedly, Aristotle would agree."/7