Aristotle’s quote of “All men by nature desire to know” is either the greatest sales pitch in history, or a genuine truth that registers in our hearts and minds the moment it is first read. Only a deep desire to comprehend what Aristotle is trying to teach made me read, stop, then reread numerous portions of this chapter. It was not simple arithmetic, or a Dr. Seuss book; it was challenging, and that made me push for a deeper understanding. 

The fact that I feel like I absorbed this chapter reasonably well tells me I am most definitely not a mere animal. That deep desire to know had me understand the description of “Rational Animals” with Abstract thinking. The Irony of our Abstract thinking is our deliberation of Human flourishing, which is the thought of human nature and how we might live together. It makes us Political animals capable of benevolence and humanitarian care, but susceptible to malice and malevolence. 

Wild animals such as lions and gorillas fight amongst tribes and territories just like humans, but our Abstract thinking has led to what we label as atrocities, genocides, and even enslavement. Is the atomic bomb the Apex of Higher thinking? Is the murder of tens of millions of citizens through political Communism the pinnacle of Human Flourishing? 

Yes, we have the capacity for all that is cruel, but we can also right those wrongs, we can fight our own brothers in civil wars to free slaves, we can feed the homeless on the streets our engineers designed, we can leave the comfort of our privileged lives to care for orphans in impoverished regions.

Drawing from the dynamic of Benevolence and Malevolence, let me move on to Aristotle’s law of non-contradiction. Those two things cannot exist at once, or in his words, “It is impossible for the same thing to belong and not belong at the same time to the same thing and in the same place.”

We can not hurt and heal someone at the same time. Yes, some healing and growth requires pain, but if pain is a requirement for the end goal of healing, then that pain is not malevolent, it is not cruel. Our minds can make us reject this discomfort as an attempt to protect us, but that will maintain our ultimate state of disorder. We can be in a state of recovery until we are ultimately healed, but even that state has its forward and backward possibilities that can not exist at the same time. Either you have an infection or you don’t, either you have a fever or you don’t.

A diver friend of mine almost lost his leg; the paramedic who attended to him had to endure his screams as he had to replace the gauze every day. Had he stopped to spare him the pain in the moment, he could easily have cost my friend his leg and probably his life. (Paramedics are unsung heroes)

When we look at Malevolence and Benevolence from a point of logic, one would assume that every man would just live out a benevolent life, doing what is just and righteous. Logically speaking, we can assume nobody wants to fight in a war, but what if that war were to liberate humanity from tyrannical, oppressive governing? Our reasoning would have us ponder our choice, and the logical thing to do would be to do what is logical.

War is beyond logic, ask any veteran, but also ask that veteran if their fight was worth it? Was storming the beaches of Normandy logical? No! Was liberating Auschwitz logical? Yes! Is it logical to believe that we can live eternally through a confession of faith in Jesus Christ when we cannot see, touch, feel, or hear God? No! But ask any mature Christian who has given their life to Christ and has served Him faithfully, and they will tell you it is worth it!

Be Blessed!