Chris Doss <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
"Aristotle is talking in terms of arete, personal excellence, not social class, right? I imagine that in a hypothetical classless society there would still be differences in social status based on achievement, personal likeability and so forth."
This is interesting. What would be the source of arete in this hypothetical society? Do you mean some people would still be not entirely with the program, feeling slighted, wanting to challenge the group, not content with just being happy and productive? Iago and Othello move us because we all have a little of envy and jealousy in us, but in this hypothetical classless society presumably there'd be much less of those emotions, and a drama involving them would be incomprehensible or unmoving. Like the story of Abraham and Isaac is to me.
BobW
--- Robert Wrubel wrote:
>
> There couldnt be tragedy in Aristotle's sense,
> which requires someone of elevated stature, but more
> than that, someone whose fall questions the
> established order.
>
Aristotle is talking in terms of arete, personal excellence, not social class, right? I imagine that in a hypothetical classless society there would still be differences in social status based on achievement, personal likeability and so forth.
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