reineke wrote:Here are some quotes attributed to Aristotle by Diogenes Laertius in his Lives of the Eminent Philosophers.
“He said that the root of education is bitter but the fruit is sweet.”
Τῆς παιδείας ἔφη τὰς μὲν ῥίζας εἶναι πικράς, τὸν δὲ καρπὸν γλυκύν.
Not sure why I went for a quote on education at the time, but the subsequent discussion has been interesting. I think I was trying to insert some light heartedness and at the time, a tangential quote seemed apropos.
And not specifically at reineke either, but on the quote above, I'm hoping we're not saying that Diogenes said Aristotle said it, but we don't have a record of Aristotle saying it, and therefore must conclude that Aristotle didn't say it.
To make that conclusion, one would have complete records of everything Aristotle wrote and said. (or maybe it's a rule academia that you can pretend to know things that are unknowable). Why not? In real life people do it all the time.
I'm not saying Aristotle said it, only that it's speculation to say, "he didn't say (something quite like) that". (We know of course he wasn't speaking English, and therefore for that reason alone, we know he didn't actually use those words).
But if we want to go with "based on extant written records, I'm not finding any work attributed to Aristotle that I'd translate into that quote", I'd understand what was meant by the conclusion "he didn't write that".
And just so it's clear. I much prefer accurate attribution and don't like being a bother.