From the magazine

Aristotle and the leisurely pursuit of education

Peter Jones
 ISTOCK
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 22 February 2025
issue 22 February 2025

Nearly six million people are on out-of-work benefits. It is claimed that, for most of those, going back to work would not be financially worth it. Aristotle would have agreed with them because for him, leisure was the most important possession a man could have.

The ancients generally had no concept of the dignity of labour, apart from idealistic views about the farmer working in harmony...

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