According to Aristotle...

According to Aristotle, the inherent truth of science (‘ episteme ’ in the narrow sense) is necessary and is not mixed with error, and the Greeks themselves suspected that this perfect knowledge was reserved for God, and man could only aspire to it[^9] .

Practical truth, however, is the result of successive corrections, of a history of trial and error, of rectifying in our conduct the tendencies to the powerful attraction of extremes; a history, according to Aristotle, of approaching the happy medium, or equilibrium. On the other hand, to lose ground towards either of the extremes is, as Aristotle says, very easy, you just have to let yourself go[^10] .

Finally, it might seem that practical truth has to do only with the interest or usefulness of an action, and with its potential for making for a pleasant life. Thinking this way reduces prudence to a mere skill ( deinós ) or ability to achieve any ends. But prudence does not only seek partial ends but, in the final analysis, ‘good life in general’[^11] . Science governed by ability would be instrumental in the poorer sense of the word.

But this is only so if we forget that among man’s most conspicuous interests is knowledge[^12] , the satisfying of curiosity about what surrounds him. Aristotle says that virtue is about pleasures and pains[^13] and that, therefore, the most virtuous life will be the most pleasurable, the one most full of happiness[^14] . But, according to him, what produces the most pleasure is knowledge of the world, of man himself and of the divine.

Therefore, he who seeks happiness is he who seeks knowledge, truth, the philosopher in the original sense. Previous…