Aristotelian Charter

A column called Words to Live By appears each week in This Week. Authors, philosophers, statesmen, educators and plain citizens choose and comment on quotations, famous or obscure, as a steering gear for readers in "these rudderless days." For No. 22 in the series, Stringfellow ("Winkie") Barr, president of St. John's College, last week plucked a 2,000-year-old thought from Aristotle: "All men desire by nature to know." Wrote Barr:

"Aristotle is not hedging, the way we are doing. He means all--men and women, rich and poor, black and white, young and old. Of course he met men who seemed not to want knowledge. . . . He also met men who seemed not to want food. But ... by nature [man] has to eat--and he has to learn. If he stops eating, his stomach shrinks, his body gets thin, his face gets pale. If he stops learning, his mind shrinks, his thoughts get thin, his talk gets pale--and boring.

"Aristotle's sentence is the charter for every school and college in the land. It is the license for every teacher. He is telling us why we Americans want education to be for everybody. He is telling us why we know in our hearts that grownups need it as much as children do--or more. He is reminding us again that people 'just naturally' want to learn. And he knows that people just naturally need to be reminded. For--also by nature, alas!--all men forget the things they most desire."

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