Né uomo né bestia. Riflessioni sulla Theriotes a partire dal VII libro dell’Etica Nicomachea

In the Book VII of the Nichomachean Ethics Aristotle briefly analyzes the concept of theriotes. According to the Stagyrite, as it is well known, someone who does not feel the need to live in a community is either a beast or a god. Only a few human beings abandon their natural position between the two to move, either through exceptional virtue towards the gods, or, because of theriotes. In this sense, theriotes is once again an anthropopoietic quality that defines the Other. Despite the name, it is an entirely human deviation, characterised by an unusually cruel and monstruos behaviour, over the borderline of the moral evaluation. By this might be meant either the barbarian (among barbarians, suggests the philosopher, the quality is found more often), or the “deviant” within our own society.