Book 6
4
It is also clear that Wisdom cannot be the same thing as Political Science; for if we are to call knowledge of our own interests wisdom, there will be a number of different kinds of wisdom, one for each species: there cannot be a single such wisdom dealing with the good of all living things, any more than there is one art of medicine for all existing things. It may be argued that man is superior to the other animals, but this makes no difference: since there exist other things far more divine in their nature than man, for instance, to mention the most visible, the thingsThis means apparently the sun, stars, and planets, elsewhere referred to by Aristotle as the divine bodies that move through the heaven, the visible divine things, the heaven and the most divine of visible things (Aristot. Met. 1074a 30, Aristot. Met. 1026a 18, Aristot. Phys. 196a 33). of which the celestial system is composed.
5
These considerations therefore show that Wisdom is both Scientific Knowledge and Intuitive Intelligence as regards the things of the most exaltedSee 7.3, third note. nature. This is why people say that men like Anaxagoras and ThalesThales was the first of the Seven Wise Men: Anaxagoras belonged to a later generation. may be wise but are not prudent, when they see them display ignorance of their own interests; and while admitting them to possess a knowledge that is rare, marvellous, difficult and even superhuman, they yet declare this knowledge to be useless, because these sages do not seek to know the things that are good for human beings.
