Aristotle Beyond the Academy

Courage (and a Pint) with Aristotle

Encounter
Keep your table in the London pub dry with a beer-mat explaining that “Aristotle” is the Cockney Rhyming Slang substitute for “bottle”. Jokes on the rhyme go back to at least the early 18th century but were most famously expressed in a line in Monty Python’s Philosopher’s Song, “Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle”. The brewing company Courage & Co Ltd was always intensely London in identity, being started by John Courage at the Anchor Brewhouse in Horsleydown, Bermondsey in 1787. The company’s motto has always been “Take Courage”, which fits well with Aristotelian Virtue Ethics of which courage (in the right balanced measure, of course) is a chief component.

Encounter
Encounter

Durham UniversityDurham University Centre for Classical ReceptionLeverhulme Trust