Theophrastus, the brilliant mind who succeeded Aristotle. He pioneered the science of botany and gave us one of the first systematic studies of human personality. Credit: Greek Reporter archive
When you think of the great Greek philosophers, Aristotle’s name is usually at the top of the list, but what about the man Aristotle himself chose to take his place—Theophrastus?
Theophrastus, Aristotle’s successor at the Lyceum, took his mentor’s groundbreaking empirical methods and pointed them in a new direction: inwards. Theophrastus was the man who began a systematic study of human character. His work would become the foundation of what we now call personality psychology, shaping science and literature for over two thousand years.
Who was Greek philosopher Theophrastus?
The story of Theophrastus begins around 371 BC on the Greek island of Lesbos, where he was born and named Tyrtamus. The young boy was drawn to the intellectual heart of the world, so he traveled to Athens, where he began studying with Plato, later becoming a close friend and colleague of Aristotle. He had such an obviously bright mind that Aristotle himself is said to have nicknamed him Theophrastus, which is Greek for “divinely spoken.”
When extreme political turmoil forced Aristotle to flee Athens in 323 BC, he left his school, the Lyceum, and Theophrastus was tasked with leading it himself. For the next thirty-five years, Theophrastus led the institution making research the core element of his method.
Though we often remember him for his insights into people, he was a true polymath, with a wide spectrum of interests. He wrote on everything from law and ethics to metaphysics. However, his most famous and vital scientific work was in botany. His two surviving books on plants were comprehensive, managing to remain the definitive texts in the field for almost 1,500 years and making him the “father of botany.”
One of his writings, his manuscript Characters, has had a significant impact on future generations of researchers and philosophers. In this work, Theophrastus presents us with thirty sketches of negative personality types you might have encountered in ancient Athens. He wasn’t interested in abstract theories of good and evil; he wanted to document real human behavior and its affect on others.
His method was both straightforward and quite effective. Each chapter of his manuscript starts off with a definition of a character flaw—for instance, defining avarice as a thirst for profit that ignores all honor. Then, he outlines what that person practically looks like in real life. His “Tactless Man,” for example, is the guy who corners a busy man for advice or tries to serenade a friend who’s sick with a fever. These stories come in a form of specific observations, almost like data points, that bring the definition to life.
You might wonder why he bothered putting this all in writing. The answer is scholars still aren’t sure. Did it serve as a textbook for public speakers? Was it a self-help guide? Or was it simply his attempt at a different kind of “literary fun?” Whatever his reasons, Characters did something radical: it defined people by what they consistently do. This focus on observable action was a major leap away from abstract philosophy and a step towards a science of personality, an ancient Greek version of today’s field of psychology, one could say.
Characters was a phenomenon waiting to happen, as it was only a matter of time before an advanced society such as the ancient Greeks started contemplating and observing the characteristics of the people who were part of their communities.
Theophrastus, the father of botany, honored at the Palermo Botanical Garden. Credit: SingingLemon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5
How Theophrastus’ work became relevant again
After Theophrastus’ work was rediscovered and translated during the Renaissance, its influence took off like wildfire. The “character sketch” became a literary sensation, especially in 17th-century England and France.
Writers, such as Jean de La Bruyère, famously adopted the format and created satirical portraits of their own societies, which were undergoing radical changes. Characteristics of Theophrastus’ work are even evident in the history of the novel in which devising believable characters with consistent traits and personality quirks became the foundational stone upon which literature in Europe evolved.
Was Theophrastus an early psychologist?
On a psychological level, Theophrastus was centuries ahead of his time. His work was one of the first real attempts to classify and characterize the various personalities of actual people.
By defining a “type” through stable, observable behaviors, he managed to establish the foundation for the trait theories that dominate psychology in our present day. Modern science is obviously more rigorous and relies on more robust scientific methods, but the core idea—that we can understand who people are by watching what they do—was initiated and developed in its primitive form by Theophrastus through his impressive work.
So, yes, Theophrastus kept Aristotle’s seat warm, but he was also a brilliant scientist of his own merit, who single-handedly established the field of botany.
Nonetheless, his most significant gift to the following generations was his writing of Characters. It’s a work that sits uniquely between literature and science, as a collection of portraits that are as entertaining as they are analytical. By simply watching people and recording what he saw, Theophrastus provided us with a timeless catalog of human traits, advantages, and flaws. He connected the rhythms of ancient Athenian life to today’s quest to unravel the mysteries of the mind.
