A few days ago, I was searching the wonderfully helpful Non-Contradiction.com for the source text of Aristotle’s distinctions between first potentiality (e.g. “I am the sort of being that is able to learn Russian”), second potentiality/first actuality (e.g. “I am able to speak Russian, but I am not presently doing so”), and second actuality (e.g. “I am presently speaking Russian”) for my paper on the marginal humans argument for animal liberation/rights. (Really, it’s quite relevant!) In the process, I surfed to this page on Aristotle’s Catfish. I’d heard the basic outline of the story from someone some time ago, but so I was delighted to read the details about this vindication of Aristotle’s biology. However, I was even more delighted to see that the first of the two listed sources was none other than “‘Aristotle as Scientist’ lecture given by Dr. Allan Gotthelf, August 1989″ — with the link to the Ayn Rand Bookstore.

(Obviously, that lecture is still on my “To Do” list — now bumped up a few notches! Unfortunately, it’s not yet available on CD. Since I’ve discovered the joyful ease of listening to lectures on my iPod, I don’t wish to buy any more tapes.)