Philosophy Phriday - Aristotle. Get Your Greek On.
Post #2 – Who is this Aristotle Guy?
While the title gives away the plot, we’re starting this journey with a Google search of philosophers and a list of bullet points that summarize each of their philosophical views. I remember my school days being taught about the Greek philosophers, but I never committed the information to memory. Carry that mentality through my 20s and 30s and all I remember is that Aristotle is a great thinker of the ages, but I cannot tell you the structure of his philosophy. Aristotle is referenced often enough that he is his ideas are part of the nebulous cloud that is the human experience, but not really a structured form I can identify. Since the Google search is alphabetical, we’re going to dive in here and see where it takes us.
Logic, Discourse & Knowledge
Aristotle’s philosophy was built around the use of logic, and he was good enough to provide a template for analytical discourse. Immediately I feel like this is the thinking of a person who doesn’t have to deal with the internet and the spread of information that traverses a factual spectrum. This feeling is solidified by the second point associated with Aristotle which is the idea that some knowledge is universal and is built upon the study of the world around us. Knowledge and the deployment of that knowledge is all fun and games until you throw in some anonymity and opinion without consequence. I don’t want to sound like I’m throwing the ideas of Aristotle out right away. The lesson I take here is that time is a river that shapes the way humans think. There are points in human history that created rocks in the river of time. Those rocks create rapids when they are young until the river of time smooths those rocks over. None of the philosophers of old, nor the philosophers of today are free from the consideration of the rocks in the modern world, or the rocks left over from moments in history.
Not only are we subject to the river of time and its rapids, but we also need to observe as we go along. Philosophy to me is an outward-facing energy about how the individual looks at the world and the creatures in that world. Personal philosophy can change as observation of the world gives more information. We will start with observations based on the basic tools provided by Aristotle’s philosophy. I can get behind the idea of using logic as a method of argument and using that methodology as the basis for positive discourse.
Building on logic, the lesson could be gleaned that logic is the basis for positive discourse. It seems that Aristotle put together and method for analytical discourse. As the search for knowledge requires other people, the idea of having a structure for listening and disputing arguments makes a lot of sense. I will look into this method in the next post. I theorize that there will be a struggle in the modern world where people bring opinions to conversations in the form of pressure vessels. Pressure vessels fueled by long-held beliefs and sustained by indifference to change.
This makes me wonder if the world moves too fast for old-world philosophies. Logic and civil discourse depend on participants being willing (and able) to take the time to learn what they need to know to have an informed conversation. People need to experience, learn, and understand that their personal experience is not completely inclusive. It’s the job of the individual to interpret their own experience against the lives of others. This is not a skill most people display out loud. The knowledge of others is there to enrich what the individual has already learned. The modern world does not assign reasonable value to the time required for learning and experiencing. This leaves people to learn in their own time or listen to the loudest voices to whom they are willing to listen. We all remember being sat in front of a screen or a tablet. We are programmed to take the distracted path. The more distracted the path, the more difficult it is to make a reasonable conclusion. Can we break that programming? Can we find the time to learn? Can we generate excess value in other areas of our life to cover the cost of unearthing our own brand of logic? Are we even learning from the correct experiences?
Practical Application
Be Kind – There is a quest for knowledge we all must take. Time, life, and access to existing knowledge all factor into how we gain experience. Be kind to those who are at different points in their quest. It is not my place to judge or make light of how others experience. There is a counterargument about individuals with malicious intent toward others. This is a journey you and I share for ourselves. This is about how we experience and view what happens around us. Being kind applies to all others but does not absolve others of their actions nor the consequences of those actions as decided on by the laws of man. Laws that aren’t perfect, but we’re about to go down a rabbit hole not meant for this project. Maybe another day, but not today.
Be Present – I struggle with this, taking the moments to see the world around me. It’s easy to let the world wash over us as we make our way. I went to the grocery store yesterday. On my way into the store, I moved quickly and with an unobstructed purpose. On the way out I took the time to pay attention. I noticed the clothes people were wearing and who was moving on their own versus who was moving in a group. I picked out some of the cars that had people sitting inside doing whatever they were doing. Experience the world in whatever way you can at that moment. That is being present. These are the skills I need to practice to better experience the world as it happens around me.
Being present opens the eyes, ears, and mind to those experiences Aristotle is talking about.
Listen – Pretty simple, you can’t learn if you don’t listen. The genesis of knowledge is a one-way street and listening is a fantastic tool to learn in the traditional setting and the setting of humanity.
Empathize – This was mentioned earlier where the experience of others can enrich our understanding of the world. I suspect I will get more into the weeds here when looking at the analytical discourse. When speaking to others, empathy is an important tool.
We’re all trying our best.
Outbound Thoughts
The basics of Aristotle have many connection points with the basics of my own philosophy. I didn’t plan that; “A” comes first in the alphabet. Thinking about my own philosophy, Aristotle seems like the easiest place to find bits I can bolt onto the way I see the world. I’m interested to see what I do when I run into a philosopher I really don’t agree with.
Next Steps
I’m looking at three next steps for this project. The first is to look at Aristotle’s template for analytical discourse. This is the kind of thing I don’t have in my existing personal philosophy. The second step is to look at the next philosopher on the list. It’s an alphabetical list so we’ll be looking at Confucius. The third is to look at something I find moving. No spoilers but I will be looking at a few YouTube channels and breaking down how their content moves me and makes me think about myself, my place in the world, and the struggle that is humanity.
CHR;)
