Ishaan Punjabi

21060222120

Philosophy Assignment:
Opinion piece on which one of them you find the most contemporarily relevant
and why.

Aristotle
Being an Economics student, Philosophy is a subject matter which is inadvertently &
indirectly relevant to the major I am pursuing and when a layman such as myself ponders
over the word Philosophy, Aristotle is the first name that pops up into my mind. I was always
under the impression that Philosophy was a narrow-minded discipline of studies but on
reviewing certain beautifully penned pages from ‘The World’s Great Philosophers – Robert
Arrington’, my viewpoint was completely overturned.

Aristotle's philosophy was more focused on empirical observation and scientific inquiry than
Socrates and Plato. While Socrates and Plato were more interested in abstract concepts and
theoretical ideas, Aristotle believed in using empirical evidence and observation to
understand the world. This approach led him to develop many important ideas in fields such
as biology, physics, and metaphysics. For example, Aristotle's concept of causation, which
states that events are caused by multiple factors rather than a single cause, has been
influential in modern science and philosophy.

The salient factor that perfectly sheds light on the contemporary relevance of Aristotle was
that Aristotle regarded political science as the master science, for it studied human beings in a
political society, implying that a human being can lead a meaningful life only as a member of
a state. Like Plato, Aristotle regarded aristocratic rule of a few, exercising power on behalf of
and for the benefit of the people as the ideal, but realized the difficulty in achieving the ideal.
Therefore, on grounds of feasibility, accountability and efficiency, Aristotle advocated a
mixed form of government in which all citizens would rule and were ruled by rotation,
ensuring that none had a monopoly over political power. Moreover, he also preached that the
individual was an important part of society and that the well-being of society was tied to the
well-being of individuals. Marx, on the other hand, believed that individuals were shaped by
their social and economic conditions and that the key to creating a just society was to address
these conditions.

Aristotle's ideas on politics and governance have also been influential, particularly in the
development of Western political theory. His belief in the importance of the common good
and the role of the state in promoting the well-being of citizens has been explored by
philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, who sought to develop their own
theories of political power and authority. Aristotle's ideas on education and the importance of
cultivating intellectual and moral virtues in young people have also been influential to
subsequent philosophers. His belief in the importance of practical knowledge and his theory
of habituation have been explored by philosophers such as John Dewey, who sought to
develop a theory of progressive education. More recently, the development of cognitive
psychology has drawn upon Aristotelian ideas in their exploration of the nature of learning
and the development of expertise.
All in all, on a careful personal evaluation and breakdown of all his ideologies, I feel
Aristotle is a greatly influential human who is a combined fragment of all the other great
Philosophers of the world. Having a no-nonsense and empirical approach to Philosophy is
what made him contemporarily relevant, even in today’s modern age of chaos.