Aristotelian Concepts and the Hunger of Modern Wisdom

The time when reason became part of human necessity many teachers during the Greek time utilize their intellectual capacity to help mankind and the universal governance and political management by learning and expressively sharing their hypothetical thoughts in the Lyceum garden in Greece.  This iconic Lyceum garden is where the brilliant Aristotle followed the footsteps of Plato where Plato himself made such kind of Philosophy schools in the Mediterranean. During 367 BCE at 17 Aristotle decided to start University and study to the garden of knowledge and wisdom they called Lyceum.  The historical philosophical work of Aristotle created many sub studies in Philosophy that made his fundamental concepts in philosophy and logic vital to the present study of philosophy of today related to business, physics, humanities, engineering and many other academic faculties.  As a young man in Macedon and a son of the court physician to King Amyntas III he was able to achieve his academic opportunity by travelling to Athens.

With his connection to the royal family of Macedon, Amyntas’s son Philip II initiated a national program of expanding the national military guards at that time.  The father of Aristotle and King Amyntas III are still hoping that Aristotle will still return to military training and become a Royal Guard. Note, that during that time being a soldier is the highest and well respected profession.  But on the contrary, Aristotle still continue studying, debating, writing and teaching.  The nephew of Plato at that time by the name of Speusippus is assuming the Academy of Philosophy.  But the Monarch Hermias at that time is interested in Philosophy thinking that logic and philosophy is a vital part in governance and military tactical management.  In fact, King Philip II invited Aristotle to be a tutor to his son Alexander in Macedonia… soon became Alexander the great.  You can just imagine that at that time reason is precious to the evolution of civilization and open global market. After this era when Alexander the great became the ultimate leader in conquering nations in Europe and Euro Asia we can relate to the world history that Alexander’s Army Battalion is applying science and logic in many of their tactical offensive that Greece at that time became dominant in world governance and invasion. Thus, in the young mind of Aristotle maybe he is pondering that knowledge is more lethal than the present warfare armament of the Greek Battalion.  Aristotle’s love of knowledge and wisdom drive his exploration of study in the field of Physicals, Biology, Engineering, Politics and governance and many more.  The exploration of logic, philosophy, and the many disciplines of the academe made the colorful life of Aristotle from age 17-37. The theory of Plato in terms of ethics and politics made Aristotle to study in that area of subject but of course with many arguments from the first scholar.  

Aristotle's Lyceum Garden of Knowledge

Aristotle on the contrary is used to receive opinion as the basis for his many arguments in the Lyceum. “Edoxa” or receiving opinion as the basis for discussion are one of the many teaching strategies that many academe are adapting to open the minds of the learners and eventually gather fresh new knowledge data from the learners for creative alternative solutions and eventually the conclusive part of any case study presentation.  Many social science and business teachers related to business ethics and business law are using this fundamental concept of teaching, classic but effective.  Another fundamental concept of academia that everyone love to use in the field of reasoning specifically in the field of research is the deductive and inductive reasoning.  Research writers of today are still using this basic concept to present ideas and hypothesis that eventually become a concrete fact based from the data gathered.  Most research writing presentation of today are following the concept of deductive and inductive reasoning based from the secondary data being analyzed.  While ethics and politics are the issue of world governance at that time. Aristotle is wanting to reach the limits of the natural laws in the Physical world that he presumed that the Physical world is deemed relative to the behavior of the Metaphysical being of mankind and nature.  

Another important contribution of Aristotle is the study of Nicomachaen Ethics though the concept did not survive compared with other theory of philosophy but the interesting part that I conceived captivating in my reading hour is that the name “Nicomachaen” is dedicated to his young son Nicomachus who also edited the work and gave it its final form years after his father’s death.  Some of the Philosophical questions that Aristotle open the minds of the students in the Lyceum at that time that is deemed useful of today are: What do we aim at in life? What is it that would make living worthwhile? A worthwhile life must surely involve developing our specifically human characteristics to the full. How could we find out what those are? All these sample philosophical questions are subject to the area of human virtue that ethics are climbing up to the ladder of deeper analysis in a philosophical view of life and the universe.

“Eudaimonia” is another aspect of study of Aristotle that many Philosophy teachers of today are getting many resourceful ideas from the concept of “Eudaimonia” or what we commonly termed as “Life’s Fulfillment” the study of life’s fulfillment are being studied by many Philosophers today Specifically in the academic discipline of humanities. Thus, business and law are also adopting this concept applied in their research to achieve market data analysis for example in the scope of business and marketing strategy.  In my future blog article I will elaborate more of the applied philosophical laws and concepts that are being used in our business world today. Business laws applied in International Business Laws and negotiations use several fundamental concepts of Aristotle to collaborate with the modern research findings in social science used in modern business and public governance. Added to the study of “Eudaimonia”, Aristotle correlate the relevance of “Eudaimonia” towards the concept “Arete”.  “Arete” is interpreted as the excellence of a person to a certain skill for example.  Thus, Eudaimonia is relative to the Arete of a human being because if a person is excellent in his skill (Arete) then the person will experience fulfillment in his life (Eudaimonia).

Another philosophical teaching of Aristotle that I believe relative to my next study of social science subjects is the topic of wisdom.  Practical Wisdom as he named it, because wisdom should be practically applied to a more technical concept.  In this topic, questions like: how is practical wisdom different from other intellectual skills? How theory and practice are connected? Is practical wisdom concerned only with means, not with ends? How is practical wisdom related to moral virtue?. According to Aristotle that practical wisdom should translate the ethical standards and laws of humankind. Thus, to have a fulfilled life practical wisdom is also needed to connect the overall ethos off humanity.  Another interesting key question that Aristotle considered from the writings of Gerard J. Hughes (2001) is the question of wisdom and its relationship to skill.  Is practical wisdom like other practical skill? Example that we can view as the vantage point of our hypothetical discussion of a given case study for example are the main ideas like: a.) Physicians aim at producing healthy patients b.)In order to do so, physicians must know what being healthy involves. c.) Physicians must also learn what medicines to prescribe, and in what quantities- neither too much nor too little. d.) Every person aims at producing fulfilment. e.) In order to do so, people must know what fulfilment involves. f.) People must also learn what actions will produce fulfilment, and those actions, as we have seen, must be virtuous, “lying in the mean”.

Further study and hypothetical analysis of Professor Michael Sandel will add more modern applied concepts of the fundamental concepts of Aristotle regarding Virtue and Wisdom applied in the modern business and legal political science concepts.  In my next blog article, International Business and Law will use many fundamental concepts from Aristotle, thus it is useful to get the narrative presentation of Professor Sandel to open the reader’s mind to a modern application of the Aristotelian Concepts and Practical definition of Wisdom and Virtue.

Professor Michael Sandel @ Harvard Class (Virtue & Wisdom)