Plato in the 21st century: Are Plato and Aristotle relevant to today's biggest debates?
Many debates today devolve into a moral case for an ideology with no consideration for the logic of the argument. Two of the first formal logical thinkers and philosophers were Plato and Aristotle. They agreed on much, but they diverged on some key issues. Their debate sparked many similar debates for centuries, if not millennia. There are topics today that they did not directly deal with; this is not surprising since technology changes many things and creates new ethical and political dilemmas. Plato's and Aristotle's ideas, individually and together, have had a hand in shaping societies through recorded history, and the ideas that are at the core of their works are not only relevant to, but also evident in the political policies, the societal conventions, and the pop culture issues to this day.
Plato and Aristotle spent twenty years in each others' company, and the world had a meeting of the minds that we may not have had since or ever. Aristotle entered Plato's academy at 18 and was highly regarded from early on. He was tough to sway, but he did agree with many of the things taught in the academy. Plato had learned from Socrates, and he was regarded as the thinker of the time, only to be rivaled by his student, Aristotle. Plato lived a long life, for the time, and he spent the majority of it at the academy. He believed strongly in teaching and dialogue. This would lend itself to engendering the trust and environment to develop other thinkers, like Aristotle. Aristotle came to the academy a child and learned much. He left about 20 years later and would, likewise, go on to influence much of the world.
Plato wrote on about every topic conceivable over 2000 years ago. He wrote and tutored many students over many years. One of his key methods for writing and teaching was dialogue. He wanted to display a back and forth between two parties. This, apparently, was something that he got from Socrates, and he would continue it for the rest of his life. He wrote on just about every possible topic for the time, but much of his later work was logically based on his work "The Theory of Forms"(Sparknotes, Plato). In this, he asserted that was a whole other "world", in which forms, anything that is esoteric or metaphysical, exists apart from the physical world. This started a whole path, down which some, like Aristotle, could not follow. He based the logic of other works on assumptions laid out in "The Theory of Forms"(Sparknotes, Plato). Plato began to make logical leaps based on an ethics and science that has no basis in the physical world. His assumptions have been affirmed by many since, but these were also the beginning of the ideological split between Plato and his best student, Aristotle.
Aristotle spent much of his early years at Plato's academy. This is certainly where he found and developed the base of his ideas. He spent some time there, and then he spent some time away from formal academia. He tutored Alexander the Great for a few years. Shortly after this, Aristotle moved back to Athens. He ended up at the Lyceum, and here he had conversations and wrote much of his work. He discussed and refined his beliefs, all of which started with what could be experienced with the senses. Aristotle believed that the only way to know anything was to experience it. He also used this same approach to expand his understanding of science. Aristotle's influence has been significant, and it is only exceeded by Plato because of Plato's influence on him.
Given the extensive amount of time that these two spent together, one might be led to believe that their writings would be in lockstep with each other. This is not the case. Following the divergence of ideas regarding "forms", these two kept a respectful distance from each other philosophically. Plato believed that reality was the unknowable, metaphysical forms, but Aristotle believed that anything that could transcend typical rhetoric must still be experienced and reasoned(Sparknotes, Aristotle). This split led to a whole host of differences on issues. Aristotle did not care for democracy, but he believed that it worked the best of the options. Plato thought that democracy was only slightly better than tyranny. Aristotle went on to apply his methods to science, but Plato did not value this in the same way. Aristotle is commonly known as the father of the scientific method. Plato taught that knowledge itself was virtue, but Aristotle held that virtue required action based on knowledge. Plato believed in the subservience of the individual to the governing body, whereas Aristotle believed in a unit style of government. He seemed to debate whether this was a city, family, or individual, but he sought political refuge in the ideas of something akin to federalism. In every arena that took the metaphysical into account, these two split.
Today, the possible ethical and political topics of contention seem to be more vast than two thousand years ago. It is difficult to test this, but the advance of technology and shrinking of the world via the internet certainly seems to provide a firm base for this statement. Defining the topics that the majority of people care about, at least within the United States, is certainly not an exact science. Surveys are only as good as those that they seek the opinion of. However, the opinions of Americans are out there for us to view. Isidewith has a large sample size from throughout the states, and it is respected by people of all political views. The Pew research center put out a guide of topics that were relevant to the 2016 election. Each of these have provided topics that have captured the country in a spirited debate. The topics that people discuss are much the same in principle as those that were discussed 2000 years ago, but they certainly have new nuances. A plurality of the topics that still dominate the public discourse are incredibly similar, at their core, to the conversations that have happened since the beginning of recorded history.
Plato and Aristotle each had a certain amount of disdain for democracy. Today, most around the world have accepted that democracy is, at least, a moral good. Those who debate it do so within the spectrum of a democracy or republic, or some combination of the two. In fact, those who debate the topic are able to do so, in large part, because of their place in a democracy that enshrines the common man and woman. The way we count votes and elect leaders has been a hot topic in the last year, and this is a good example of the differences today. The debate 2000 years ago was that democracy had many flaws and gave the mob too much power. The debate today is how to level the playing field for the mob, because people often make choices best collectively as individuals(Isidewit, polls). It is certainly intriguing that the topic has, seemingly, galvanized the opposing sides on topics in this realm.
Another topic that many are concerned with is medicine and healthcare. Almost everyone is affected by this wide topic, which makes it volatile. Many work in some aspect of the medical field. Everyone gets sick from time to time. There are different ways to acquire medicine or healthcare, and there are different ways to pay for it(Isidewith, polls). The biggest items of contention seem to be what the health insurance will cover and who will pay for it. This is a very different argument than those that took place in Athens 2000 years ago. They certainly had a level of medical care, but these were not the topics of discussion surrounding it.
One of the biggest changes since Plato's time is in the economic realm. It is now an assumption that monetary policy, fiscal policy, and the health of the economy are jobs that the federal government is responsible for. 2000 years ago, there were some governments that evaluated economic fragility. Now, the conversation makes an assumption that it is the government's job to grow the economy. The only debate is what to pay for with taxes. This also leads into the other protections that the country is responsible for. Many assume that the government should pay for protections from criminals, but many also assume that there should be protection from disaster, unemployment, and poverty. These conversations are the luxury of a country that has a remarkable amount of capital. The trending topics in this realm are how to pay for entitlement programs and national defense, including the potential building of a wall on the southern border.
People are also now quite concerned with social responsibility, both foreign and domestic. These categories were primarily at the whim of a monarch or very few leaders in the decades and centuries surrounding Plato and Aristotle. Alliances were formed by family ties or thirst for power. This may be true today, but the defense for such an alliance cannot be honest if that is the motive. People now discuss the common good and moral high ground. Frequently, the topics in this regard center on poverty, the environment, and fairness. The sides in these conversations may disagree, but they all accept the premise that helping people is the goal. This either means that society has evolved quite a bit in 2000 years or that those pushing policy are not nearly as honest in their motives as before. The most hotly debated topics appear to be climate change and immigration. These issues certainly have global consequences, and they divide many.
There are many sources of conventional wisdom afloat in the media ecosystem today. If one is to listen to or read anything related to the news, they will absorb more volume of information at a higher speed than anytime in the world's history. As stated, Plato and Aristotle had much to say on these topics, although it was difficult to directly correlate some of the opinions. Some polls are quite binary and do not offer much room for interpretation. Others, though, offer multiple options that offer more chances for one to more closely align with quotes from the great philosophers.
The legitimacy of the electoral college is a questioned topic today. The United States is not a pure democracy; it is a representative republic. The electoral college was instituted to balance votes between the more populous colonies/states and those that were more sparsely inhabited. It was also set up to prevent a demagogue from ginning up support in certain populous areas and sweeping away the country from a majority of represented entities. Plato and Aristotle would have both appreciated the electoral college, at least compared to a pure popular vote. They each have been quoted talking about democracy being mob rule. The poll and survey had the electoral college standing, by popular vote, by a margin of around thirty percent. There are other options that add up to almost 20 percent. These are subcategories of yes and no, and they offer other options. However, none of them reached above 5 percent, and they did not appear to represent Plato's or Aristotle's views more appropriately.
Democracy, in and of itself, was not something that Plato or Aristotle approved of in a big way, although Aristotle did not have a better alternative. Voter ID and campaign finance are two issues that take up space in the public discourse. Per Isidewith, those polled overwhelmingly support voters showing ID and being limited in the quantity of money they can donate to a political candidate. Those surveyed chose the simplest answer that represented their opinion. Aristotle expressed his desire for equality in voting and said that everyone should have an equal share(Politics, Aristotle). He also wrote about the importance of good citizenship. He would have been on the side of campaign finance reform and voter ID. Plato wrote that oligarchy and democracy had moral equivalency, if not effectiveness(The Republic, Plato). He would have thought that nothing should limit the contribution to campaigns. Whether he would be in support of voter ID laws is difficult to project. He thought that some were smarter and more cut out to lead than others, but he also wrote that Socrates considered himself a citizen of the world vice a true Athenian(Crito, Plato).
The differences in medicine and healthcare may be the most stark between ancient Greece and now of all the topics currently being discussed. The two biggest questions surround the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. The majority of votes on the legitimacy and size of these organizations have nothing to do with the actual doctor-patient relationship. Instead, the question is who will pay and how many people should be eligible. Plato wrote about the regard that he held for doctor's opinions. He also said that focusing on health can have a net negative result for living. Aristotle, instead, wrote about health being the second most important goal for an individual after happiness. Today, people are quite split on these topics. A very slight majority supports expanding medicare and medicaid, but a slight majority opposes the Affordable Care Act. The only aspect of the poll that correlates these and seems to incorporate Plato's views on medicine is the extremes. The extremes in this side want either no government involvement in health care whatsoever or mandatory government run health care. These views add up to about five percent of those polled. Filtering out the extremes leaves us with the characteristics of accessibility, cost, and doctor availability. Both Plato and Aristotle were for these things in a broad sense. It may not be fair to paint with a broad brush and ascribe those views to them, but Plato and Aristotle would have been in the mainstream on this issue.
The economy is a very large topic. Plato was one of the first recorded people to advocate for the division of labor. He also wrote that production should be limited to necessities vice luxuries and argued that surplus, or profit, should be turned over to the state. It sounds pretty clear what his views are on economic issues. The most pressing issues in the minds of Americans today are the minimum wage, equal pay for equal work, and government spending. A majority of Americans support raising the minimum wage and equal pay for anyone who does the same job as another, without respect to skin color, gender, or other innate characteristic. A large majority of Americans polled believe that cuts should be made to public spending to lower the national debt. Plato may or may not have cared for the minimum wage. He wrote that luxuries were not a priority(The Republic, Plato). Advocates of raising the minimum wage have said that the goal is to lift people out of poverty. By Plato's standards, almost no Americans are in poverty; thus I cannot see him supporting this. Aristotle, on the other hand, believed in a "just" wage or price(Economics, Aristotle). He never specified how this would be determined, but he suggested that this could be determined by a king or ruler, instead of the market. Each of these men saw slavery as necessary, and this means that they did not care for equal pay. Plato talked about slaves that were trained as doctors to serve other slaves(Laws, Plato). Plato also argued that women were just as capable as men at being "guardians" in his "republic"(The Republic, Plato). Aristotle argued that women's happiness was important just like women, but he seemed to indicate that women were still inferior to men(Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle). This would seem to indicate that Plato would support equal pay, albeit low pay, for all individuals, regardless of potential discriminatory factor. It is hard to predict just how Aristotle would apply his "just" wages or prices to different groups. Plato would certainly support higher government spending, unlike the majority of Americans. He thought that it would be appropriate to limit industry to only necessities. He also wrote that a large part of any profit should be given to the government. Aristotle was not far behind him. Aristotle wrote about the "polis", or city-state, being the most important entity in the nation. Aristotle believed in giving those who produce a small amount of profit, but he thought that this should be determined by a king or the like, as opposed to the market.
Immigration and climate change are two of the most debated topics in this whole study. These issues have a large impact on other policies, and they were two of the most voted on issues of any of the poll issues. People support increasing regulation to reduce climate change by a slim margin. Immigration is a little more difficult to analyze. A large majority of Americans polled support undocumented aliens' remaining in the country, but large majorities support denying them any sort of government subsidy. Plato would have likely supported funding for a program that fights a threat to the state. He also saw himself as a citizen of the world; he would have supported people coming and going at will(Crito, Plato). Aristotle would likely have left this up to the individual city-states. These are certainly areas with less direct correlation than others. The conventions and beliefs about the environment, as well as the capacity for humans to influence the larger world, were quite different. This was, by far, the most difficult area for those polled to identify with the ideas of Plato or Aristotle.
There have been many articles written that hail Plato or Aristotle to justify their argument. Many have legitimately characterized their writings and related them to a contemporary issue. Many others have used their names as an attempt to claim credibility for an issue that they did not discuss. Based on this larger attempt, it is clear that their views are relevant. However, any views from another time and culture must be assessed before being applied to today. If great thinkers like these were brought up in American culture today, they may have different views on a few things. Context of culture can change views on things like slavery and subjugation of women.
Each of these men were authors, philosophers, thinkers, and men on whose shoulders many stand on to this day. Plato wrote many works that directly influence academia to this day. Aristotle wrote many as well, though many did not survive the ages. Their relevance to today is undeniable. There may be some adjustment for time and culture that must be made, but the core ideas in their works are perfectly applicable. Many would do well to consult those who have done great things, as well as made mistakes, in the past before making decisions about the future.
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People Press from Pew Research Center
"Big {Political} Data"
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SparkNotes Editors. "SparkNote on Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)."
SparkNotes Editors. "SparkNote on Plato"
Plato. Crito
Plato. Laws
Plato. The Republic
Aristotle. Nichomachean Ethics
Aristotle. Politics
Aristotle. Economics(Oeconomica)