I choose Aristotle over Plato, because I think Plato would be too extremist. His anti-democratic bent would lead him to oppose representative government and to say all are problems are due to putting the rabble in charge. Aristotle would be able to evaluate representative government more fairly. I think that Aristotle would also be more amenable to scientific method,which would be helpful since so much of Aristotle’s scientific knowledge was faulty (I don’t mean this as a criticism).

If Aristotle passed through some time warp into the present age, it would of course be a major culture shock. It might take a year or two to stop pinching himself in disbelief. Based on Aristotle’s philosophy of moderation, I think he would say that the world was out of balance. He would be duly impressed with our scientific knowledge, but would say that our use of it has created an unsustainable condition.

Topics: life, science, politics, philosophy, Aristotle