Aristotle

By hipkapi March 25, 2011 Balagangadhara, Indian traditions

What Aristotle is doing in my piece on the Indian traditions? He is doing many things actually.

1. His presence is a continuation of my argument that the Antiquity (Greeks and the Romans) is not the cradle of western culture and civilization.

2. Aristotelian ‘Eudemonia’ is my way of explaining his thought to the western public, which thinks that it understands Aristotle.

3. There is a greater similarity between his notion of happiness and our notions of enlightenment than there is between him and the Christian notions of bliss.

4. His thinking was more influenced by the Indian traditions than is assumed to be the case.

5. Many Aristotelian problems have been solved by the Indian traditions and this is how I would like to suggest that there is a tradition of Indian thinking, which thought in many different ways about issues of importance. And so on.