Aristotle on BYU Humanities

Aristotle was all about action (phronesis), or practical wisdom. According to him, a good social website would invite and attract people who wanted to act and would show them and give them potential ways to act. In each moment, the potentialities of a thing are developed given the situation it is in. As human beings, we act by actualizing potentialities of ourselves in the situation we find ourselves in. That selection of potentialities to actualize Aristotle calls mind. Given how we act and others and things respond, we find ourselves with a new set of potentialities to act from--a new character. Character is the potentialities we have to act from, and thus our characters, or disposition, develop through our actions. Through this actualization of potentialities, humans can find happiness.

Action is necessary to actualize potential. A good social website would actualize its potential by helping users to actualize their potential. It would seek to understand its potential market by understanding its market’s potential, who or what they are seeking to become. It would also allow users to contribute to the potentialities of the website. That’s what makes it a good social website and not just a good website in general. The users, by their participating in the social aspects of the site, are the dynamic that makes the site able to actualize its potential. Thus, there is an interdependence between the website itself and the users, in that the users help to make it (the website) what it is and it (the website) helps to make them (the users) what they are.

Aristotle’s ideas of an adult’s education as opposed to a child’s education can be applied to social media. A “child” or beginner website is one that you create for your purposes and expect people to participate in. An “adult” or advanced one would be one that becomes the users, who dictate and manipulate it for their purposes. Aristotle teaches that we should provide opportunities to interpret and interact as this leads to a more advanced form of learning than just sharing or repetition.Ethos (author credibility), pathos (passionate argument), and logos (logical reasoning) all should be present to one degree or another.

The most important part of a social media website, according to Aristotle, would be the beginning, or the first thing a viewer sees. Just as a good movie should start in the action, a good website should immediately make its purpose apparent. It should tell a viewer what it is good for, what it can help them do, and should bring out a sort of theme at the same time. Additionally, a good website should encourage discussion; a marketplace of ideas, in essence. Therefore, it must also be easily shareable. The purpose of this discussion is so that the website can continue to better itself to service the needs of its users.


With this in mind, let's turn to the BYU Humanities website. This is the first thing a viewer sees:




I understand that the website designer has probably gone for a minimalism theme. But there is a difference between minimalism and wasting space. Additionally, the sidebar on the left is cut off, forcing the viewer to scroll down if they would like to read the rest. Perhaps the idea of the page is something like a Facebook news feed. But that should be addressed with all the blank space at the top of the page that is currently only occupied with a picture of the outside grounds of the JFSB. That space is what should be utilized to inform visitors of the purpose of the site and encourage discussion at the same time. Until that is accomplished, this website will be clunky and confusing.


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