Sure. I once took a course on modern Iranian history that had us read Khomeini's "Islamic Government." But that's very different from how the book would be studied in an Iranian seminary. A historical look is interested in how something ties into the surrounding history, and doesn't pass judgement on the quality of the writing or spend time trying to determine its soundness.
It sounds like we agree more than we disagree. I would substitute a term like "ties into" for "influenced/gave rise to/made possible."
We don't really need to know much about the merits of any particular Aristotelian investigation these days. But that material can be critical for helping us understand, and yes, helping us critically evaluate, the schools of thought it gave rise to.
