Aristotle
The primary concern of political theorists is to determine by what form of constitution the state will most likely succeed. According to Aristotle the definition of political success means the general happiness of the citizenry. Both Aristotle and James Q. Wilson share the belief that molding excellent character within the citizenry is the first and most important step towards solidifying the happiness of the state as a whole. The basic structure of Aristotle’s philosophies are derived by gathering as much information about the history of a subject as possible (in trying to develop the ultimate constitution Aristotle went through 150 constitution from historically great nations) taking from the good and removing the
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Aristotle proposes that the constituents of a nation establish the character of government and depending on the goodness of the character formed a political structure either sinks or swims.
What Aristotle is saying is that in order to put together a political system of maintained justice, freedom and order, society must start with the right materials. The “right materials” are young minds trained to pursue the virtues that comprise excellent adults. The sentence at the end of the first paragraph of book VIII of The Politics shows the value Aristotle placed on excellent character being a fundamental part of excellent government where he says the better the character, the better the government. The issue of government policy concerning character formation and the implications of politicians passing legislation specifically aimed at improving moral character as a means of eliminating social ills is precisely the same issue James Q. Wilson addresses in his essay The Rediscovery of Character: Private Virtue and Public Policy. Wilson structures his essay by going through a variety of public problems he believes can only be explained by the deterioration of character in modern America. The first part of Wilson’s essay goes through present government problems within the realms of schooling, welfare, public finance, and crime, at the end of each of these summaries Wilson comes to the
He pointed out the flaws of the four main political systems, and sought a new way of government. He came up with a subsidiary of a democracy, called, as his book was, a republic. This new form of government would have leaders be elected by the people they governed, and lead to the new political concept of popular sovereignty. This meant that in a democracy or republic, if citizens felt that who they elected wasn’t doing a good job, they wouldn’t have to re-elect them. On the other hand, Aristotle denounced Plato's idea of an “ideal state,” in his book titled The Politics. Instead of trying to theorize an ideal state, Aristotle took a more practical approach in trying to make a Constitution that could be easily implemented. He divided some of the types of governments in Greece into either “True,” or “Defective.” After researching he figured that the easiest to implement and least problematic was a system called a polity. hybrid between an oligarchy and a democracy that would uprise with a strong, educated middle class. It is also referred to as a “Middle Class Polity.” In ancient Rome, they implemented a republic, and the Romans
Aristotle provides very unique and compelling arguments for what he believes to be the ideal form of government for a city-state, but because of the time period he was alive, he did not have the necessary knowledge to realize how limited his view of human nature was. Due to its limited power and sole purpose being to protect individuals’ right to own property, which in turn allows individuals to live happy lives, Locke’s form of government is more
By looking at the readings of Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Locke, there are a few distinctions between how the modern thinkers viewed politics versus the way the ancient thinkers believed politics should be. There are many topics both modern and ancient thinkers discuss in their writings, such as the purpose of politics, the science of politics, human nature, as well as the ideal regime. By doing so, these thinkers’ views on political topics such as these illuminate how they thought politics should work and who should be able to participate in the activity of politics.
Two of Aristotle’s most famous works, Nicomachean Ethics and Politics, offer an outline of his perfect society and how Athens could ascend to his ideals. According to Aristotle, the strive for the most good society starts with individuals and then collectively builds up to the Chief Aim through active participation in politics. He explains that an Athenian earns his freedom and citizenship by subduing his animal instincts and passions. Instead of succumbing to these urges,
Aristotle believes that there are two kinds of virtue, one being intellectual and the other being moral virtue. He states that Intellectual virtue comes from being taught meaning we’re not born with it. Moral virtue on the other hand we develop as we grow and gain an understanding of life. “The stone which by nature moves downwards cannot be habituated to move upwards, not even if one tries to train it by throwing it up ten thousand times” (N.E. II.1) Right there he is talking about how if you are designed to do one thing, it is impossible to do the opposite no matter how hard you force it. He talks about how we gain our virtues by practicing them and using them on a regular basis. That is how we learn
Aristotle’s account of human nature is fairly simple, men are political animals and the only difference humans have from other animals is the, “ability to have reason and the ability to speak”(The Politics). He uses this to compare how nature creates men to be political animals and how it also creates the polis. The polis in Aristotle’s mind, is that the polis is there to benefit humans for the purpose of association, nature, and living the good life. The polis provides a sort of habitat to give people a proper upbringing and that we can achieve that because Aristotle has already broke down the form, power and purpose of the polis. To sum up his thinking, Aristotle thinks the purpose of the polis is to give the citizens a way to form partnerships
The form of this government, as stated in this constitution, shall be ruled by one,or a few, or many, therefore, this Greek Polis shall be described as a good form of government. It is very important that the government be true by governing with a view to the public interest. Otherwise, a perverse state will develop such as, democracy, monarchy, and/or, oligarchy.
What one can take away from both the implicit and explicit criticisms given by Xenophon and Aristotle is that political life is incredibly messy and problematic and, moreover, the best regime, the telos of political life, may not be unattainable. Both works indicate that virtue must be a main component of the regime, yet it appears human beings have difficulty remaining virtuous in the face of 1) material wealth and 2) the allure of
In "The Politics", Aristotle would have us believe that man by nature is a political animal. In other words, Aristotle seems to feel that the most natural thing for men to do is to come together in some form of political association. He then contends that this political association is essential to the pursuit of the good life. Finally he attempts to distinguish what forms of political association are most suitable to the pursuit of this good life. In formulating a critique of "The Politics", we shall first examine his claims as to what is natural to man and whether the criterion of the natural is sufficient to demonstrate virtue. We shall then examine what it is about political association that
When comparing the political theories of two renowned philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, one must first focus on the merits of each of their own theories in depth. Plato is often considered as the first writer of political philosophy while Aristotle is considered the first political scientist. Though Aristotle was once a student of Plato, the two differ on the topic of how to best improve society for the benefit of mankind. Thus, both of their theories need to be investigated to establish the varying degrees of how the two philosophers differ.
Aristotle begins book one of 'The politics ' by stating "Every state is as we see a sort of partnership, and every partnership is formed with a view to some good (since all the actions of all mankind are done with a view to what they think to be good)." (Rackman.H, 1885, p3). He emphasises the idea that man is projected into intersubjective bonds which as a result makes him sociable, and naturally apart of the communitarian dimension whereby there is not only 'myself ' but 'ourselves '. Community and citizenship are factors in which Aristotle emphasizes as being natural to humans and thus by being part of a community and being a citizen, naturally everyone aims for the highest good and the most supreme of all is the polis. "It is therefore the state evident that, while all partnerships aim at some good, the partnership that is the most supreme of all and from the includes all the
Aristotle puts emphasis on the institution of the polis or civilized community. The polis was structured to allow the average individual in society to participate in political matters. This institutional forum is not the city-state or the community, but merely the larger of the two entities. It is rather a partnership between households, clans, and villages for the sake of a fully developed and self-sufficient life. The polis enables those individuals who naturally posses moral intellect and wisdom an opportunity to rise to higher positions (Class Notes). Justice is the political good within the polis, and it must promote the common interest of the people of the state. What is seen as good must be distributed and regulated through out the state. The law is also the regulating factor that arises from equal and free people in civil
Aristotle (384 BC -322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, logician, and scientist. Along with his teacher Plato (author of The Republic), Aristotle is generally regarded as one of the most influential ancient thinkers in a number of philosophical fields, including political theory. Aristotle’s’ writing reflects his time, background, and beliefs.
The highest form of human civilization for Aristotle is the city-state. A city-state is the highest form of partnership. There are other partnerships in the city-state such as the relationship between man and woman, master and slave. What is important is that these relationships strive to achieve some good. Therefore, the city-state with its collection of relationships is the highest form of good. Aristotle reiterates this idea when he states, “every state is a community of some kind, and ever community is established with a view of some good” (Book I, Chp.1). These partnerships help secure a human being self-sufficiency. Just as a city-state is a collection of smaller partnerships, politics is
Nature is defined as the phenomena of the physical world that existed including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations. Nature was also related to an existence of things such as the unseen world which is God, angels, air, and etc. In philosophical study, one of the branches which is metaphysics, the study of existence always connected with the nature. In this assignment, we believe that every natural things must have its own reason and cause.