Aristotle and Aquinas Essay

The philosopher Aquinas had a unique thought process on the way humans acquire knowledge. He believed that by being “born with a blank slate” humans could gain knowledge through experiences and other methods. Aquinas believed that the soul plays a major part in the inquiry of knowledge. Unlike philosophers of old he believed that the soul and body were intertwined. Working together to push the soul forward in its quest to gain knowledge in this life.

Aristotle seems to be primarily concerned to discover and refine the moral standards by which human beings should be governed. What laws are to be used to establish and maintain those standards depends on the good sense of the community and the prudence of its leaders, including its poets and other educators. In particular, his views on the connection between the well-being of the political community and that of the citizens who make it up, his belief that citizens must actively participate in politics if they are to be happy and virtuous, and his analysis of what causes and prevents revolution within political communities have been a source of inspiration for many contemporary

Certain groups or individuals have the power of authority often because the larger populace has chosen them. Because of this, the authoritative figures rely on the general population as their source of power. We see this in the democratic societies such as the one Socrates lived in. The council that tried Socrates has the power to do so because the people elected them to those positions. Thus, they must uphold the law as best they can. Socrates tells the jury that it is “not the purpose of a juryman’s office to give justice as a favor to whoever seems good to him, but to judge according to law” (Apology 35c). The juryman must put aside his personal judgement, and instead focus on judgement according to the law. Among men, each has his own moral

     With the possible exception of Plato, Aristotle is the most influential philosopher in the history of logical thought. Logic into this century was basically Aristotelian logic. Aristotle dominated the study of the natural sciences until modern times. Aristotle, in some aspect, was the founder of biology; Charles Darwin considered him as the most important contributor to the subject. Aristotle’s Poetic, the first work of literary notice, had a string influence on the theory and practice of modern drama. Aristotle’s great influence is due to the fact that he seemed to offer a system, which although lacked in certain respects, was as a whole matchless in its extent.

What makes a political authority legitimate? A legitimate political authority, in this essay, will be taken to mean that there is a justification for an individual or a body to have power over other people in determining such things as laws and protection of freedom. To consider this question, three theories shall be looked at – Hobbes’, Rousseau and finally Locke and determine which gives the most persuasive account of legitimate political authority. To begin with, their hypothetical starting point, the state of nature, shall be discussed to establish the foundations of their political authority. Secondly, the reasons that shall lead man to get out of the state of nature will be examined in order to see if these logically follow on from

     Aquinas’ third way argument states that there has to be something that must exist, which is most likely God. He starts his argument by saying not everything must exist, because things are born and die every single day. By stating this we can jump to the conclusion that if everything need not exist then there would have been a time where there was nothing. But, he goes on, if there was a time when there was nothing, then nothing would exist even today, because something cannot come from nothing. However, our observations tell us that something does exist, therefore there is something that must exist, and Aquinas says that something is God.

Even with established laws, men would pursue their self-interest at all costs. Aristotle explains this, “man by nature is a political animal… though man is born with weapons which he can use in the service of practical wisdom and virtue, it is all too easy for him to use them for the opposite purposes”(Aristotle, 60). To clarify, Aristotle believes that men will pursue their own prerogatives in the political arena of government. And while some may use their power for good, many will use it for their own-self interests, which Aristotle defines as a deviation from the idea of common

The foundations of law have been set in the ideas of natural laws that are given to us. There are many different theories on how our laws of nature have brought us to develop the social contracts and government of today’s society. John Locke and Saint Thomas Aquinas’s views of how social contracts are developed from natural and eternal laws are both well seated in the belief of God given rights, but differ in the politics of the governments.

The Greek teacher Aristotle first introduced a system comprised of three rhetorical elements known as per the art of presenting an argument. These three elements are broken down into nine cognate strategies that are essential part of public speech as well as how to improve good writing by promoting understanding.

However, what threatens the institutions of democracy according to Aristotle? First, he finds weakness in democracy’s definition of justice: “that to which the majority agree” (Book 6.2). In contrasting it with the oligarch’s definite (“that to which the wealthier class”), he states there is some inequality and injustice within each. Each places the democracy in danger of tyranny, whether

Thus, both Callicles and Socrates enter a discussion on what the rule of nature and rule of law are. Callicles agrees with rule of nature in which “nature itself reveals that it’s a just thing for the better man and the more capable man to have a greater share than the worse man and the less capable man” (483d). The rule of nature is run by the superior group and favors them. Socrates believes that “it’s not only by law … that doing what’s unjust is more shameful than suffering it, or just to have an equal share, but it’s so by nature, too” (489b). Socrates cancels Callicles’ argument on how rule of nature is greater than rule of law by saying that both are the same. However, both ideologies have different values even if they yield the same results. The different rules are key in

In his classification of constitutions, democracy belongs to the division in which the rulers rule for their own interest and the constitution is unjust. He views democracy as a corrupt and perverted constitution because he does not consider the standard of citizenship to be relevant standards for the purposes of this particular problem of distributive justice (Burns, 2009). The form of government is a democracy when the free, who are also the poor and the majority, govern (Politics by Aristotle, 2011). In order to save democracy from its perversion, Aristotle proposed an assumption. There must be a rise of middle class because it is least likely to shrink from the rule, or to be over-ambitious for it (Politics by Aristotle, 2011). In a general sense, the political realm is only exclusive for the male considering their superiority against the female. Whereas, deliberation and voting is also exclusive for the male citizens of the polis and he emphasized the importance of reason for the effective decision-making of the people. As opposed to democracy and the two other perversions of constitution: oligarchy and tyranny, he adhered to the government based on virtue. For him, a kingly rule is the ideal, however he is aware that it could deteriorate into tyranny. Aristotle’s ideal constitution is really a form of aristocracy, however, if this should turn not to be possible in practice, he

Democracy is often referred to as the rule of the many, but Aristotle called this definition incomplete. In his book “Politics”, he explained that in a city if the majorities are aristocrats and if they have political authority, then it is an aristocracy not a democracy. He therefore defined democracy as when “free people have authority and Oligarchy as when the wealthy have it” (1290b). Plato viewed Democracy as a flawed system with too much inefficiency that would make any implementation of a true democracy not worth it. While Aristotle viewed democracy as a system that could work if it is limited to certain restrictions and if it is the regime that best fits the culture of the people to be governed. In this essay it will be argued that Plato’s view on democracy as a flawed system is more prevalent or more compelling if the current political arena around the world is observed.

The just exercise of political power is conceived of as resting upon constitutional principles. Constitutional principles are a position from which we operate justly. However, what constitutes as just? Throughout history political power derived from many historical foundations that were deemed just based on the society that upheld those principles. This notion is evident throughout the development of constitutional doctrines in Greek democracy, Aristotle’s political theory, Roman Republicanism, and English Constitutionalism.

truths, and forms. He had no room in his views for imagination and what he saw