Aristotle's Politics Chapter 2

In his constant quest to find the true meaning of justice and the creation of the ideal city Socrates finds that while many of the element of the city have been properly set forth he forgot to take into account the place women will have in the city and the idea of child-rearing. After some careful discussion about the nature of women and how it would relate to their particular role in the city Socrates and Adeimantus come to the agreement that the women will be assigned their roles in the same manner as the men of the city. This agreement eventually will lead the men to the discussion of marriages and procreation in the city and how it is to be regulated in order to maintain the greater good in the city.

Aristotle’s society in The Politics, is that of a realistic society, a city of man. Aristotle defines a citizen as a political animal, which means that for man to optimize the society in which he lives in, he must be politically active (Aristotle 1253a). By nature, they want to cooperate together in society. Aristotle defines a citizen as a person who has full political rights to participate in judicial or deliberative office. (Aristotle 1275b) Each citizen has the ability to possess moral virtues. This is in contrast to Plato’s ideal state, where only the ruling class is able to be politically involved. Each citizen is able to posses private property, for one should call the city-state happy not by looking at a part of it but at all the citizens (Aristotle 1329a). This means that all classes of the state as a whole should be happy, not just one sole tier.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E) is renowned for his teachings and writings on countless academic subjects. One such writing is Aristotle’s Politics in which Aristotle explains his thinking on political philosophy. In one section of Politics, Aristotle examines the Lacedaemonian Constitution. The Lacedaemonian Constitution is the constitution of the Spartans with the primary focus of strengthening the Spartan army, which they are most commonly known for, and strengthening the society behind the Spartan war machine. In his account of the Lacedaemonian Constitution, Aristotle is highly critical of the Spartan laws and ideologies and describes certain laws as being counterproductive to the overall framework of the Spartan society. Aristotle specifically draws attention to the laws regarding the license of women in Spartan society, the laws regarding the procreation of children, the Ephoralty and the election of the council of elders as aspects of the Lacedaemonian Constitution that undermine the intentions of the Lacedaemonian Constitution and weaken Spartan society.

In his ground-breaking text The Politics, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was a staunch advocate of a mixed constitution. A mixed constitution is a form of government in which there is an amalgamation of characteristics that comprise differing types of constitutions. There are a plethora of reasons that are argued to have contributed to his adoption of this stance. However, this essay will hone in on three that are posited to be crucial: firstly, the well-known philosophical principle that two extremes cancel out the worst excesses in each other, from which stability will result; secondly, […] ; and thirdly, […] Prior to a discussion that will ensue on why and the grounds on which Aristotle advocates a mixed constitution, this

The United States is known for its many liberties to all, liberties that lead to all sorts of bad according to Socrates and Aristotle. Plato-Socrates in The Republic and Aristotle in Politics criticize democracy, a form of government that tries to equalize all. Centuries have passed and many of the democratic elements described in their works apply to current democratic regimes in particular the United States.

The Athenian polis is one that historians very often look back upon today. The Athenian polis created the rise of democracy and produced a culture that has shaped the way of modern day society. This polis has no privacy and believes that everyone in the polis is related as a family. In this family, everyone has a place, and everyone should stay in their place. Everyone has a job to do, gods to praise, and leaders to follow and believe in.

Aristotle was born 384 BCE in Stagira, Ancient Greece to Nicomachus, his father, and Phaestis, his mother. His father worked as a court physician for Amyntas III, while much is unknown about his mother. Both died while Aristotle was a young child, so he spent most of his early childhood being raised by Proxenus, who was married to Aristotle’s older sister Arimneste.

trange; that was the only word to describe it. Aristotle’s eyes widened as he quickly leaped off his bike, making his way towards the abnormality. The peculiar flower caught his interest; he had never seen anything like it. He wandered off into this field not too far from his house, on a quest for flowers. However, this was not what he expected. This flower was such a beauty, it did not belong on Earth. Excitement flickered in his eyes. Aristotle was still in the early stages of becoming a botanist, but he knew almost too much about plants. A gleeful laugh escaped his lips, and he wasted no time in uprooting the flower from its spot. His hands shook with delight as he placed the flower in the basket of his bike, that previously occupied the ground. His legs burned when he raced home, his smile shined brightly in the afternoon sunlight.

Number Two is the number of Plurality. Duality (or divisional plurality). Dualism, from the Latin word duo, which means "two" and it denotes a condition or a state of two parts. With Unity there is one word, one original, and one only essence, but it severs itself into two properties; two actions which are a kind of binary opposition where two related terms or concepts, which form a pair, are in opposition of their meaning toward one another. Therefore, we see in Nature, two opposites strictly defined as a contrasting pair, one against the other, such as: joy and sorrow, light and darkness, day and night, male and female, mortal and immortal, life and death, spirit and flesh. Both, as contasting elements, together producing all things. Thus from the odd, proceed both odd and even, making two distinct and

When questioned about the idea of matter, “The Greeks were among the many ancient peoples who sought to understand the nature of matter...Another group of Greeks believed that matter could be divided an infinite number of times and could be changed from one type of matter into another,”(Sarquis and Sarquis 41). Aristotle, an ancient philosopher from Greece who devoted many of his years to the exploration of science, was part of this group of Greeks. He contributed to the progress of many scientific theories used today, even though many of his theories were not exactly correct. His ideas and theories lasted many centuries after his death as absolute truth. Aristotle was a philosopher who had many theories about matter, and created a lasting

Aristotle said that life in a properly constituted polis is the best. He said that the polis cannot be defined as citizens, because people die and can be replaced. Aristotle divides constituency into two parts. Good – monarchy, aristocracy and politeia. Bad- tyranny oligarchy democracy, because it is corrupted. Aristotle came to overvalue the idea of citizenship; life in a properly constituted polis was the best life that Greeks could aspire to.

In my opinion one of the reasons that Aristotle hated democracy so much is partly due to the era in which he lived, he lived under Greek democracy back when democracy was fairly new and had a lot of flaws in it. I’m not so sure he would have such a hate for the democracy in the era we live in, even though he probably would not be to totally satisfied with it, but that would be due in part to the attitude of Aristotle: arrogant.

In the fifth-century BC, Athens emerged as one of the most advanced state or polis in all of Greece. This formation of Athenian ‘democracy’ holds the main principle that citizens should enjoy political equality in order to be free to rule and be ruled in turn. The word ‘democracy’ originates from the Greek words demos (meaning people) and kratos (meaning power) therefore demokratia means “the power of the people.” The famous funeral speech of Pericles states that “Our constitution is called democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people.” However, only citizens (free adult men of Athenian descent) could participate in political matters. Women and slaves held no political rights, although they were

In what follows, I shall consider Aristotle's’ argument of the polis, or the city-state, as presented in his Politics I.2, and expound on the philosophical implications of this particular thesis; namely, a thesis which claims that the city-state exists by nature, and correspondingly, that a human being is ‘by nature a political animal’. Along the way, I shall present two objections leveled against each claim. The first pertains to the invalidity of the argument on ends; specifically, I shall protest that when a thing’s process of coming to be is completed, even if we regard this as an end, this does not necessarily confer that such an end is a natural end, for artificial processes too, like natural processes, share the potential to arrive

Aristotle proposes that the city naturally results from the physical necessity, as the natural completion of small partnership of household and village. Aristotle points out in his ethics that "man is naturally social" so therefore he is "naturally political." Humans have speech, which can be used to communicate their ideas about what is right or wrong as well as just and unjust. If the nature of man is not revealed then the man itself is an animal without any potential. Speech serves man as a weapon to protect himself from what is just or unjust. A man naturally belongs to the city because that is where he can exercise his sociability and can debate with others upon his virtue. Virtues are habits of the soul by which one acts well. Virtuous actions express correct, high reasoning, which are acquired through practice and habituation. The city is prior to the individual because the individual apart from the city is not self-sufficient and therefore he has to be something else rather than a human being. A man has potential to do good, but if he is not capable to use his virtue and is without any boundaries, he can be worse than any animal. In Aristotle's point of view the city is self-sufficient because it contains all the necessities for humans to lead a good life. The city provides humans with partnership with others, which plays a big role in the sake of basic survival, but it exists for the well being of human kind.