ARISTOTLE’S POLITICS: OVERVIEW

I was assigned to report all things about Aristotle in relation to his idea in political philosophy. It was assigned to me last year and up until now, I haven’t reported anything. Doubtless to my existence and pre-existence in the next life, so I decided to write all things here baka mamatay nalang ako hindi pa ako makakapagreport. This is the first of 4 part discussion which gives you an overview of Aristotle’s general ideas in Politics. Please bear with me in my lengthily post and forgive me if committed unbearable grammar lapses.

 

According to Aristotle, the polis or the city-state is the best part of the government because being part of the polis is the only way that someone can truly have a great life. Anything that is out of the polis are called isapolis. They must be either a beast or god. Meaning to say an isapolis might be below or above humanity.  Since he said that the end goal of every association is happiness, there must be a relation between Aristotle’s idea of Teleology– that everything in nature exists for a specific purpose and his Nicomachean Ethics which is in many ways reciprocal to Politics, to the end goal of human association which is happiness. The question here is this, what is happiness?

On Happiness

Have you ask the same questionto yourself, what things makes you happy and how will you know that this gives you the happiness that you want? Is it the right kind of happiness or you are just deceiving yourself?

Happiness might be wealth but a life devoted to monetary acquisition is not a happy life because you will work so hard to the point of lossing time to enjoy doing the thing you like. An American philosopher, Gregory Sadler said that human are always confronted by two junctions in choosing between wealth and happiness and in life, one is doomed to choose between the two.  In answering this question, Aristotle talks about virtue, honor, pleasure and living a virtues life. In his Nicomachean ethics, happiness is a product of doing excellent activity of the soul, excellence in thinking and deciding how to behave.  The object of life’s enjoyment is bodily pleasure, in political activity, honor and virtue. He also said that the end of human life must be complete, and the completion is born out of happiness. In order to fulfill such completion one must be involves in a koinonia or association or sharing in common which is very vital in the polis.

On Association

The different kinds of associations that exist are founded on different kinds of relationships. The basic unit of association is the household, the next is the village, and the ultimate association is the city, toward which end humans, seeking to attain the highest quality of life. Since Politics or political association is necessary in all form of association, Aristotle says that by nature, man is a political animal or zoon politikon. The reason here is a man is much more political animal than any other lower beast because human has a capacity of reason while other species may have voice, able to distinguish between pleasure and pain but does not have the faculty of reason in speech.

On Slavery

Aristotle is in favor of slavery by saying that it is necessary in order the society to function. For him slavery is natural because natural slaves do not possess rationality, intelligence and commanding powers and that they only fit in doing menial tasks. In his view, slavery is the means by which the master secures his livelihood and he defend slavery by noting that the nature is generally consists of ruling and ruled element. Even though that slavery is natural, there are two ways of UNJUST means to enslave people.  

1. This is during war

2. Those people who are not slave in nature.

On art of Acquisition

The next thing he is discussed is the art of Acquisition. According to Aristotle, Every human is driven to satisfy their basic needs, so different people go about satisfying these needs in different ways depending on their mode of life. Their job is the one which secures them of food, shelter, and other necessities. It is called natural acquisition because it is a necessary part of the management of a household. Unnatural acquisition, on the other hand, consists of accumulating money for its own sake. Aristotle observes that goods such as food and clothing have not only a use-value, but also an exchange-value. In societies where trade is common, a monetary currency naturally arises as a facilitator of exchange.

On theory of government

He discusses the variety of constitutional theories and saying none of those is perfect.  Before proposing his own theory of government, Aristotle examines other theories of government and reviews existing constitutions of well-governed states.

Plato vs. Aristotle

First, Aristotle criticized Plato’s Republic. For the purpose of my report I cited 4 major criticisms against Plato’s republic. These are the following:

1. “According to Plato, every citizen as much as possible should share in common, including wives, children, and property.” Aristotle countered this idea. Aristotle’s criticism goes something like this, “Different people must make different contributions, fulfill different roles, and fit into distinct social classes. Otherwise, a city will not be able to perform the many functions necessary for it to remain self-sufficient.”

2. Plato suggested that men should share with the women of the city and that children be taken from their mothers at birth and rose collectively in state nurseries. Aristotle disapproves this idea. According to him, it will produce magnitude of numbers of children that would not receive proper parental care and the lack of family ties would render citizens less capable of showing friendship and love.

3. Aristotle also attacks Plato’s remarks on the community of property stating that the practice of generosity, an important virtue requires individual ownership of property.

4. Aristotle notes that it is dangerous to leave the governance of the city entirely in the hands of one class because it deprives a system of association.

Phalaes vs. Aristotle

Second, Aside from debunking his own teacher, Aristotle is also against Phalaes (a Greek statesman of antiquity was primary concern is the equalization of property) his idea of a perfect government.

Aristotle criticized this by arguing that Phalaes does not realize that material equality alone cannot make people good.  Second, leveling land ownership would satisfy the poor, it would lead to insurrection among the rich who were to be dispossessed and who viewed their wealth as a right of nobility.  According to Aristotle, in order to eliminate civil dispute, society must educate the people in such a way as to control want and greed; the poor must be taught to accept their station and the rich not to become overly greedy.

On Citizenship

It is not enough to say a citizen is someone who lives in the city or has access to the courts of law since these rights are open to aliens or those who are not inhabitant of the polis and even slaves. So Aristotle suggests that a citizen is someone who shares in the administration of justice and the holding of public office. Aristotle points out that though citizenship is often reserved for those who are born to citizen parents; this hereditary status becomes irrelevant in times of revolution or constitutional change. During which the body of citizens alters because a change in constitution has a direct effect to the status of a person’s citizenship. Aristotle gives us a distinction between being a citizen and being a good man. According to him, a good citizen may not be a good man. A good citizen is the one who does well in the state and upholds and honors the constitution. In a constitutional state, he must know how to rule and how to obey. (The problem in a constitutional state is a citizen knows how to rule by obeying orders.) While a good man does the one possess a perfect moral.

The hesitation is this, how about manual laborers or slaves? Are they in the same way considered a citizen? Though Aristotle acknowledges that laborers are necessary to a city but defies that not everyone who is necessary to the city can be a citizen, according to him, a citizenship requires that the citizen be free from the necessary tasks of life.

On constitution

In general, Aristotle classified two kinds of constitution. The JUST CONSTITUTIONS which is geared toward bringing out the well-being for all of the citizens and second is the UNJUST CONSTITUTIONS which is geared toward the benefit of those who are in power. A constitution varies on the size of the governing body, so Aristotle classifies six different types of government which is now known as Aristotelian Classification of government.

The best types of structure of government are the one emphasizes a strong middle class to balance the rich and the poor with their very needs.

On civic government

Aristotle says that a government has three functions.  1. Deliberative which deals with public matters such as foreign policy, the enacting of laws, judicial cases in which a severe penalty is involved, and the appointment of public officials.  2.   Executive which holds public order and takes responsibility for governing and issuing commands. 3. Judicial which holds and passes orders regarding private and public disputes.

On Constitutional Change

The root cause of constitutional change is that different groups have different conceptions of justice and equality. The wealthy and the poor are those who are liable to form separate factions and each is trying to alter the constitution to their advantage. Therefore, whoever has in power should not fully exclude those who are not in power because constitutions are typically change as a results of high number of unhappy people rising up against those in power. In order to avoid this from happening, Aristotle suggests the policy of moderation, saying that the way to avoid the conflict is to have a balance between the rich and the poor giving both groups an equal power.