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For a modern example, many people who would not throw trash on their own front yard or damage their own furniture will litter in a public park and destroy the furniture in a rented apartment or dorm room. As long as this is unclear, the best regime must necessarily be unclear as well (1323a14). They are not really even part of the city: Hence while cities need possessions, possessions are no part of the city. Over time, the family expands, and as it does it will come into contact with other families. The most important of these capacities islogos a word that means speech and also means reason (it gives us the English word logic). General Theory of Constitutions and Citizenship Supplement: Political Naturalism 4. Aristotle says atEthics 1094b14: Problems of what is noble and just, which politics examines, present so much variety and irregularity that some people believe that they exist only by convention and not by nature.Therefore, in a discussion of such subjects, which has to start with a basis of this kind, we must be satisfied to indicate the truth with a rough and general sketch: when the subject and the basis of a discussion consist of matters that hold good only as a general rule, but not always, the conclusions reached must be of the same order. Aristotle does not believe that the noble and the just exist only by convention, any more than, say, the principles of geometry do. How Did Aristotle Define Democracy Theblogy.com Remember that polity is one of the correct regimes, and it occurs when the many rule in the interest of the political community as a whole. how did aristotle define democracy? This lack of knowledge and skills then becomes evidence to reinforce the original belief that they are inferior. It is not least because of his interest in revolutions and uprisings that his philosophy is so relevant for present day politics and policy-making. It is here, and nowhere else, that the excellent man and the good citizen are the same. It will reflect the bias of the regime, as it must, because the law reinforces the principles of the regime and helps educate the citizens in those principles so that they will support the regime. For [a man of moderate wealth] is readiest to obey reason, while for one who is [very wealthy or very poor] it is difficult to follow reason. Finally, there are a number of controversies related to the text of thePolitics in particular. Neither must they be farmers, since leisure is necessary both for the development of virtue and the performance of political duties." Sources Aristotle Politics Aristotle - World History Encyclopedia The latter, however, is potentially dangerous. Aristotle has already said that the regime is a partnership in adjudication and justice. (Contemporary social scientists call this a problem of collective goods). Like bees and herd animals, human beings live together in groups. The book by Barnes included above is to be preferred. There are a number of different varieties of democracy and oligarchy because cities are made up of a number of different groups of people, and the regime will be different depending on which of these groups happens to be most authoritative. First, however, let us briefly consider with Aristotle one other valid claim to rule. Aristotle: Good And Bad Forms Of Government | ipl.org Study of Specific Constitutions 5. For Aristotle, justice dictates that equal people should get equal things, and unequal people should get unequal things. Thus . However, two important points should be noted here. However, the main topics and problems of Aristotles work will be included. It is easy to believe that people in the modern world have put a great deal of moral distance between themselves and the less enlightened people in the past, but it is also easy to overestimate that distance). We see again the importance of maintaining a regime which all of the groups in the city wish to see continue. Many liberal democracies fail to get even half of their potential voters to cast a ballot at election time, and jury duty, especially in the United States, is often looked on as a burden and waste of time, rather than a necessary public service that citizens should willingly perform. Many people, Aristotle says, are confused about what this means. It would be wrong for the other people in the city to claim the right to rule over them or share rule with them, just as it would be wrong for people to claim the right to share power with Zeus. The definition of a point, or a line, or a plane, can be given precisely, and once this definition is known, it is fixed and unchanging for everyone. Persuasion comes about either through the character ( thos) of the speaker, the emotional state ( pathos) of the hearer, or the argument ( logos ) itself. Virtually every ancient Mediterranean culture had some form of the institution of slavery. If Aristotles personal life is relevant, while he himself owned slaves, he was said to have freed them upon his death. For there is no benefit in the most beneficial laws, even when these have been approved by all those engaging in politics, if they are not going to be habituated and educated in the regime if the laws are popular, in a popular spirit, if oligarchic, in an oligarchic spirit (1310a13). This, too, complicates our understanding of Aristotle. ThePolitics also provides analysis of the kinds of political community that existed in his time and shows where and how these cities fall short of the ideal community of virtuous citizens. For equality is the same thing [as justice] for persons who are similar, and it is difficult for a regime to last if its constitution is contrary to justice (1332b25). But it necessarily makes a difference (1260a14). This is a problem because some people are led to pursue wealth without limit, and the choice of such a life, while superficially very attractive, does not lead to virtue and real happiness. Democracy tends to be more stable than oligarchy, because democracies only have a conflict between rich and poor, while oligarchies also have conflicts within the ruling group of oligarchs to hold power. While the virtuous also have a claim to rule, the very fact that they are virtuous leads them to avoid factional conflict. The women, slaves, and manual laborers are in the city for the good of the citizens. We do not need to concern ourselves with these details, but it does show that Aristotle is concerned with particular kinds of flawed regimes and how they can best operate and function in addition to his interest in the best practical government and the best government generally. Ancient Greek Democracy - Facts, Voting & Decline | HISTORY That he believes that some people who are currently enslaved are not being held in slavery according to justice is also undeniable (this would apparently also mean that there are people who should be enslaved but currently are not). Any leader is then adequate [to effect revolution] (1305a29). It would weaken attachments to other people and to the common property of the city, and this would lead to each individual assuming that someone else would care for the children and property, with the end result being that no one would. According to Aristotle, we are meant to become happy. I will simply point out the vicious circle in which women were trapped in ancient Greece (and still are in many cultures). The productive and practical sciences, in contrast, address our daily needs as human beings, and have to do with things that can and do change. Aristotle says [the territory should be] large enough so that the inhabitants are able to live at leisure in liberal fashion and at the same time with moderation (1326b29). The translation we will use is that of Carnes Lord, which can be found in the list of suggested readings. Someone who does live according to virtue, who chooses to do the right thing because it is the right thing to do, is living a life that flourishes; to borrow a phrase, they are being all that they can be by using all of their human capacities to their fullest. Without the city and its justice, human beings are the worst of animals, just as we are the best when we are completed by the right kind of life in the city. While most people today would not agree that nature has a plan for individual human beings, a particular community, or humanity as a whole (although many people would ascribe such a plan to a god or gods), Aristotle believes that nature does indeed have such a plan, and human beings have unique attributes that when properly used make it possible for us to fulfill that plan. Aristotle and Modern Politics The oligarchs assert that their greater wealth entitles them to greater power, which means that they alone should rule, while the democrats say that the fact that all are equally free entitles each citizen to an equal share of political power (which, because most people are poor, means that in effect the poor rule). This discussion is by no means complete; there is much of interest and value in Aristotles political writings that will not be considered here. Aristotle has already told us that if the regime is going to endure it must educate all the citizens in such a way that they support the kind of regime that it is and the principles that legitimate it. To convey this, some translations use the word city-state in place of the worldpolis. Although none of us today lives in apolis , we should not be too quick to dismiss Aristotles observations on the way of life of thepolis as irrelevant to our own political partnerships. Monarchy, therefore, involving the rule of the best man over all, is the best kind of regime, while tyranny, which is essentially the rule of a master over a regime in which all are slaves, is the worst kind of regime, and in fact is really no kind of regime at all. Aristotle concludes the discussion of household rule, and the first book of thePolitics, by stating that the discussion here is not complete and must necessarily be addressed in the [discourses] connected with the regimes (1260a11). Therefore, as a practical matter, regardless of the arguments for or against it, slavery was not going to be abolished in the Greek world. Throughout the remainder of thePolitics he returns to this point to remind us of the distinction between a good regime and a bad regime. (The Greek word for city ispolis, which is the word that gives us English words like politics and policy). Oligarchies undergo revolution primarily when they treat the multitude unjustly. For more detail consult the works listed in the Suggestions for further reading below. Aristotle advises minimizing the number of trials and length of service on juries so that the cost will not be too much of a burden on the wealthy where there are not sources of revenue from outside the city (Athens, for example, received revenue from nearby silver mines, worked by slaves). As Aristotle says atEthics1103a30: We become just by the practice of just actions, self-controlled by exercising self-control, and courageous by performing acts of courage.Lawgivers make the citizens good by inculcating [good] habits in them, and this is the aim of every lawgiver; if he does not succeed in doing that, his legislation is a failure. But a democracy in which the interests of the wealthy were taken into account and protected by the laws would be ruling in the interest of the community as a whole, and it is this that Aristotle believes is the best practical regime. all plants and animals] for the sake of human beings (1256b21). A city is not just a big village, but is fundamentally different: The partnership arising from [the union of] several villages that is complete is the city. In democracy, the common good is replaced by the good of the majority. It is so important that it cannot be left to individual families, as was the custom in Greece. As all readers of the Politics know, Aristotle is critical of democratic constitutions and openly hostile to extreme democracies which profess and practice egalitarianism to its utmost. This translation lacks the scholarly and critical apparatus of the Rowe translation but is still a fine choice. Since we have seen what kind of regime a polity is, and how it can be made to endure, we are already in a position to see what is wrong with regimes which do not adopt the principles of a polity. Aristotle's Views On Democracy As A Poor Form Of Government Suppose you were to describe an animal, like a thoroughbred foal. But the greatest of all the things that have been mentioned with a view to making regimes lasting though it is now slighted by all is education relative to the regimes. All cities have these two groups, the many poor and the few wealthy, and Aristotle was well aware that it was the conflict between these two groups that caused political instability in the cities, even leading to civil wars (Thucydides describes this in hisHistory of the Peloponnesian War, and theConstitution of Athens also discusses the consequences of this conflict). But while nature wishes to do this, it is often unable to (1255b3). So the right size for the city is a moderate one; it is the one that enables it to perform its function of creating virtuous citizens properly. Human beings alone have the ability to speak, and Aristotle says that we have been given that ability by nature so that we can speak and reason with each other to discover what is right and wrong, what is good and bad, and what is just and unjust. The city, he says, has three parts: the rich, the poor, and the middle class. ). The greatness of Athenian plays, architecture, sculpture, and philosophy could not have been achieved without the institution of slavery. Athenian citizenship was limited to adult males who were not slaves and who had one parent who was an Athenian citizen (sometimes citizenship was further restricted to require both parents to be Athenian citizens). He says: [I]t is evident that in the case of the goods of fortune as well a middling possession is the best of all. This, obviously, is another major difference between Aristotle and contemporary Western societies, which respect and admire business expertise, and encourage many of our citizens to acquire and develop such expertise. Plato and Aristotle tow of the most influential figures in Greek philosophy. Hence law is intellect without appetite (1287a28). In Aristotles time most people at least the ones that were not themselves slaves would also have believed that this question had an obvious answer, if they had asked the question at all: of course slavery is just. This question cannot be settled here. So the residents of a village will live more comfortable lives, with access to more goods and services, than those who only live in families. Before considering Aristotles ultimate position on the justness of slavery for who, and under what circumstances, slavery is appropriate it must be pointed out that there is a great deal of disagreement about what that position is. Aristotle's Politics: Oligarchy and Democracy Short Summary - GraduateWay In fact they are worse, since they have chosen the life they lead in a way that a knife or an acorn or a horse cannot. By preservation he means that the naturally ruling master and naturally ruled slave need each other if they are to preserve themselves; slavery is a kind of partnership which benefits both master and slave. Unfortunately, these regimes have taught them the wrong things. We have already seen that women and slaves are not capable of living this kind of life, although each of these groups has its own kind of virtue to pursue. These will not always be the cheapest or most widely available translations, but it is important to get one of them, from a library if need be. If you wanted to describe a knife, you would talk about its size, and its shape, and what it is made out of, among other things. Here Aristotle tells the story of how cities have historically come into being. This is not the same as that of a man, but as with a man nature intends her to achieve virtues of the kind that are available to her: It is thus evident thatthe moderation of a woman and a man is not the same, nor their courage or justicebut that there is a ruling and a serving courage, and similarly with the other virtues (1260a19). Aristotle also knew Philip of Macedon (son of Amyntas III) and there is a tradition that says Aristotle tutored Philips son Alexander, who would later be called the Great after expanding the Macedonian Empire all the way to what is now India. Aristotle himself says that the sort of war that involves hunting those human beings who are naturally suited to be ruled but [are] unwilling[is] by nature just (1256b25). One set of reasons has to do with the text itself and the transmission of the text from Aristotles time to ours. Chapter 1 The first matter of investigation is the definition of citizenship. What is it that human beings are meant by nature to become in the way that knives are meant to cut, acorns are meant to become oak trees, and thoroughbred ponies are meant to become race horses? Just like everything else that is alive, human beings have atelos. And as a result, neither group seeks equality but instead each tries to dominate the other, believing that it is the only way to avoid being dominated in turn.