Aristotle

Politics
 Aristotle
Introduction
 Aristotle was perhaps the first and greatest of all polymaths. He is known to have
written from everything from the shape of seashells to sterility, from speculations to
the nature of the soul to meteorology, poetry, art and even interpretation of dreams.
 Aristotle was born in a village of Stagira in northern Greece in 384 BC
 Aristotle’s father was a rich man and as many claim Aristotle spent his youth in
spending inherited cash on wine, women and song. He also joined the army for a brief
period of time.
 At the age of 30 Aristotle set for Athens to study at the Academy under Plato
 Ancient Greece was not a unified nation-state
 Macedon was ruled by a monarch
 Athens had a form of democracy
 Naturally Social:
Naturalism
 Aristotle observed that humans have a natural tendency to form social units, they form
households, form villages and villages to their cities.

 Humans by nature are social. Just as he might define a Wolf by saying it is by nature a
pack animal.

 The good life:

 Polis as a man made phenomena rather than a man-made one underpins Aristotle ideas about
ethics and politics of the city-state.
 From his study of the Natural world, he gained a notion that everything that exists has an aim or
purpose.
 Pursuit of virtue,

 Justice
 Goodness
 Beautify are all purposes of the state.
 The City-state the polis:
 City-state is a natural organic it is in the nature of man to live together
with certain rules and regulations
 The city-state is a product of human nature
 Natural law:
 He says that there are certain natural laws that are divine all those laws of
nature are thought process human nature is all divine and in depth
 City-state: the number of citizens must not be more than 10,000 people that
is the total population i.e.. Including slaves and that would lead to not
knowing each other and the knowledge of each other would diminish and
 The law would be hard to manage.

 We already know that the city-states were already small city-states

 Aristotle challenged Plato's republic: he says that the Plato's
republic is based upon the guardians, auxiliaries, and
producing class.
 Aristotle said that Aristotle did not write enough on the
guardian class he says that the guardian class will note happy
why because they don’t have kids or property so he said that the
most important class of people is unhappy than how will we
live in such a society.

 Aristotle says that family life is important and private property

they work harder it is an incentive to work harder.
 Aristotle approach to politics is opposite of Plato’s
 Plato talks about a image or a form of government
 Aristotle said I don’t want to discuss what a society needs to be like he says we need to look at what society
currently is
 So Aristotle sent his students out to explore other cities and he began studying the constitutions.

 He began looking at that different states in Greece were one ruler, some have few rules and some have many
rulers.

 The one ruler state he calls correct and is kingship and if it’s bad he calls it tyranny

 For few rulers, correct fashion is aristocracy and than it’s oligarchy

 And if many rulers are running correct is polity and if it’s bad democracy

 Now let’s explore this categorization: the categories that Aristotle makes are those political terms that we are
using to this day. This reflects that even centuries later we are still using it.
 Aristotle believes in teleology:
 The belief that everything has a reason.

 He says that the reason for creation of society can reflect its teleology.

 He says if a state is made for the benefit of others when kingship will
change to oligarchy

 He says that living in a bad society a person can be a good human

being if he follows the law he is a good citizen but not a good human
being.

 He says there might be people who are not good citizens but he will be
considered a good human being 0 if he he is breaking the law for a
good reason.
 Aristotle’s Class Analysis
 Aristotle most important discovery is he talked about society from a class structure he does
not use the word class but uses fraction as a word

 Aristotle hated democracy similar to Plato-

 In that time democracy is when the poor are the rulers and not the rich
 Aristotle’s understanding of democracy there is a huge gap.

 Today’s democracy is election, parliament, and we don’t’ care which class rules and in that time
the class will be most important
 Aristocratic system.

 “in a democracy will have more power than the rich because there are more of them and the will
of the majority is supreme’ Aristotle.
 Aristotle is the first philosopher who is keeping in mind class struggle he keeps in
mind that politics is a fight between classes
 This is a time of Athens and Sparta – Peloponnesian war this was a fight between two
systems as well. The conflict
 Between Athens and Sparta was also shaped by class contradictions.
 Aristotle says that democracy is a bad system he said aristocracy is best system
democracy says that false the problem arises from the idea that those who are equal under
the law and we believe that they are also equal in all other aspects.
 He says that people who have the highest intellect should be rulers.
 He says that the masses can be easily fooled so aristocracy would a democratic he says
that the croon masses
 He says he says that revolution can be stopped by following a certain ways Aristotle says
that if we create a mixed political system in which aristocratic and democratic
constitution that way the revolution can be stopped.
 Aristotle’s influence
 Aristotle wrote on logic, science, epistemology, knowledge, biology
 He has been well respected well progressive.

 When it comes to women and slavery Aristotle that Aristotle would have a
negative APPROACH
 Aristotle says that ‘woman is an unfinished man’ Aristotle.
 And sadly Aristotle impact had a negative impact on society. and Plato's point of
view on women was entirely different and had a positive

 Aristotle said man was the sower and woman the soil children inherit only male
characteristics, and we know that modern science proves that wrong.
 Aristotle says that women almost all the negative
 Aristotle distinguishes man from the other animals in the polis
he found that what distinguishes man from the other animals is
innate power of reason and the faculty of speech which gave
him a unique ability to form social groups and set up
communities.
 Species of rule;
 Aristotle devised a comprehensive taxonomy of the natural
world he set about applying same methodical skills to system of
government. While Plato had reasoned theoretically about the
ideal form of government, Aristotle chose to examine existing
regime to analyze their strength and weaknesses he asked two
simple questions

 Who rules, and on whose behalf do they rule?

 He said men is commanding and women is obeying
 Aristotle said that marriage should set maximum and minimum age of marriage along with how many kids a couple can have.
 slave
 In the end he also says that no society can be happy till women are happy.

 Slavery: he sais slaves are ‘tools with voices.’

 He says men have a nature some are leaders and some are slaves.
 ‘men by nature are divided into two groups those rulers and those who submitted by nature’

There is a contradiction: whenever Greeks would conquer and make other people their slaves and there were people who were
rulers and when you captured them they became slaves so how is it that human nature shows slaver as a human nature

In aristotle’s framework of politics he did not give them any place he said slavery should be there and slavery is important he said
that aristocracy can not stand if there is no slavery. He says if there are no slaves how will the scholars learn
 He believed in Aristocracy he believed in the idea of slavery and in that time it was not considered a
thing that was wrong.

 Aristotle wrote 2000 years Alexandria, Arabia, Spain, Europe dominated their approach wherever
there is scientific approach there was a thirst to study Aristotle.

 In Arabia in golden period the Ibn Rush's loved Aristotle and through Europe and has had a great

 Till the time newton didn’t arrive Aristotle –newton the scientific period that holds on the Aristoliean
period where Alexander was setting

 The world of thought was Aristolt.e.

 Aristotle observed that in the answer to the first question there
types of ruler
 By a single person
 By a select few
 By many
 And in answer of the second question
 The rule could be either on behalf of the population as a whole
which he considered true or good government or in the self
interest of the ruler or ruling class.
 In a defective form of government in all he identified six species
of rule which came in pains Monarchy is rule by an individual
on behalf of all an tyranny
 The Greek city-state or polis is ‘should be’ an ideal city-state where
people form associations such as,
 Families
 Trade organizations
 Social gatherings

 Aristotle said ‘man is a political animal’ and he can only achieve

the highest form of happiness or live the good life by engaging in
the activities of the state.
 Aristotle defends the institution of private property but condemns
excessive capitalism, Aristotle also defends the institution of
slavery.

How does Aristotle identify citizenship?

Aristotle discusses 6 types of constitutions
Three are just and three are unjust
 Politics and Art
 The Nature of Justice
 Since friendship is an important feature of the good life and virtuous habits
can be acquired through moral education and legislation, Aristotle regarded
life within a moral community as a vital component of human morality.
Even in the Ethics, he had noted that social order is presumed by the
general concept of justice. (Nic. Ethics V 2)
 Properly considered, justice is concerned with the equitability or fairness in
interpersonal relations. Thus, Aristotle offered an account of distributive
justice that made allowances for the social rectification of individual
wrongs. Moreover, he noted that justice in the exchange of property
requires careful definition in order to preserve equity. The broader concept
of political justice, however, is to be recognized only within the context of
an entire society. Thus, it deserves separate treatment in a different treatise.
 That treatise is Aristotle's Politics, a comprehensive examination of the origins and structure of the state.
Like Plato, Aristotle supposed that the need for a division of labor is the initial occasion of the formation
of a society, whose structure will be modelled upon that of the family. (Politics I 2) But Aristotle
(preferring the mean) declined to agree with Plato's notion of commonly held property and argued that
some property should be held privately.
 Aristotle also drew a sharper distinction between morality and politics than Plato had done. Although a
good citizen is a good person, on Aristotle's view, the good person can be good even independently of the
society. A good citizen, however, can exist only as a part of the social structure itself, so the state is in
some sense prior to the citizen.
 Depending upon the number of people involved in governing and the focus of their interests, Aristotle
distinguished six kinds of social structure in three pairs:
 A state with only one ruler is either a monarchy or a tyranny;
 A state with several rulers is either an aristocracy or an oligarchy; and
 A state in which all rule is either a polity or a democracy.

In each pair, the first sort of state is one in which the rulers are concerned with the good of the state, while
those of the second sort are those in which the rulers serve their own private interests. (Politics III 7)
 Although he believed monarchy to be the best possible state in principle, Aristotle recognized that in
practice it is liable to degenerate into the worst possible state, a tyranny. He therefore recommended the
formation of polity, or constitutional government, since its degenerate form is the least harmful of the bad
kinds of government. As always, Aristotle defended the mean rather than run the risk of either extreme.
 Having had a discussion on Plato it is time for us to move on to Aristotle-
 Aristotle- there is a story about Aristotle’s life and it goes like this. The ultimate philosopher
 Aristotle was born in the year of 384, 15 years after the trial of Socrates HE was born in northern parts of Greece, which is now known as Macedonia.

So when he was about your age maybe slightly younger he was sent by his father to go what you are doing to college to Athens to Study at the Academy the first university,

Unlike most of you Aristotle did not spend 4 years he remained attach to it for the net 20 years until the death of Plato.

Aristotle left for Asia minor where he was summoned by king Phillip to establish the school for children of Macedonia's ruling class it was here where Aristotle met his son
which we know as

Alexander?

Aristotle returned to Athens and later on established a school of his own a rival to the platonic academy and he called it the Lyceum there is a story about that. Aristotle like
Socrates brought himself attention he left Athens and

when important reason about Plato and Aristotle that they are different unlike their intellectual god father Socrates who wrote nothing but conversed endlessly and unlike his own
brother aristae wrote disciplined and thematic treaties on every topic from biology to ethics to metaphysics to litera0 -

For Plato politics was about questions of metaphysics questions of the soul what is the soul about?

Aristotle appears to beginning to look more like what he scientist 158 of them in all he was the first to give some kind of conceptual light to the vocabulary of political life.
 Nico mean ethics works of political instruction and political education.
 He seems less theoretical in the sense of constructing abstract models

Aristotle might be useful to citizens statesmen yet, for all of this one might
say there is still profound enigma surrounding Aristotle. To put it simply one
could simply ask

What were the politics of Air stoles politics

What were Aristotle own political beliefs.

 Within his own life Aristotle would see Sparta and the other great
cities the great Macedonian empire what we think of as the
golden age of Greece.

 Aristotle’ extreme reluctance to speak issues of his time

foreignness to Athens he was not an Athenian therefore he lacked
the –

 Why did he remain quiet and not speak?

 Secretive and reluctant – his works required canonical
status and became authority for everything

Thomas more referred to Aristotle simply as the philosopher

there was no reason he was simply The philosopher for the
master of those who know for centuries,

The attack began not all that long ago -

 All philosophers read Aristotle with their own lens
 But Hobbes saw Aristotle the dangerous doctrine Hobbes believed in the results – enigma of Aristotle who was this
strange elusive man whose writings have been enlisted universally

 Naturalness of the city:

 Man is by nature a political animal that’s his famous claim. Aristotle states his opinion succinctly politics where he remarks that
every state –

 Man has reason logos-worse distinguish between good and bad, just and unjust compared to other animals he alone has the
perception of good and bad. In other words he seems to be saying that logos that is able to both distunigsh and create certain
moral categories are important to libel by.

 A family and a polis according to Aristotle how are we political animals he gives us two examples.
 He looks like a kind of natural history poi's he seems there to be a kind of anthropoids writing a natural history.

 First coms the family, then an association of families in a tribute then a further association in a village and then you might say create a
polis or a city
 He says the polis by nature a natural city allows human beings to
achieve perfect telos
 That is to say perfect end he says because participation in this life is
necessary for the achievement of our well being a person

 Apollos or the virtues we are not that fulfill our telos perfection when
Aristotle says that man is by nature he is simply philosophic postulate
or great although the full development of the thesis is deeply embedded.
This work or political by nature although he is sometimes taken to be
saying this that there is some kind of biologically plated desire to lead
us to engage in political lives.
 Political science studies the tasks of the politician or statesman (politicos),
in much the way that medical science concerns the work of the physician
(see Politics IV.1). It is, in fact, the body of knowledge that such
practitioners, if truly expert, will also wield in pursuing their tasks. The
most important task for the politician is, in the role of lawgiver
(nomothetic), to frame the appropriate constitution for the city-state. This
involves enduring laws, customs, and institutions (including a system of
moral education) for the citizens. Once the constitution is in place, the
politician needs to take the appropriate measures to maintain it, to introduce
reforms when he finds them necessary, and to prevent developments which
might subvert the political system. This is the province of legislative
science, which Aristotle regards as more important than politics as exercised
in everyday political activity such as the passing of decrees (see EN VI.8).
 Aristotle frequently compares the politician to a craftsman. The analogy
is imprecise because politics, in the strict sense of legislative science, is
a form of practical knowledge, while a craft like architecture or
medicine is a form of productive knowledge. However, the comparison
is valid to the extent that the politician produces, operates, maintains a
legal system according to universal principles (EN VI.8 and X.9). In
order to appreciate this analogy it is helpful to observe that Aristotle
explains the production of an artifact in terms of four causes: the
material, formal, efficient, and final causes (Phys. II.3 and Met. A.2).
For example, clay (material cause) is molded into a vase shape (formal
cause) by a potter (efficient or moving cause) so that it can contain
liquid (final cause). (For discussion of the four causes see the entry on
Aristotle's physics.)
 ne can also explain the existence of the city-state in terms of the four causes. It is a kind of
community (konini), that is, a collection of parts having some functions and interests in
common (Pol. II.1.1261a18, III.1.1275b20). Hence, it is made up of parts, which Aristotle
describes in various ways in different contexts: as households, or economic classes (e.g., the
rich and the poor), or demes (i.e., local political units). But, ultimately, the city-state is
composed of individual citizens (see III.1.1274a38–41), who, along with natural resources,
are the “material” or “equipment” out of which the city-state is fashioned (see
VII.14.1325b38-41).
 The formal cause of the city-state is its constitution (polities). Aristotle defines the constitution
as “a certain ordering of the inhabitants of the city-state” (III.1.1274b32-41). He also speaks
of the constitution of a community as “the form of the compound” and argues that whether the
community is the same over time depends on whether it has the same constitution
(III.3.1276b1–11). The constitution is not a written document, but an immanent organizing
principle, analogous to the soul of an organism. Hence, the constitution is also “the way of
life” of the citizens (IV.11.1295a40-b1, VII.8.1328b1-2). Here the citizens are that minority of
the resident population who possess full political rights (III.1.1275b17–20).
 he existence of the city-state also requires an efficient cause, namely, its ruler. On Aristotle's view, a
community of any sort can possess order only if it has a ruling element or authority. This ruling
principle is defined by the constitution, which sets criteria for political offices, particularly the
sovereign office (III.6.1278b8–10; cf. IV.1.1289a15–18). However, on a deeper level, there must be
an efficient cause to explain why a city-state acquires its constitution in the first place. Aristotle
states that “the person who first established [the city-state] is the cause of very great benefits”
(I.2.1253a30–1). This person was evidently the lawgiver (nomothetic), someone like Solon of
Athens or Lycurgus of Sparta, who founded the constitution. Aristotle compares the lawgiver, or
the politician more generally, to a craftsman (demiurges) like a weaver or shipbuilder, who fashions
material into a finished product (II.12.1273b32–3, VII.4.1325b40–1365a5).
 The notion of final cause dominates Aristotle's Politics from the opening lines:
 Since we see that every city-state is a sort of community and that every community is established
for the sake of some good (for everyone does everything for the sake of what they believe to be
good), it is clear that every community aims at some good, and the community which has the most
authority of all and includes all the others aims highest, that is, at the good with the most authority.
This is what is called the city-state or political community. [I.1.1252a1–7]
 Soon after, he states that the city-state comes
into being for the sake of life but exists for the
sake of the good life (2.1252b29–30). The
theme that the good life or happiness is the
proper end of the city-state recurs throughout
the Politics (III.6.1278b17-24, 9.1280b39;
VII.2.1325a7–10).

To sum up, the city-state is a holomorphic (i.e.,

matter-form) compound of a particular
population (i.e., citizen-body) in a given
territory (material cause) and a constitution
(formal cause). The constitution itself is
fashioned by the lawgiver and is governed by
politicians, who are like craftsmen (efficient
cause), and the constitution defines the aim of
the city-state (final cause, IV.1.1289a17–18).
For a further discussion of this topic, see the
following supplementary document:
 The distinction between correct and deviant constitutions is combined with the observation that the government may consist of one person, a few, or
a multitude. Hence, there are six possible constitutional forms (Politics III.7):
   Correct Deviant One Ruler Kingship Tyranny Few Rulers Aristocracy Oligarchy Many Rulers Polity Democracy This six-fold classification
(which is adapted from Plato's Statesman 302c-d) sets the stage for Aristotle's inquiry into the best constitution, although it is modified in various
ways throughout the Politics. For example, he observes that the dominant class in oligarchy (literally rule of the oligo, i.e., few) is typically the
wealthy, whereas in democracy (literally rule of the demos, i.e., people) it is the poor, so that these economic classes should be included in the
definition of these forms (see Politics III.8, IV.4, and VI.2 for alternative accounts). Also, polity is later characterized as a kind of “mixed”
constitution typified by rule of the “middle” group of citizens, a moderately wealthy class between the rich and poor (Politics IV.11).
 Aristotle's constitutional theory is based on his theory of justice, which is expounded in Nicomachean Ethics book V. Aristotle distinguishes two
different but related senses of “justice” — universal and particular — both of which play an important role in his constitutional theory. Firstly, in the
universal sense “justice” means “lawfulness” and is concerned with the common advantage and happiness of the political community (NE
V.1.1129b11–19, cf. Pol. III.12.1282b16–17). The conception of universal justice undergirds the distinction between correct (just) and deviant
(unjust) constitutions. But what exactly the “common advantage” (coition sump heron) entails is a matter of scholarly controversy. Some passages
imply that justice involves the advantage of all the citizens; for example, every citizen of the best constitution has a just claim to private property and
to an education (Pol. VII.9.1329a23–4, 13.1332a32–8). But Aristotle also allows that it might be “in a way” just to ostracize powerful citizens even
when they have not been convicted of any crimes (III.13.1284b15–20). Whether Aristotle understands the common advantage as safeguarding the
interests of each and every citizen has a bearing on whether he anticipates what moderns would understand as a theory of individual rights. (See Fred
Miller and Richard Kraut for differing interpretations.)
 Secondly, in the particular sense “justice” means “equality” or “fairness”, and this includes distributive justice, according to which different
individuals have just claims to shares of some common asset such as property. Aristotle analyzes arguments for and against the different
constitutions as different applications of the principle of distributive justice (III.9.1280a7–22). Everyone agrees, he says, that justice involves
treating equal persons equally, and treating unequal persons unequally, but they do not agree on the standard by which individuals are deemed to be
equally (or unequally) meritorious or deserving. He assumes his own analysis of distributive justice set forth in Nicomachean Ethics V.3: Justice
requires that benefits be distributed to individuals in proportion to