Aristotle

23 July 2008

The structure of the Politics

• Book I: The city and its function; the function of other natural communities

• Books II-VI: Imperfect political communities– Book II: Other People’s Views– Books III-VI: Imperfect regimes

• Book VII-VIII: The best political community

The polis and other communities

Family “Household” “Village” Polis

Necessity

Slavery

Incompleteness

Life

Unnecessary goods

Freedom

Perfection

The good life

Contrast: “Social Contract” views

• Is the city a kind of social contract designed for mutual benefit or mutual defence?– The polis is not simply an alliance designed

for the production or trade of goods or mutual defence (III.9)

– The goal of the polis is to foster the good character and virtue of the citizens, and hence the good life (III.9)

Freedom and slavery

• Free man– Pursues his own

purposes rather than those of others

– Is not constrained by the necessities of life

– Citizen

• Slave– Pursues another’s

purposes and view of the good

– Is constrained by the necessities of life

– Non-citizen

The city: a second look

• Book I defines the city in functional terms: a polis is whatever community ensures the full flourishing of human beings

• Book III defines the city in terms of its parts: a city is a group of citizens

Three questions about citizenship

• What is a citizen?

• Who ought to be a citizen?

• What is a good citizen?

What is a citizen?

• In theory:– Someone who can take part in the key judicial

and deliberative bodies of a political community: someone who both rules and is ruled

• In practice:– Someone who meets the legal requirements

for citizenship (e.g., someone who is born of citizen parents)

Who ought to be a citizen?

• Different constitutions or regimes (politeiai) give different answers to the question– Different people are thought to be qualified to

rule in different sorts of regime

• So the question of who ought to be a citizen reduces to what is the best politeia

What is a good citizen?

• A good citizen is also relative to the constitution

• Nevertheless, a good citizen must be a free man– Could a craftsman or someone engaged in

manual work be a truly free man?

• Is the good citizen simply a good person?

The craftsman and freedom

What kinds of regimes (politeiai) exist?

• Regimes where the ruler rules in the common interest– Monarchy– Aristocracy– Polity

• Regimes where the ruler rules in the interest of a part– Tyranny– Oligarchy

• Rule of the wealthy

– Democracy• Rule of the poor

Six Basic Types

The citizen and the regime

• Citizen– All free men– Only wealthy free men– Only one person– Only the virtuous

– A virtuous population

• Regime– Democracy– Oligarchy– Monarchy– Aristocracy or

monarchy– Polity

The dialogue between the oligarch and the democrat

• Oligarch: Justice can’t be equality in everything: those who contribute the most must have a greater share of authority

• Democrat: the many together may possess as much property as the wealthy

The dialogue between the oligarch and the democrat

• Oligarch: It is unjust for the many to take away the property of the few

• Democrat: It is not unjust if it is done legally by those who are sovereign

The dialogue between the oligarch and the democrat

• Oligarch: The many are not able to reach good judgments about political matters, since they are not individually virtuous

• Democrat: Wealth is not identical with virtue, and at any rate the many together can reach good judgments about political matters

Is the crowd superior in wisdom to the few?

Under what conditions is the majority superior to the few?

• The many must not be too vicious

• There must be some diversity of abilities

• The few must not be too superior in virtue

Is this a defence of democracy?