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Aristotle's Politics (Lessons)
Aristotle's Politics provides a comparison between his views and those of Plato, emphasizing a realistic approach to governance rather than the pursuit of an ideal state. He categorizes governments into types such as democracy, oligarchy, and monarchy, while discussing crucial concepts like citizenship, sovereignty, justice, and law. Ultimately, Aristotle underscores the importance of civic participation and the strength of a large middle class in successful governance.
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Aristotle's Politics (Lessons)
- 1. ARISTOTLE’S POLITICS: PRACTICAL LESSONS IN POLITICS AND DEMOCRACY
- 2. Overview Plato v.Aristotle Forms of Rule Parts of a State Practical Lessons in Politics and Democracy
- 3. A Comparison: Platoand Aristotle Plato was fundamentally an idealist i.e. “the ideal state” Aristotle was more realistic there are no ideal states, only existing ones
- 4. A Comparison: Platoand Aristotle Aristotle’s concern was to understand how states are constituted What makes a state “tick”? Assumed that all states were ordered towards a specific end Good v. Bad States
- 5. Governments: AristotelianTypology Democracy Polity Many Oligarchy Aristocracy Few Tyranny Monarchy One Perverted Ideal Number of Rulers
- 6. The Aristotelian TypologyApplied Today Democracy Many Oligarchy Aristocracy Few Tyranny Monarchy One Perverted Ideal Number of Rulers Mob Rule
- 7. Parts of aState Citizenship Sovereignty Justice Law Branches of Government
- 8. Citizenship Not derived from age , birth territory , or system of government Rooted in a person’s participation in civic affairs Entails the privilege of holding office
- 9. Sovereignty The state’s supreme power to oblige obedience to its will Aristotle uses the term to denote the holding of public office He also uses the term to refer to who gets to make binding public decisions
- 10. Justice The good towards which politics is directed Consists of some sort of equality (“ relative equality ”) Related to everything that tends to promote the common good
- 11. Law “ Reasonfree from all passion ” A “ neutral authority ” Dynamic concept; includes custom and codified (written) law Aristotle distinguishes between the letter and spirit of the law
- 12. Branches of GovernmentDeliberative Executive Judicial
- 13. Practical Lessons Thereis virtue in decisions being made by collective bodies It is important for individuals to have some share in civic affairs
- 14. More Practical LessonsIt is important to distinguish between individuals and institutions/offices The law is both substantive and organic
- 15. Even More PracticalLessons The forms of government most likely to work are those where the middle class is large
Editor's Notes
- #2 Learning Objectives 1.) To better appreciate the strands in Aristotle’s political thought with practical implications to the conduct of politics and our understanding of democracy (i.e. the type of constitution that is most practicable; the characteristics of a constitution that are workable for most states) 2.) To understand the difference in outlook between Aristotle’s political thought and Plato’s 3.) To become acquainted with Aristotle’s classical typology of forms of rule 4.) To understand the integral parts of the state as discussed by Aristotle (as opposed to its necessary conditions)