Aristotle
Aristotle,
the Political Scientist
Aristotle was a keen observer of the world around him, including the political world. But he wasn’t merely a describer of political systems. Aristotle did enunciate principles in terms of which various forms of government can be evaluated. Also, when he listed monarchy, aristocracy, and polity as proper forms of government and tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy as their corresponding improper forms, he was not merely describing these forms, as a modern-day political scientist might, but was also evaluating them, as a political philosopher will do.
Nor was Aristotle a historian of political systems. (You would have no inkling, from reading Aristotle’s Politics, that the Greek city state system of government went out of existence forever during his lifetime!)
Aristotle, too, regarded the state as
an organism, as a living being that exists for some end, for some purpose. That
purpose, he believed, is to promote the good life for humans. (The good life,
for Aristotle, was one that gives you the highest human good—happiness.) Thus,
Aristotle offered a standard of evaluation of the state different from Plato’s.
For Aristotle, a state was good only to the degree to which it enables its
citizens themselves to achieve the good life, whereas for Plato a state was
good to the extent that it is well ordered.
Aristotle, who had studied the constitutions, or basic
political structures, of numerous Greek city-states and other states, was a
practical thinker. He insisted that the form of the ideal state depends on, and
can change with, circumstances. Unlike Plato, Aristotle did not set forth a
recipe for the ideal state. A state, he said, can be ruled properly by one person;
but it can also be ruled properly by a few people or by many. When a state is
properly ruled by one person, he said, it is a monarchy; improper rule
by one is tyranny. Proper rule by the few is aristocracy;
improper rule, oligarchy. Proper rule by the many is a polity, and
improper rule by them is a democracy. Good forms of government tend to
degenerate into bad, he thought, as Plato also did. Aristocracies become
oligarchies, monarchies become tyrannies, polities become democracies.
• Monarchy vs. Tyranny
- A monarchy can be successful if the king is moral, but can easily degrade into tyranny if he is not.
• Aristocracy vs. Oligarchy
- An aristocracy becomes an oligarchy when it caters only for the interests of the rich.
• Polity vs. Democracy
- The fairest constitution is a mixed" polity" of rich and poor.
- Aristotle's "fear that the rule of the "Many" would typically lead to the tyranny of the poor and propertyless majority over the middle classes.
Though Aristotle thought that states may be good or bad
irrespective of their form, he observed that political societies always have
three classes: a lower class of laborers and peasants; a middle class of
craftsmen, farmers, and merchants; and an upper class of aristocrats. He
further observed that political power rests in one or another of these social
classes or is shared by them variously, irrespective of the form of the state.
Aristotle, like Plato, was no egalitarian. (An egalitarian
believes that all humans are equal in their social, political, and economic
rights and privileges.) But even though Plato’s ideal state has no slaves,
Aristotle held that some people are by nature suited for slavery, whereas
others by nature are suited for freedom. Even freemen are not equals, Aristotle
held. Those who, like laborers, do not have the aptitude (or time) to
participate in governance should not be citizens. But, he said, beware: the
desires of lesser men for equality are the “springs and fountains” of
revolution and are to be so recognized by a properly functioning government,
which takes precautions to avoid revolt.
“Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god. ”
― Politics
“It is of the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it.”
― Politics
“Man is by nature a political animal.”
― Politics
“For man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all; since armed injustice is the more dangerous, and he is equipped at birth with the arms of intelligence and with moral qualities which he may use for the worst ends. Wherefore, if he have not virtue, he is the most unholy and the most savage of animals, and the most full of lust and gluttony ( greediness). But justice is the bond of men in states, and the administration of justice, which is the determination of what is just, is the principle of order in political society.”
― Politics
“Yes the truth is that men's ambition and their desire to make money are among the most frequent causes of deliberate acts of injustice.”
― Politics
“the greater the number of owners, the less the respect for common property. People are much more careful of their personal possessions than of those owned communally; they exercise care over common property only in so far as they are personally affected.”
― Politics
“and poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.”
― Politics
“When states are democratically governed according to law, there are no
demagogues (a political leader who seeks support by appealing to the desires
and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by
using rational argument.), and the best citizens are securely in the
saddle; but where the laws are not sovereign, there you find demagogues. The
people become a monarch... such people, in its role as a monarch, not being
controlled by law, aims at sole power and becomes like a master.”
― Aristotle, Politics
“The many are more incorruptible than the few; they are like the greater quantity of water which is less easily corrupted than a little.”
― Politics
“Man is a political animal. A man who lives alone is either a Beast or a God”
― Politics
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