Aristotle

James Schall, S.J.

Life, Legacy, and Times
Aristotles father was court physician to Philip of
Macedon, father of Alexander the Great.
Aristotle studied under Plato and his thought
shared Platos concern over form though in
opposition to Plato, form was located in time
and space.
Political order is related to understanding the
purpose and end of being a human being.


Life, Legacy, and Times -
Continued
Aristotle did not take over Platos Academy,
but he started his own school, the
Lycaeum.
His teaching method, peripatetics, involved
walking about and talking.
Aristotle became Alexander the Greats
tutor though his philosophy focused on the
polis and Alexander embraced the vision of
a cosmopolis.


Life, Legacy, and Times -
Continued
With Alexanders death, anti-Macedonian
riots broke out in Athens, and Aristotle fled
lest Athens commit the same crime twice.
We have over 2,000 pages of writings
attributed to Aristotle including his great
book, Politics.
Background to Political Teachings
Aristotles works are grounded in Greek
traditions, and he acknowledged those with
whom he disagreed in search of objective
truth and validity.
Aristotle advised us to love Socrates, to
love Plato, but to love the truth more.
Aristotles political philosophy focused on
the small-city state as the necessary arena
for human excellences.
Aristotles Division of the Three
Sciences
Theoretical Practical Productive
Contemplation of things
that are permanent and
cannot be otherwise.
In the theoretical
sciences, understanding
is pursued for its own
sake.

Example: metaphysics
and logic.
Knowledge of things that
can be otherwise or
variable given human
freedom, choice, and
circumstance.

Example: politics, ethics.
Knowledge of rational
production or the
science of making,
producing things.

Example: technological
know-how, carpentry,
pottery. The productive
sciences result in the
making of some
product.
Problems of Politics and the State
Do not expect to much certitude from political
science since it is not like a theoretical science
that cannot be otherwise.
Ethics is the rule of ourselves over ourselves.
Politics is concerned about the common good
the collective moral and intellectual flourishing
of society.
Aristotles ethical and political works are meant
to be put into action.
Problems of Politics and the State -
Continued
Aristotle did not believe human nature varied
radically from place to place but believed his
philosophy was universally valid.
Aristotle believed human beings are political
animals and require the city to be self-
sufficient and live well.
Nature (physis) is the standard for Aristotles
thought.
This standard revealed the essences of things
including human life.
Problems of Politics and the State -
Continued
Human essence included the possession of
a rational soul and cognition.
The end (telos) of a human being was a
person of excellence just as the end of an
acorn was fully developed oak tree.
Human essence implied limits such human
beings are neither beasts nor gods.
Nature is always so regardless of what
human will, custom, or agreement are.
Problems of Politics and the State -
Continued
Logos, or the capacity for reasoned speech and
how this enables us to think, judge, and make
moral decisions is essential to human nature.
The law must be based upon the common good.
Politics enables human beings to cultivate
logos.
Politics ministers to the life of the mind since
that life deals with the highest, unchanging, and
eternal things.
What Is the Common Good?
Perhaps the common good of the political
community can be illustrated by an analogy of a
rowboat that develops a leak. The common
good of all is served by making decisions,
combining resources, setting priorities to fix the
leak before the boat sinks. The common good
also dictates that anyone who attempts to
undermine the enterprise must be prevented
from doing so through coercion if necessary.
(This is a view that both Aristotle and St.
Thomas Aquinas share.)
Aristotles Understanding of Nature
(Physis)
Essential characteristic The essence of something
that makes it what it is. This essential characteristic is
discovered by logos or reasoned speech.
Terminal and peculiar excellence of a thing: The
developed form of that thing, its terminal excellence,
the objective perfection of that things character-that
is, its highest manifestation. The terminal and
peculiar excellence of a thing is not necessarily what
that thing actually is in its present condition, but how it
ought to be in its perfected state.
Aristotles Understanding of Nature
(Physis) - Continued
Limitation on being: The limits or
boundaries that distinguish one thing from
another.
Universal: Unchangeable, objective,
timeless.
Distinct from convention: Not merely the
product of custom or human will or
prejudice.
Man Is a Political Animal, From
Politics, Book I, Chapter 2
Now , that man is more of a political animal than
bees or an other gregarious animals is evident.
Nature, as we often say, makes nothing in vain,
and man is the only animal whom she has
endowed with the gift of speech The power of
speech is intended to set forth the expedient
and inexpedient, and therefore likewise the just
and the unjust. And it is a characteristic of man
that he alone has any sense of good and evil, of
just and unjust, and the like and the association
of living beings who have this sense makes a
family and a state.
Nature of Politics and the Role of the
State
Aristotles Ethics examines a human beings
capacity or incapacity for self-governance.
Ethics requires us to rule ourselves by an
objective standard of right and wrong.
Human happiness and flourishing require a high
level of physical security, stable family life,
friendships, education, and the enterprise of
politics.
Question for Reflection
What is the American sense of the good life
that is the basis of our regime and political
organization of office? Does the American
sense of the good life tend to promote or
undermine the public interest?
Nature of Politics and the Role of the
State - Continued
Aristotle had collected and classified 158 regimes or
constitutions.
The city is a reflection of the inner purposes of its
citizens.
Politic I, Chapter 2 deals with economics or
management of the household.
Discussion of what is sufficient for the development of the
human soul
Parental rule (royal rule) is a good that protects children
from their unreasonable state.
Constitutional rule defines the relationship between
husband and wife
The Polis as the Most Comprehensive
Community From Politics, Book I, Chapters 1-4
When several villages are united in a single
complete community, large enough to be
nearly or quite self-sufficing, the state
comes into existence, originating in the
bare needs of life, and continuing in
existence for the sake of a good life. And
therefore, if the earlier forms of society are
natural, so is the state, for it is the end of
them, and the nature of a thing is its end.
Nature of Politics and the Role of the
State - Continued
Two Kinds of Slavery:
Slaves by law Anyone captured by war even if they
had the capability to govern themselves could become
a slave by law.
Slaves by nature A person lacking the capability of
self-governance and requiring rule by others would be a
slave by nature.
Difficult, dirty, dangerous work necessary for
societys survival created slavery in the ancient
world. Aristotle speculated this institution could
be done away with if machines could be
invented to do this work.
Aristotle On Slavery, From Politics,
Book I, Chapters 5-6
We see then that there is some foundation for this difference
of opinion, and that all are not either slaves by nature or
freeman by nature, and also that there is in some cases a
marked distinction between the two classes, rendering it
expedient and right for the one to be slaves and the others
to be masters: the one practicing obedience, the other
exercising authority and lordship which nature intended
them to have. The abuse of this authority is injurious to
both; for the interests of part and whole, of body and soul,
are the same, and the slave is a part of the master, a living
but separated part of his bodily frame. Hence, where the
relation of master and slave between them is natural they
are friends and have common interest, but where it rests
merely on law and force the reverse is true.
Question for Reflection
Does Aristotles distinction between natural
and conventional slaves cast doubt on the
moral legitimacy of slavery as it was
actually practiced in Athens? Has modern
technology made the natural slave
obsolete?
Nature of Politics and the Role of the
State - Continued
Aristotle criticized Platos community of wives
and children as a tragedy of the commons.
A citizen is ready to rule and be ruled.
Law is reason without passion and is necessary
to coerce the unruly.
Justice is the virtue of human relationships and
requires us to treat equals equally and unequals
unequally.

Aristotles Critique of Plato, From
Politics, Book II, Chapter 1-3
That all persons call the same thing mine in the sense in
which each does so may be a fine thing, but it is
impracticable; or if the words are taken in the other
sense, such a unity in no way conduces to harmony.
And there is another objection to the proposal. For
that which is common to the greatest number has the
least care bestowed upon it. Every one thinks chiefly
of his own, hardly at all of the common interest; and
only when he is himself concerned as an individual.
For besides other considerations, everybody is more
inclined to neglect the duty which he expects another
to fulfill; as in families many attendants are often less
useful than a few.
Nature of Politics and the Role of the
State - Continued
Book V of Aristotles Ethics divides justice into
two:
Legal Justice any act that could affect others could be
a proper object of law.
Special Justice:
Commutative justice rendering what was due.
Distributive justice rendering what is due in
proportion to what is born for or contributed to the
community.
Friendship is more important than justice for a polity
Aristotles View of Justice
When a decision has to be made about awarding a
Stradivarius violin-the rarest and very best kind of
Italian Renaissance violins-what would be a just basis
for determining who should receive it? Should the
decision be based on ability to play? Family
connections? Or talent alone? For Aristotle, what
would it mean to treat equals equally and unequals
unequally concerning talent for playing the violin?
Using the principle, what do you think Aristotles
position would be concerning affirmative action in
higher education, which justifies special preferences
for historically discriminated-against minorities?
The Six Forms of Regimes
Number of Rulers Rule Serving the
Common Good
Rule Serving Private
Interest or Those Who
Rule
One Kingship or monarchy Tyranny
Few Aristocracy Oligarchy
Many Polity Democracy
The Best Possible Regime - Continued
The best regime could be an actual regime.
The polity would be the practically best regime
since it was a mixed regime that included
aristocratic and democratic elements.
Envy and greed are balanced in the mixed
regime.
The mature man, spoudaios, plays a role in
balancing these forces through the practice of
the practical virtue of prudence.
The Best Possible Regime - Continued
A large middle class is also an important
feature of the best regime.
The middle class would be a golden mean
between the masses (envy) and the oligarchs
(greed).
The mixed regime was favored by Cicero,
Polybius, Aquinas, Montesquieu, and the
American founders.
Middle Class/Mixed Regime, From
Politics, Book IV, Chapters 8-11
Wherefore the city which is composed of middle class-
citizens is necessarily best constituted in respect of
the elements of which we say the fabric of the state
naturally consists. And this is the class of citizens
which is most secure in a state, for they do not, like
the poor, covet their neighbors goods; nor do others
covet theirs, as the poor covet the goods of the rich;
and they neither plot against others, nor are
themselves plotted against others, nor are themselves
plotted against, they pass through life safely. Wisely
then did Phocylides pray Many things are best in
the mean; I desire to be of a middle condition in my
city.
The Best Possible Regime - Continued
Leisure for the higher things is a
component of the best state.
Aristotle states, a state exists for the sake
of a good life, and not for the sake of life
only: if life only were the object, slaves and
brute animals might form a state, but they
cannot, for they have no share in
happiness or in a life of free choice.
The Best Possible Regime - Continued
Politics is not the highest thing to be pursued,
but it lays the foundation for the pursuit of the
highest including the theoretical virtues of
wisdom, first principles, and science.
Political happiness consist of the activities of all the
moral virtues in a full life.
Theoretical happiness is grounded in the contemplative
life.
The philosopher must find a protected place in the polity
to pursue this happiness though some regimes do not
permit the division between the political and the
theoretical.
The Best Possible Regime - Continued
Leisure (skole, from which are word school
derives) consists of free activities of the
human faculties in search of and in finding
truth.
Leisure is not amusement or sport.
Leisure is not fooling around.
Pleasure must have a proper object

The Best Possible Regime - Continued
Friendship could be for:
Utility
Pleasure
The highest good
The best city would facilitate the friendships in
pursuit of the highest good and the
contemplative life.
Politics and prudential statesmanship is not a
substitute for philosophical life but requires it
and leads to it.
The Best Possible Regime - Continued
Democracy is a weak and disordered regime.
Some modern regimes that call themselves democracies
are either polities or tyrannies.
Aristotle helps us to see past rhetoric and understand the
essence of a regime.
Tyrannies would want to destroy private friendships from
emerging to preserve themselves.
Public works and wars are essential to the preservation of
tyrannies.
Most regimes are oligarchies or democracies according to
Aristotle.
Change from better to worse and from worse to better is
an essential possibility of regimes.
On Revolution, From Politics. Book
V, Chapter 1-2
Oligarchy is based on the notion that those who are
unequal in one respect are in all respects unequal;
being unequal, that is , in property, they suppose
themselves to be unequal absolutely. The democrats
think that as they are equal they ought to be equal in
all things; while the oligarchs, under the idea that they
are unequal, claim too much, which is one form of
inequality. All of these forms of government have a
kind of justice, but tried by an absolute standard, they
are faulty; and therefore, both parties, whenever their
share in the government does not accord with their
preconceived ideas, stir up revolution.
Contributions and Influences
Aristotle has been in the Medieval Latin and
Muslim worlds, as well as in modern European
thought though much of modern science has
been built upon refuting Aristotle.
Henry Veatch contends that the reasons for
rejecting the legitimacy of Aristotles approach
are now themselves under assault opening the
doors for reconsidering Aristotle.
Aristotles understanding of the relationship of
principles to prudence is a lasting contribution to
politics.
Contributions and Influences
The cyclic nature of history that the Greeks
understood indicates we are likely to see the things
described by Aristotle repeated.
Aristotle is a realist who has not given up on the good
and the best.
Aristotle acknowledges there is more to life than
politics.
Aristotle was committed to the small polis because
larger political bodies made the practice of virtue
difficult.
Aristotle allowed space for both the mature human
being and the philosopher in his best regime.