ARISTOTLE

Aristotle, a towering figure in ancient Greek philosophy, was a polymath

whose influence on Western thought is profound. Born in Stagira, Greece,
around 384 BCE, he was a student of Plato and later became the tutor of
Alexander the Great. Aristotle's philosophical inquiries spanned a vast range of
subjects, including metaphysics, physics, ethics, politics, rhetoric, and poetics.
He is often considered the father of Western logic, developing a system of
syllogistic reasoning that remains fundamental to formal logic today. In his
time, he saw the fall of democracy in Athens and rise of Macedonia, which
conquered Athens. His family background of looking at everything scientifically,
as his father was a physician, Plato’s impact over a period of twenty year, his
keen observations of political events, his study of 158 constitutions of his time
and his elaborate studies at the Lyceum (his academy) through lectures and
discussions, all these combined to make him an encyclopaedic mind and
prolific writer. Aristotle was the disciple of Plato and his critic as well at the
same time. From Plato comes political idealism and from Aristotle comes the
political realism. Coleridge, the poet, comments that everyone is either born a
Platonist or an Aristotelian.
Aristotle is said to have written about 150 philosophical treaties,
however only 30 of them survived till date. The works can be classified under
three headings 1. Dialogues and other works of a popular character, 2.
Collections of facts and material from scientific treatment, 3. Systematic works.
This thoughts on politics are mainly found in the Politics, although there are
references of his political thought in the Nicomanchean Ethics and the
Constitutions. He followed the scientific and analytical methodology and at the
same time he also employed historical, comparative, inductive and
observational methods. He has followed the path from particular to the
general. Aristotle’s approach was teleological too as he used the model of
craftsmanship and insisted that nature works like an artist and did nothing
without a purpose. Aristotle is said to have observed more than he thought,
analysed things and therefore reached conclusions.
Unlike Plato, Aristotle was not a philosopher but the philosophical basis
of his political ideas cannot be ignored. There is a belief of God in Aristotle
which provides a spiritual outlook to him, considering God is the creator of
everything. From his belief every phenomenon has two aspects: form and
matter, what is visible is also important in so far as it is itself the result of
numerous elements constituting it, the form only activates it, guides it and
helps it to attain its end which is ethical. Aristotle also believes that a man’s
soul has two parts, logical and illogical and through ethical virtue, man attains
rationality, the logical part of the soul. According to him we perceive the form
or essence or idea of anything from our senses, learnings and experiences.
Reality can be understood from our senses, no need for imagining any other
(intelligible) world, i.e., unlike Plato he believed that the world of being (ideas)
and world of becoming (material world of our senses) are one and the same.
This implies that everything is made up of matter and form/ essence/
substance.
Diving into the political ideas as propounded by Aristotle, we can find
that he has put state before individual. To put Aristotle’s point, it is the part of
human nature to seek happiness, it is also a part of human nature to live in
communities, humans are social animals, and the state is the growth of the
families through communities, thus state is a genuine moral organisation for
advancing the development of human beings. For Aristotle, state is not just a
political community but it gives man a good life, which in turn, means a moral
and ethical living. Aristotle’s state is not structured or manufactured, but a
growth growing gradually out of villages, villages growing out of families and
the families out of man’s nature, his social instincts. He says, individual when
isolated, is not self-sufficing; and therefore, man is like a part in relation to the
whole. He, who is unable to lie in society or who has no need because he is
sufficient for himself must either be a beast or God, he is not a part of the
state.
Aristotle needed the Constitution because the Instability of government
in the Greek city-state was disturbing Aristotle. And to establish a stable
government, he sought to develop a constitution. He studied nearly 158
Constitutions, and later on he gave the theory of the Constitution. In his theory,
Aristotle does not make any difference in the Constitution, state, and
government. Aristotle's classification of government was based on whether the
government was ruled by one person, a few, or many:
 Monarchy or kingship: The ideal form of government ruled by one
person for the general good
 Tyranny: The perverted form of government ruled by one person for
private benefit
  Aristocracy: The ideal form of government ruled by a few for the state's
best interest
 Oligarchy: The perverted form of government ruled by a few for the
benefit of the ruling minority
 Polity: The ideal form of government ruled by many for the common
interest
 Democracy: The perverted form of government ruled by many, which
Aristotle reserved for anarchic mob rule
Aristotle's classification was one of the earliest attempts to classify government
structures. He believed that the ideal form of government was one where the
rulers were concerned with the common good. He also believed that political
science classification was a search for "ideal" types, since he realized that these
types did not exist in their pure forms. Aristotle’s classification of government
provides a fundamental framework for understanding the various forms of
government, that existed throughout history. It also provides some valuable
insight into the dynamic of political power.
Aristotle calls state as an association of associations, the state has general
functions and common purposes and, therefore, has larger concerns as
compared to any other associations. He also seeks to attain unity in diversity,
for Aristotle the state is not a uniformity, but is one that brings all diversities
together.
Thus, Aristotle’s state is the best possible state, the best practicable.
McIlwain sums up Aristotle’s best possible state, saying: "Aristotle's best
possible state is simply the one whic11 is neither too rich nor too poor; secure
from attack and devoid of great wealth or wide expansion of trade or territory,
homogeneous, virtuous, defensible, unambitious community, self-sufficient but
not aggressive, great but not large, a tightly independent city devoted to the
achievement of the highest possible measure of culture and virtue, of well-
being and true happiness attainable by each and by all."
Aristotle’s theory of property is based on his criticism of Plato’s
communism of property. For Aristotle property provided psychological
satisfaction by fulfilling the human instinct for possession and ownership. He
says, “Man must eat, be clad, have shelter and in order to do so, he must
acquire property. The instinct is as natural and proper as the provision nature
makes in supplying wild animals and the means of satisfying the needs of
sustenance and production.” Private property is essential and therefore
justified by Aristotle, but it has to be acquired through just means. He was
against amassing property, so he said, “to acquire too much wealth (property)
will be as gross an error as to make a hammer too heavy.”
As against Plato, Aristotle advocated private family system. Criticising
Plato’s communism of families, he believed that family is the primary unit of
social life, which not only makes society but keeps it going. Family is one
institution where an individual is born, is nurtured, gets his identity, his name
and above all attains intellectual development. He asserts that family is the
primary school of social virtue where a child gets lessons of quality such as
cooperation, love, tolerance and sacrifice. According to him family is not just a
primary institution but is a necessary action of society. If man is a social animal,
which Aristotle insists he is, family becomes the extension of man’s nature, the
village, extension of families; and the state, an extension and union of families
and villages.
Family consists of husband, wife, children, slaves and property. It
involves three types pf relationships: master and slave, martial (between
husband and wife) and paternal (between the father and children). Aristotle
has kept man superior in all three relations. With his belief on patriarchy
Aristotle wanted to keep women within the four-walls of the house, good only
for the household work and reproduction and nurturing the species. Aristotle
regards women inferior to man and thinks of them as an incomplete male.
Thus, in the family attributed by him, man is superior to women, wiser than the
slave and more experienced than the children.
Aristotle justified slavery too as he believed that slaves should be held as
property and used as other property is used, as a means of maintain life. He
asserted that the master has rationality and wisdom whereas the one who’s a
slave, does not. Slaves are born not created. A slave, according to Aristotle, is
sub-human, incomplete and a barbarian. They are strong enough for servile
and labour, on the other hand the freeman (master) is upright and useless for
such services, instead he should be engaged in political life, arts and war and
peace. If a master needs a slave so that he is able to enjoy a free life, the slave
needs a master so that he is able to attain the virtues of freeman only in the
company of a freeman. Aristotle rejected inhumane treatment of slaves and
advocated their emancipation as a reward for their good behaviour.
 Justice is the very essence of state. Aristotle held the view that justice
provides an aim to the state, and a object to the individual. It is justice that
makes a state, gives it a vision and coupled with ethics, it takes the state to the
heights of all ethical values. Justice saves the state from destruction, it makes
the state and political life pure and healthy. For Aristotle, justice is practical,
Justice is virtue, but it is more than virtue; it is virtue in action, i.e., virtue in
practice. Reason is, for example, a virtue, but the reasonable/rational conduct
is justice; truth is a virtue, but to be truthful is justice. What makes a virtue
justice is the very practice of that virtue. So Aristotle says: "The good in the
sphere of politics is justice, and justice contains what tends to promote the
common interest." He has divided justice into two parts, general and particular
justice. General justice is complete goodness. It is complete in the fullest sense,
because it is the exercise of complete goodness not only in himself but also
towards his neighbours. Particular justice is a part of complete general justice.
For Aristotle, distributive justice hands out honours and rewards according to
the merits of Ihe recipients, equals to be treated equally and unequal,
unequally. The corrective justice takes no account of the position of the parties
concerned. securing equality between the two by taking away from the
advantage of the one and adding it to tile disadvantage of the other, giving
justice to one who has been denied, and inflicting punishment to one who has
denied others their justice. Thus, Aristotle’s justice is the reward in proposition
to what one contributes and it is related with rights. The theory of justice is
associated with man’s conduct in practical life, of course with all ethical values
guiding him. However, he was unable to corelate the ethical dimension of
justice to its legal dimension. To follow his idea of distributive justice in today’s
time, it is indeed difficult to bring about a balance between the ever-increasing
population and ever-decreasing opportunities of the state.
According to Aristotle, citizenship means the possession and exercise of
civil and political rights. It is enjoyed by those who have the leisure and ability
to perform the deliberative and judicial functions of the state. Hence Aristotle
defined a citizen as a person who is eligible to participate in an assembly and
serve on a jury. Citizens should participate in the decision-making process of
the state. It is because they have the right to participate. This participation
could involve being part of the discussion, voting on the law, and holding public
office. Aristotle had given more importance to the Property class. According to
him, Native-born adult Greek males belonging to the property class are eligible
for citizenship. Citizens of the state had certain rights, like the right to
participate in government, access to justice, and protection under the law.
Alongside, these rights, Citizens also had some important responsibilities like
depending on the state for threats and obeying laws of the state. According to
Aristotle, women, Children, Old people, Slaves, and foreigners are not citizens
of the state. These people due to their age, gender biasness, abilities or their
position in the state were not able to participate in the state functions. To
Aristotle, Citizenship should be given on the basis of an Individual’s functions.
Only those members of the state can be regarded as its citizens, who are
entitled to take part in the legislative or judicial function of the state. Aristotle’s
view on citizenship is completely different from present era, and thus, many
philosophers has pointed its non-relevance as the major drawback of his theory
of citizenship.
Summing up Aristotle and drawing his comparison with his teacher,
Plato, alongside, we can conclude that Aristotle complained against Plato
making a departure from experiences. He regarded state as a natural
organisation criticising Plato’s state as artificial creation. He believed that state
was a natural growth and evolution. Unlike Plato, Aristotle found justice more
in the realms of enjoying one’s rights rather than performing one’s duties. For
Aristotle, justice was a practical activity virtue and not doing things in
accordance with one’s nature. Plato’s justice on the other hand, as Aristotle
believed, was incomplete in so far as it dealt predominantly with duties and
more or less ignored rights. Aristotle realised the significance of laws and held
view that rule of law was any day better than the rule of men, howsoever wise
those rulers might be. He also did not approve of the three classes of Plato’s
ideal state, especially the guardians having the political power with them, he
continues to look upon the ruling class system as unconceived political
structure. Aristotle might be violent in criticising Plato but the other side of the
coin shows that there is a Plato in Aristotle. Aristotle, instead of damaging
Plato's ideals, builds on them. Both; Plato and Aristotle, start with ideal,
examine the actual and stop at the possible. Like his teacher Plato, Aristotle
thinks that the ethical perfection of Inan is possible only in a state and that the
interest of the state is the interest of those who constitute it. So writes
Ebenstein (Great Political thinkers): "Plato found the corrective to his thinking
in his own student."