J & P, session iii Aristotle

Aristotle
Justice & Power, session iii

Topics in This Session

i. introduction
ii. Aristotle
iii.Politics
iv.Criticism

With our second philosopher, what Robert Hutchins
calls “The Great Conversation” begins. We have seen
Aristotle’s criticism of Plato’s Republic (from Politics, Bk.
II, Chaps. 1-6). Now we examine his own political thought.
Students must, like Aristotle, be critical of their teachers’
doctrines. Would that they all might imitate Aristotle in
their positive contribution!
Justice & Power, p. 6

Along with Mortimer
Adler, he created the
Great Books program

With our second philosopher, what Robert Hutchins
calls “The Great Conversation” begins. We have seen
Aristotle’s criticism of Plato’s Republic (from Politics, Bk.
II, Chaps. 1-6). Now we examine his own political thought.
Students must, like Aristotle, be critical of their teachers’
doctrines. Would that they all might imitate Aristotle in
their positive contribution!
Justice & Power, p. 6

If we call Plato the father of political philosophy, we must
then give Aristotle the title of “father of political science.” This
would be sufﬁcient to assure his relevance for this class. But
you will fail to appreciate his tremendous stature in mankind’s
intellectual history if the scope of his other studies is not
noted. When his works were reassembled during the late
Middle Ages they became the center of the university
curriculum. In modern terms his treatises examine logic;
theories of knowledge; philosophy of science; natural science
(physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, psychology); “pure
philosophy”; practical sciences (ethics and politics); and the
arts (“productive sciences”) --- speech and literary criticism.
Ibid.

Bekker numbers, the standard form of reference to
works in the Corpus Aristotelicum, are based on the
page numbers used in the Prussian Academy of Sciences
edition of the complete works of Aristotle (Aristotelis
Opera edidit Academia Regia Borussica, Berlin,
1831-1870). They take their name from the editor of that
edition, the classical philologist August Immanuel Bekker
(1785-1871).
Wikipedia

of the ﬁrst
volume of Bekker's
edition, published in
1831, showing the
end of Sophistical
Refutations and the
beginning of Physics
Wikipedia

The worth of this body of teaching material has been under
attack since the beginning of the Scientiﬁc Revolution in the
sixteenth century. Some parts have been set aside as
“hopelessly muddled.” (Russell, op. cit., p. 81) Science in
modern times has found the experimental method more fruitful
than reliance on authorities, like Aristotle, however brilliant.
Still, the logical writings continued to be the basis of most
textbooks as late as the 1930s. The practical treatises have
fared best of all.
Ibid.

The Politics is based upon the research of Aristotle’s
students and consists of either his own lecture notes or those
of a close student. Unlike Plato’s more theoretical Republic,
the Politics constantly refers to the practices of existing or
previous states. It describes, compares, and then offers
theories about the general laws of political behavior.
As you read, note the different tone from that of Plato’s
Republic. Which do you prefer?
Ibid.

I. Aristotle
A. Early Years
1. 384 BC-Thrace, Chalcidice, Stagira
2. family -- social-cultural status
3. at the Academy, 367-47
a. role
b. relation to Plato
c. writings (lost)
B. Travels and Development, 347-35 (?)
1. cause
2. Assos and Mitylene
3. Alexander at Pella, 343-40 (?)

I. Aristotle
A. Early Years
C. Lyceum, 335 (?)-323
1. Peripatos

I. Aristotle
A. Early Years
C. Lyceum, 335 (?)-323
1. Peripatos

Here Aristotle would lecture his classes, walking through
the halls and gardens and talking as he went. From this
habit the teaching of the Lyceum came to be known as
the peripatetic, or walk-about, philosophy. It is
interesting to note that our own word discourse literally
means a running about.
Russell, Wisdom of the West, p. 80

I. Aristotle
A. Early Years
C. Lyceum, 335 (?)-323
1. Peripatos
2. Corpus - the writings
a. Organon
1. syllogisms
2. definition
3. fallacies
b. Physics
c. astronomy
d. On Generation and Corruption
1. four sub-lunar elements
e. Meterologica
f. biological writings
g. psychology
h. Metaphysics
i. “practical” and “productive” sciences
3. later histories of school and works

I.C.2.a.Organon--(Tool) Rules for Right Reasoning, Logic
Aristotle’s treatises on logic have survived better than any other
of his numerous works. Indeed, they have moved from the
university into common speech and understanding.

...the Latin equivalent of nearly every central term in the Aristotelian
vocabulary. Quantity and quality, form and matter, substance and
essence have international currency in the fabric of ordinary speech.
Few may have heard of the ‘Predicables,’ but most attach a more or
less exact meaning to deﬁnition, genus, species, differentia, property,
accident. Critics untrained in logic speak freely of axioms and
postulates, of principles and premises and conclusions, demand a
more rigorous ‘demonstration,’ or protest that an argument ‘begs the
question.’ Indeed, in the terms of popular logic Aristotle has almost a
monopoly (another Aristotelian word)….
Stocks, Aristotelianism, p. 148

I.C.2.a.1--Syllogisms-- Συλλογισµοι Sullogismoi
(from sun with + logizesthai to reason (from logos reasoning)

A
B
All men are mortal all B = A Major premise
C

Socrates is a man C=B Minor premise

Therefore, Socrates is mortal Therefore, C = A Conclusion

The syllogism was at the core of traditional deductive reasoning, where facts
are determined by combining existing statements, in contrast to inductive
reasoning where facts are determined by repeated observations.
Wikipedia

e

Definition-- per genus et differentiam (by means of genus and specific difference)
from Latin definitio(n-), from the verb definire ‘set bounds to’

Man is the rational animal. Where ‘rational’ = specific difference
and ‘animal’ = genus

everything else
in the
mankind
universe

the
boundary
genus animalia

I.C.2.a.3--fallacies
Begging the question
■ Begging the question: demonstrates a conclusion by means of premises that assume that
conclusion.
■ Example Argument: Aspirin users are at risk of becoming dependent on the drug, because
aspirin is an addictive substance.
Problem: The premise and the conclusion have the same meaning. If one has already
accepted the premise, there is no need to reason to the conclusion..

■ Also called Petitio Principii, or assuming the answer.
■ A related fallacy is Circulus in Probando, arguing in a circle, or circular reasoning. This is
when two (or more) conclusions are used as premises to support each other, but unless one
accepts one of them as true at the outset, there is no reason to accept the conclusions.

Fallacy of false cause
■ Fallacy of false cause or non sequitur: incorrectly assumes one thing is the cause of another. Non
Sequitur is Latin for "It does not follow."
■ Example Argument: I hear the rain falling outside my window; therefore, the sun is not
shining.
Problem: The conclusion is false because the sun can shine while it is raining.

■ Special case
■ post hoc ergo propter hoc: believing that temporal succession implies a causal
relation.
■ Example Argument: It rained just before the car broke down. The rain caused
the car to break down.
■ Wikipedia

Aristotle’s most famous contribution to systematic thought is
probably his work in logic. Much of it is derivative from Plato, but
where in Plato logical doctrines are scattered amidst much other
material, in Aristotle they are gathered together and set out in a
form in which they have continued to be taught almost
unchanged until the present.

I.C.2.b.Physics--
Very different from the modern use of the term. τα φυσικα (ta
physika--the nature) should probably be translated as ‘natural
science’

Wikipedia lists the following concepts which are treated in the writings
on Physics: causation (first or efficient cause, formal cause, material
cause, and final cause); natural motion (terrestrial & celestial);
whether all matter is divisible or some indivisible (Democritus’ atoms);
“nature abhors a vacuum”

God, the Final Cause God, the First Cause
“the end” “the unmoved Mover”
θ

Later Thomistic interpretation

This symbol combines the ideas of Aristotle (384-322 BC) and Saint Thomas Aquinas
(1225-1274). Aristotle’s Metaphysics explains causes as being of four types: formal,
material, primary and final. We don’t think of form and matter as causes of a thing. Our
idea is closest to his “primary,” what makes a thing, person or event happen. Your mom
and dad “caused” you. But they, in turn, had “causes” and so on all the way back to what
Aristotle called the “unmoved mover” or “uncaused Cause” which he called θεος (Theos,
God). Well, he also adds what we call the goal or final stage of a thing, event or person as
a type of cause, its teleology (from the Greek τελος telos). Aquinas “Christianized”
Aristotle by saying that each of us has our ultimate origin and destination in God. And, of
course, the triangle symbolizes the Trinity. I first learned this in a course at Xavier
University on metaphysics, 1964.

I.C.2.c. astronomy-- geocentric cosmos
Without Aristotle's Physics there would have been no Galileo.--Heidegger


geocentric model of the universe


sub-lunar or
terrestrial
cosmos

geocentric model of the universe

Peter Apian, Cosmographia, Antwerp, 1524

I.C.2.d. on generation & corruption-- “on coming to be and
passing away” i.e., change

four sub-lunar elements

The Fifth Element--the quintessence

aether
αἰθήρ

In Aristotle's system aether had no qualities (was neither hot, cold, wet, or
dry), was incapable of change (with the exception of change of place), and by
its nature moved in circles, and had no contrary, or unnatural, motion.
Wikipedia

I.C.2.e. Meteorologica
Meteorology (Latin: Meteorologica or Meteora) is a treatise by Aristotle
which contains his theories about the earth sciences. These include early
accounts of water evaporation, weather phenomena, and earthquakes.

Physics "...the motion of these latter bodies [the four elements] being of two kinds: either from the
centre or to the centre." (339a14-15)
"So we must treat fire and earth and the elements like them as the material causes of the events in this
world..., but must assign causality in the sense of the originating principle of motion to the influence of
the eternally moving bodies." (339a27-32) [the unmoved movers]

Four Elements "...four bodies are fire, air, water, earth." (339a15-16)
"Fire occupies the highest place among them all, earth the lowest, and two elements correspond to these
in their relation to one another, air being nearest to fire, water to earth." (339a16-19)
"Fire, air, water, earth, we assert, originate from one another, and each of them exists potentially in each,
as all things do that can be resolved into a common and ultimate substrate." (339a36-b2)
All terrestrial matter consists of these four elements. Various ratios of the elements combine to create the
diverse materials found in nature.

I.C.2.e. Meteorologica
Meteorology (Latin: Meteorologica or Meteora) is a treatise by Aristotle
which contains his theories about the earth sciences. These include early
accounts of water evaporation, weather phenomena, and earthquakes.

Physics "...the motion of these latter bodies [the four elements] being of two kinds: either from the
centre or to the centre." (339a14-15)
"So we must treat fire and earth and the elements like them as the material causes of the events in this
world..., but must assign causality in the sense of the originating principle of motion to the influence of
the eternally moving bodies." (339a27-32) [the unmoved movers]

Four Elements "...four bodies are fire, air, water, earth." (339a15-16)
"Fire occupies the highest place among them all, earth the lowest, and two elements correspond to these
in their relation to one another, air being nearest to fire, water to earth." (339a16-19)
"Fire, air, water, earth, we assert, originate from one another, and each of them exists potentially in each,
as all things do that can be resolved into a common and ultimate substrate." (339a36-b2)
All terrestrial matter consists of these four elements. Various ratios of the elements combine to create the
diverse materials found in nature.

Weather "When there is a great quantity of exhalation and it is rare and is squeezed out in the cloud
itself we get a thunderbolt." (371a17-19)
"So the whirlwind originates in the failure of an incipient hurricane to escape from its cloud: it is due to
the resistance which generates the eddy, and it consists in the spiral which descends to the earth and
drags with it the cloud which it cannot shake off. It moves things by its wind in the direction in which it is
blowing in a straight line, and whirls round by its circular motion and forcibly snatches up whatever it
meets." (371a9-15)

I.C.2.f. biological writings

In Aristotelian science, most especially in biology, things he saw himself have
stood the test of time better than his retelling of the reports of others, which
contain error and superstition. He dissected animals but not humans; his
ideas on how the human body works have been almost entirely superseded.

Throughout his conquests of various regions, Alexander collected plant and
animal specimens for Aristotle’s research, allowing Aristotle to develop the
first zoo and botanical garden in existence.

Aristotle is the earliest natural historian whose work has survived in some
detail. Aristotle certainly did research on the natural history of Lesbos, and the
surrounding seas and neighbouring areas. The works that reflect this
research, such as History of Animals, Generation of Animals, and Parts of
Animals, contain some observations and interpretations, along with sundry
myths and mistakes. The most striking passages are about the sea-life visible
from observation on Lesbos and available from the catches of fishermen.

I.C.2.e. psychology (from de Anima and the Nichomachian Ethics)

Like Plato, Aristotle saw the nous or intellect of an individual as an intuitive
understanding, distinguished from sense perception. Like Plato, Aristotle linked
nous to logos (reason) as uniquely human, but he also distinguished nous from
logos, thereby distinguishing the faculty for setting definitions from the faculty
which uses them to reason with. In his Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI Aristotle
divides the soul (psuchē) into two parts, one which has reason and one which
does not, but then divides the part which has reason into the reasoning
(logistikos) part itself which is lower, and the higher "knowing" (epistēmonikos)
part which contemplates general principles (archai). Nous, he states, is the
source of the first principles or sources (archai) of definitions, and it develops
naturally as people get older. This he explains after first comparing the four
other truth revealing capacities of soul: technical know how (technē), logically
deduced knowledge (epistēmē, sometimes translated as "scientific knowledge"),
practical wisdom (phronēsis), and lastly theoretical wisdom (sophia), which is
defined by Aristotle as the combination of nous and epistēmē.
Wikipedia

I.C.2.h. Metaphysics-- τὰ μετὰ τὰ φυσικά (the [treatise] after the Physics)
the study of being (what is real?), also “First Philosophy”
The Metaphysics is considered to be one of the greatest philosophical works. Its
influence on the Greeks, the Arabs, the scholastic philosophers and even writers
such as Dante, was immense. It is essentially a reconciliation of Plato’s theory of
Forms, with the view of the world given by common sense and the observations of
the natural sciences. According to Plato, the real nature of things is eternal and
unchangeable. However, the world we observe around us is constantly and
perpetually changing. Aristotle’s genius was to reconcile these two apparently
contradictory views of the world. The result is a synthesis of the naturalism of
empirical science, and the mysticism of Plato, that informed the Western
intellectual tradition for more than a thousand years.
At the heart of the book lie three questions. What is existence, and what sorts of
things exist in the world? How can things continue to exist, and yet undergo the
change we see about us in the natural world? And how can this world be
understood?
By the time Aristotle was writing, the tradition of Greek philosophy was only two
hundred years old. It had begun with the efforts of thinkers in the Greek world to
theorize about the common structure that underlies the changes we observe in the
natural world. Two contrasting theories, those of Heraclitus and Parmenides, were
an important influence on both Plato and Aristotle.
Wikipedia

I.C.2.i. “practical” & “productive”--the foregoing are the
theoretical sciences
Practical (πραξις-praxis practice)
• ethics- Aristotle considered ethics to be a practical rather than theoretical study, i.e., one aimed at
becoming good and doing good rather than knowing for its own sake. He wrote several treatises on
ethics, including most notably, the Nicomachean Ethics.
• politics In addition to his works on ethics, which address the individual, Aristotle addressed the city
in his work titled Politics. Aristotle considered the city to be a natural community. Moreover, he
considered the city to be prior in importance to the family which in turn is prior to the individual, "for the
whole must of necessity be prior to the part".
Wikipedia

Productive
• rhetoric
• poetics

I. Aristotle
A. Early Years
C. Lyceum, 335 (?)-323
D. End of an Age
1. Alexander’s empire
2. three deaths
a. Alexander (356-323 BC) in Babylon
b. Demosthenes (384-322 BC) on Poros
c. Aristotle -- 322 BC at Chalcis in Euboea

III. Politics (Πολιτικά) 325 (??); bks., viii, pp. 337 (Modern Library ed.)
A. Bk. I--the state, household economy
1. chaps. 1 & 2 -- definition of the state
a. organic vs. instrumentalist (mechanistic)
b. essence and “end” (telos)
c. man’s telos, the Ethics
2. chaps. 5 & 6 -- slavery
B. Bk. II -- ideal commonwealths
1. chaps. 1-6 Plato’s Republic and Laws
2. chap. 7 -- Phaleas
a. equality of wealth - problems
b. causes of quarrels

Bk. 1 chap. 1--1252a1 (Bekker number)*
“Since we see that every city is some sort of community
(κοινωνια, koinōnia) [genus=community] and that every community
gets established for some good [its goal, ﬁnal cause, τελος] (for
everyone does everything for the sake of what they think good),
it is clear that, while all communities have some good that they
are aiming at, the community that has the most control of all and
that embraces all the others is doing this most of all and is aiming
at the most controlling of goods. This community is the city
(πολις polis) as it is called, the community that is political [specific
difference=political].”
Can you see the syllogism and Aristotelian deﬁnition?
_______
* unless otherwise, all translations are by Peter L.P. Simpson

III.A.1.a. organic vs. instrumentalist (mechanistic)

Political philosophers divide according to whether they imagine
the state to be a natural phenomenon (organic) or a man-made
one (mechanistic). Those like Aristotle who see it as “according
to nature” (κατα φυσις) are generally more conservative, less
inclined to tinker with the “machine” since it is “a living thing.”
They recognize that change can, indeed will, occur; but in an
organic, evolutionary pace.--jbp

III.A.1.b. essence and “end” (telos)
The Aristotelian or essential deﬁnition of the state is “highest
community” and its end is the good life for its citizens. Here is
the hierarchy of communities: (1) family provides for life, daily
needs; (2) next, several families come together for “other than
the needs of the day”[better life] to form a village. These lesser
communities have as their end life. But the polis has as its end
“the good life.”[best life]
This “chronological development” (1) man and woman unite to
produce life “First, then, it is necessary that those who cannot
exist without each other couple together, as female and male…
for the sake of generation (and this not from deliberate choice,
but because, like the other animals and plants, they have a
natural desire to leave behind something else like themselves)
…”--(1252a24)

III.A.1 chap2. the city and its parts, household slaves
“...for that which can foresee by the exercise of mind is by
nature intended to be lord and master, and that which can with
its body give effect to such foresight is a subject and by nature a
slave; hence master and slave have the same interest. Now nature
has distinguished between the female and the slave….But
among barbarians no distinction is made between women and
slaves, because there is no natural ruler among them: they are a
community of slaves, male and female. Wherefore, the poets
say-- It is meet that Hellenes should rule over barbarians; Euripides,
Ephegenia at Aulis, 1400

as if they thought that the barbarian and the slave were by
nature one.
” (1252a30--Jowett trans.)

Here we have the assertion that all communities are
“natural” (organic) not man-made (mechanistic). (2)Next,
villages are formed to have a better life. And ﬁnally, the polis
(state) to create the good life. Chapter 2 adds that “anyone
who is “cityless” by nature and not by chance is either of a
depraved sort or better than a human being” and “a human
being is by nature a political animal” --(1253a1)

III.A.2 chaps. 5 & 6-- slavery (pro)
In a famous passage, beloved by 19th century American pro-
slavery orators:
“But is there any one thus intended by nature to be a slave…?
For that some should rule and others be ruled is a thing not only
necessary, but expedient; from the hour of their birth, some are
marked out for subjection, others for rule.” (1254a17--Jowett
trans.)
And who are those who are by nature slaves? “The slave by
nature is someone who...shares reason sufﬁciently to perceive it
but not to have it.” (1254b20)
“It is manifest then that by nature some are free and others
slaves and that service as a slave is for the latter both beneﬁcial
and just.” (1254b39)

Slave wearing the
short tunic, phlyax
actor.

Detail, side A from a
Sicilian red-figured
calyx-krater (c. 350 BC–
340 BC).

III.A.2 chaps. 5 & 6-- slavery (con)

In chapter 6 Aristotle takes up the opposite argument, that
slavery is not “according to nature.” This is typical of his open-
minded commitment to weigh the arguments. He discusses the
examples in life where obviously superior people ﬁnd themselves
enslaved e.g., as captives in war, or of pirates, or for debt. He
concludes that not all examples of slavery are correct. In a
famous case of ethnic chauvinism he states the Greeks ought
not to enslave fellow Greeks, except by law; but that, in most
cases, enslavement of barbarians is appropriate. This is
especially interesting since he was a Thracian by birth and a
resident alien in Athens!

III.B.Bk. 2 ideal commonwealths--1. Plato

“[In] the discussion of the ideal state we ﬁnd that its provisions are
more mellow than those of the blue-print in the ‘Republic’*. In
particular, Aristotle emphasizes the importance of the family unit.
In order to develop real affection there must be some restriction of
the area in which it operates. T receive proper attention a child
o
must be in the care of its own parents; purely communal
responsibility in this sphere tends to produce neglect The ideal
state of the ‘Republic’ is altogether too monolithic. It overlooks the
fact that within certain limits the state is a community of many
different interests.”


III.B.2.--chap. 7-- Phaleas*

“Some...think that the greatest thing is to have matters to do with
possessions nobly arranged, for they say it is about possessions
that everyone creates factions. It was for this reason that Phaleas
of Chalcedon ﬁrst introduced such a policy, for he says that the
possessions of the citizens should be equal. “(1266a37-39)
_______
* otherwise unknown to history

Aristotle’s criticism of “history’s ﬁrst communist”

The problems with Phaleus’ regime are these: (i) if possessions are to be
limited, childbirth should be too; (ii) equalizing possessions can be of some
help but the equal possessions may themselves be too great or too small; (iii)
desires should be leveled, rather than property; (iv) equal education is no
answer to this problem but only education of the right sort; (v) faction is
caused by inequality of honors as well as inequality of possessions; (vi)
people do wrong not only to secure necessities but also to sate desire, where
equalizing property can be of no help; (vii) the importance of foreign affairs is
ignored; (viii) leveling property will not do much to solve the domestic problem
of faction; (ix) only landed property is equalized, not also movable property;
(x) the city Phaleas is instituting could only be a small one.

Peter L.P. Simpson, The Politics of Aristotle, p. 50

(v) faction is caused by inequality of honors as well as inequality of possessions

Here’s an example of how Simpson’s summary compares to
Aristotle’s words as Simpson translates them:

Furthermore, people fall into factional conﬂict not only because of inequality
of possessions but also because of inequality in honors, though contrariwise
in each case: inequality of possessions makes the many [poor] revolt, and
equality of honors the respectable [few, the rich] --whence the verse “in equal
honor whether he be good or bad.” (Homer, Iliad 9.319) (1266b38)

Peter L.P. Simpson, The Politics of Aristotle, p. 51

III. Politics (Πολιτικά) 325 (??); bks., viii, pp. 337 (Modern Library ed.)
A. Bk. I--the state, household economy
B. Bk. II -- ideal commonwealths
C. Bk III -- citizens and constitutions
1. chaps. 1-5 -- nature of the citizen
a. definition
b. the good citizen may not be a good man
c. the lower classes
2. a digression on war and peace (VII, 14)
3. chaps. 6-13 -- comparative government
a. 158 studies
b. taxonomy
c. metaphysics and evaluative criteria
d. the Many or the Few - justice
e. monarchy
D. Other teachings
1. laws or men?
2. “mixed” or balanced constitution
3. middle class role
a. right of property
4. what is best? who should judge?

III.C.1.a. nature of the citizen (definition)

After many preliminary qualifications required by the variety of
constitutions which he has studied he makes this (Aristotelian)
definition--jbp

“Who is the citizen is, then, is manifest from these
considerations. For we can now say that whoever is entitled to
share in the deliberative or judicial office is a citizen in that
particular city, and that a city, to speak simply, is a multitude of
such persons adequate for self-sufficiency of life.” (1257b17)

III.C.1.b. the good citizen may not be a good man &
iii.C.1.c. the lower classes

T summarize a lot of quaint discussion on the roles of citizens and non-
o
citizens in various states, Aristotle reasons as follows:

The virtue of the citizen is doing what is necessary to preserve the sort of
regime in which he lives. These are different behaviors from those
necessary to live the good life and may be contrary to them. The lower
classes, the non-citizens, Aristotle considers to be necessary conditions to
(but not really parts of ) the state. He shared the common belief of the
upper classes that virtue could only be cultivated by having the leisure to
study and reﬂect which the presence of slaves and underlings made
possible.
--jbp

the
necessary
condition

a master enjoying the
leisure which enables
him to develop virtue

III.C.2. a digression on war and peace (Bk. vii, 14)

“For while there is need to be capable of engaging in occupation
and going to war, there is more need to be capable of living in
peace and being at leisure; and while there is need to do
necessary and useful actions, there is more need to do noble
ones. Consequently, it is toward these goals that the citizen
must be educated, both while still children and while in any other
age that requires education. (1333a37)
“Those Greeks now held [by Plato] to be governed best [the
Spartans]...are not conspicuous for arranging the affairs of the
regime toward the best end nor for arranging the laws and
education toward all the virtues. (cont)

III.C.2. a digression on war and peace (Bk. vii, 14)(cont)

best end nor for arranging the laws and education toward all the
virtues. Instead, they declined in vulgar fashion toward the
virtues they held to be useful and to be of a more grasping sort.
Some more recent writers have, in a similar way, also given
expression to the same opinion, for in praising the regime of the
Spartans, they admired the legislator’s [Lycurgus] goal because
he legislated everything toward domination and war, which views
are readily refutable by reason and have now been refuted by
the facts. (1333b5) (cont)


“For just as most human beings vie for mastery over many others
because it brings them much equipment in the goods of fortune,
so also Thibron, and all the rest who write about the regime of
the Spartans, conspicuously admire its legislator because, as a
result of the way they were trained to face dangers, the
Spartans ruled over many people. Yet it is clear, since the
Spartans do not now have empire at any rate, that they cannot
be happy, nor can their legislator be good. (1333b16)
Moreover, if it was by keeping to his laws, and while having
nothing to hinder their acting on them, that they lost noble living,
then the view is ridiculous. ((1333b23) (cont)


“...rule over free persons is more noble than despotic rule and is
more accompanied by virtue. (1333b26)
“Also, it is not for this reason that one must consider the city
happy and praise the legislator--that he trained them for
domination so that they could rule their neighbors. These things
involve great harm….exercise for war is not to be practiced in
order to enslave those who do not deserve it but so that, ﬁrst,
they themselves do not become slaves to others, next so that
they seek leadership for the aid of the ruled and not for
despotism over everybody, and third for mastery over those
who deserve to be slaves.(1333b29) (cont)

III.C.2. a digression on war and peace (Bk. vii, 14)(concluded)

“But events as well as arguments bear witness that the legislator
should give more serious attention to how his legislation about
war and about everything else may be arranged for the sake of
leisure and peace. For most cities of the sort described are
preserved while at war but are destroyed when they have got
possession of empire. They lose their temper, like iron, when at
peace. The blame lies with the legislator for not having educated
them to be able to live at leisure.” (1334a2)

III.C.3. chaps 6-13--comparative government
what distinguishes the ideal and perverted forms?

“...governments which have a regard to the common
interest are constituted in accordance with strict
principles of justice, and are therefore true forms; but
those which regard only the interest of the rulers are all
defective and perverted forms, for they are despotic,
whereas a state is a community of freemen.”
Jowett trans., quoted in Ebenstein, p. 93

3. chaps. 6-13 -- comparative government
a. 158 studies
b. taxonomy

ideal real
(perfect) (perverted)

one monarchy tyranny

few aristocracy oligarchy

many polity democracy

III. C. 3. c. metaphysics and evaluative criteria

According to Aristotle’s metaphysics an object’s essence or
ultimate reality is discovered when we can see its outcome,
its “ﬁnal cause” or end. Therefore, the basis for evaluating
different forms of government is their product--”the proof
is in the pudding.”

III. C. 3. e. monarchy
If, however, there be some one person...whose virtue is so pre-eminent
that the virtues...of all the rest admit of no comparison with his…, he
can be no longer regarded as part of a state; for justice will not be done
to the superior, if he is reckoned only as the equal of those who are so
far inferior to him in virtue and political capacity. Such a one may truly
be deemed a god among men*. Hence we see that legislation is
necessarily concerned only with those who are equal in birth and in
capacity; and that for men of pre-eminent virtue there is no law--they
are themselves a law. Anyone would be ridiculous who attempted to
make laws for them; they would probably retort what, in the fable of
Antisthenes, the lions said to the hares...(1284a3-11)
quoted in Ebenstein, pp. 97-98

III.D.1. laws or men?
In Bk. III, chaps. 15 & 16 Aristotle musters the arguments against
total kingship, whether ideal or real. He comes down on the side of
rule of law rather than by the will of the monarch:
“...whatever the law appears to be unable to determine could not be
discovered by a human being either. Rather the law, having educated rulers
for such eventualities, hands over to them, ‘to be managed and decided by
their most just opinion’ (words taken from the Athenian jurors’ oath),the things it
leaves out. It allows them, further, to set things right wherever, as a result
of experience, they deem something else to be better than the existig laws.
Now, anyone who bids the law to rule seems to bid god and intellect alone
to rule, but anyone who bids a human being to rule adds on also the wild
beast. For desire is such a beast, and spiritedness perverts rulers even
when they are the best of men. Hence law is intellect without appetite.
(1287a23-31)
Simpson, p.111

III.D.2. mixed or balanced constitution

one which has elements of all three forms

rule by the one, rule by the Few (rich), rule by the Many (poor)

the British model

King, House ofLords, and House of Commons

the American adaptation

III.D.2. mixed or balanced constitution

one which has elements of all three forms

rule by the one, rule by the Few (rich), rule by the Many (poor)

the British model

King, House ofLords, and House of Commons

the American adaptation

Presidency, Senate, and House of Representatives

III.D.3. middle class role a. right of property
high potential for revolutionary struggles
the rich seeking oligarchy
wealth

the poor seeking democracy

poor middle wealthy
percentage of the population class
low potential for revolutionary struggles
the middle class having a stake in peace and
prosperity plus the numbers to counteract
the desires of the poor and the wealthy
wealth

poor middle class wealthy

percentage of the population

III.D.4. what is best? who should judge?

After a lengthy discussion of the different existing
types of tyrannies, oligarchies, and democracies,
Aristotle rules out the ﬁrst type entirely. Of oligarchy
and democracy, he suggests that the people of every
state must judge for themselves based on their
peculiar conditions. But he does offer the solution of
the mixed constitution as a means of gaining the
advantages of each type.--jbp

“He saw the danger that would arise if any principle singly or
exclusively dominated the constitution, and he therefore
advocated, for reasons of stability and practicability, mixed
constitutions,…, based on the two principles of wealth and
numbers. However, he realized that a mixed political system
could exist in the long run only if backed by a stable society
without extremes of wealth and poverty.”

Ebenstein, p.70

Rand acknowledged Aristotle as her greatest inﬂuence
and remarked that in the history of philosophy she
could only recommend "three A's"—Aristotle, Aquinas,
and Ayn Rand.
Wikipedia

In Academe

Action and contemplation : studies in
Description
the moral and political thought of xv, 333 p. ; 24 cm.
Aristotle / Robert C. Bartlett, Susan Series
SUNY series in ancient Greek philosophy
D. Collins, editors Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Albany : State University of New York Press, c1999.

Rehabilitation of practical philosophy and neo-aristotelianism / Franco Volpi -- Modern form of the
classical republic / Hauke Brunkorst -- Do we need a philoshopical ethics? / Ronald Beiner -- Aristotle
and the ethic of imperatives / Hans Georg Gadamer -- Natural foundations of right and Aristotelian
philosophy / Richard Bodues -- Ambitions of Aristotle's audience and the activist ideal of happiness /
David K. O'Connor -- Moral Virtues in Aristotle's Nicomachean ethics / Susan D. Collins -- Aristotle on
the question of evil / David Bolotin -- Friendship and self-love in Aristotle's Nicomachean ethics /
Lorraine Smith Pangle -- Socrates in Aristotle's "Philosophy of human affairs" / Aristide Tessitore --
Aristotle on nature, human nature, and justice / Judith A. Swanson -- Aristotle and Thrasymachus on the
common good / Wayne Ambler -- Community and conflicts in Aristotle's political philosophy / Bernard
Yack -- "Realism" of classical political science / Robert C. Bartlett.

IV. Criticism
1. problem of part versus whole
2. liberal or conservative?
3. weaknesses
4. strengths
5. last word

IV.1. problem of part versus whole

In the field of astronomy, in particular, Aristotle did grave
disservice to science. The theory of finality [teleology or final
causation] which assigned to everything its proper place led him
to make a distinction between sublunary regions and what lies
beyond the moon. The two parts are held to be governed by
different principles. This entirely fanciful speculation is rank
lunacy when compared to the advanced astronomy of the
Academy. The real damage was however done by those who
would not treat Aristotle in a critical manner, accepting him
wholly instead of rejecting what was bad, thus bringing him
generally into disrepute.


IV.2. liberal or conservative?

Aristotle’s speciﬁc ideas, beliefs, and proposals are generally
conservative, even for his own time. But running through all his
works, and implicit in his temper and personality, is a spirit that is
wise and gentle, moderate, broad in outlook, open to new ideas,
averse to dogmatism, conscious of the intricacy and complexity
of human affairs, and imbued with sympathy that illuminates and
enriches philosophical enquiry. Though explicitly conservative,
Aristotle’s thinking was suffused with qualities that characterise
the liberal temper, the open mind.

Ebenstein, Great Political Thinkers, pp. 74-75

IV.3. weaknesses

In his theory of justice, Aristotle adopts the distributive
principle, which operates in Socrates’ deﬁnition in the Republic.
Justice is done if everyone receives his fair portion. The inherent
difﬁculty in such a view is that it does not provide a basis for
deciding what is fair. What are the criteria?


IV.3. weaknesses (cont.)

...there is an almost exclusive concentration on the city state….
Aristotle simply did not grasp that the days of the Greek city
state were fast running out in his own lifetime….The Greek city
state, for Aristotle, exhibits political life in its highest form; what
goes on abroad is barbarism of one kind or another….
Finally, there is an account of the ideal state. Its population
must have the right size with the right skills, it should be taken in
at a glance from a hilltop, and its citizens should be Greeks who
alone combine the vitality of the North with the intelligence of
the East.


IV.3. weaknesses (concluded)

Finally, perhaps the greatest defect of The Politics is the
strength of Aristotle’s authority which it lent to the pro-slavery
argument.
Still, when we consider that slavery was ubiquitous in human
history until the dead white European males of the
Enlightenment made a new interpretation of the Christian
message and launched the modern anti-slavery movement. And
the impulse of some to dominate others is not yet dead.--jbp

IV.4. strengths

After a long survey of the various types of constitution Aristotle
reaches the conclusion that on the whole the best constitution is
one in which there is neither too much nor too little wealth. Thus,
the state with the preponderant middle class is the best and
most stable. The causes of revolution and their prevention are
next discussed. The basic cause is perversion of the principle of
justice: because men are equal or unequal in some respects it
does not follow that they are so in all.


IV.4. strengths (cont.)
He enumerates these bedrock principles of modern democracy:
rule of law is superior to rule of men

true government should rule in the public interest, not the
interest of the rulers

the concept of a mixed constitution

democracy is best according to these arguments:

“The feast provided from the purses of the Many is better than
that provided by one rich man”

“The guests are better judges of the feast than is the cook”

IV.5. last word

Aristotle embodies the imperative to think for oneself. He took
what he liked from his great teacher and his Hellenic tradition;
and then rejected what he found wanting. He developed his
systematic “rules for right reasoning,” [logic]; and then applied
it here and in all his studies. He is the father of political science,
the study of what has been done and what might lead to better
outcomes in politics.
What’s not to ﬁnd impressive in this great man’s life!

jbp

With Plato we began political philosophy. With Aristotle, political
science. Next, with Machiavelli, the most famous “how to do it”
manual. But, that’s another story...

J & P, session iii Aristotle

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J & P, session iii Aristotle