Aristotle And Aristotle's Three Types Of A Good City

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Aristotle describes three different types of political states, two of which do not meet the criteria of an excellent city, and one that best suits the citizens to live a self-sufficient and excellent life. Aristotle begins to describe the city-state as a city in which free citizens share in ruling not to merely rule over citizens but to rule over them for the sake of the city. As for the sake of the city is to live a good life and be in pursuit of excellence. The virtue, in this sense, drives the citizens to live a good life around justice because their virtues constitute that that is the greater good of being a citizen of an excellent city. On the other hand, Aristotle describes an alliance that is any two or more nations that co-exist through …show more content…

As a tyrant is in control of every aspect of every citizen’s life, it does not give the citizen the flexible feature of being self-sufficient, forcing to follow the law for the ruler’s sake and not for the city’s sake. Hence, Aristotle says that “…it is unlawful to rule without regard to justice or injustice, and domination might be unjust” (313). Justifying that a ruler forces a citizen to follow the law for the ruler’s sake, Aristotle claims that it is not “the doctor’s…take to force his patients…if he fails to persuade them” (313). A tyrant-ruled city, again, does not pursue happiness as an end, but pursues the tyrant’s own sake as an end. The excellent city-state, then, gives its citizens free will, being that they are free citizens, to follow their laws in pursuit of virtue; as this virtue is the aim to happiness and happiness is their …show more content…

First, the citizen must self-preserve the city not for his own sake, but for the rest of the community. This requires the free citizen to contribute in the politics of the city. To be involved in politics will involve having some virtue, although not complete virtue. Aristotle makes this conclusion that “someone can be an excellent citizen without having the virtue that makes someone an excellent man” (299). Only as long as he is being ruled as a virtuous citizen, however, will he be an excellent citizen, for the “good citizen must have the knowledge and ability both to rule and be ruled” (301). If we say that he is a citizen of the city-state, but does not learn the virtue of being ruled, he will not understand virtues of his citizens of which he rules, if he were to somehow be involved in politics. Because in order to be a citizen of a city-state, one must share in ruling. Once his year of ruling in the assembly is over, then how will he know how to be an excellent citizen with a purpose to benefit his city if does not have the virtue of being ruled? Consequently, this will only produce a mediocre citizen (even a mediocre assemblyman) rather than an excellent citizen. The excellent citizen, not the mediocre citizen, is the sole reason why a city is

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