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aristotle's politics essay
aristotle views on politics
aristotle and the polity
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Aristotle on Politics
The central concern of theorists is to establish a form of constitution that a society will likely succeed. Political success according to Aristotle is determined by the happiness of the citizens of the society. Aristotle’s vision of a perfect government all begins with the character of the citizenry leading to the happiness of a whole state. Through his studies, Aristotle came to the conclusion that in order to achieve a perfect constitution it is essential to break down a society into parts and observe each individually. Aristotle’s teachings were stressed on moderation in government and in life. The importance of human character lead to his interpretation of happiness and a perfect society.
Since a state would not be without habitants, it is fair to state that a societies happiness is achieved once the citizens have done the same. To Aristotle this is essential to the main point he makes in his teachings. He stresses that a model citizen illustrates the moral virtues of intelligence, and courage.# Developing this type of character as Aristotle states as “ human excellence” is an action of the soul for he believes it is the soul that is the bases of human individuality.# The idea becomes parallel on a political level for the citizens are the bases of a state.
Aristotle believes the only way to reach a state of happiness is through virtue. The virtue that is to be practiced is meant to guide our behaviors in society and to learn the meaning of moderation. Aristotle deems human happiness as more then attaining the pleasures of life but satisfying the human potentialities. Reaching such abilities could be seen by making logical choices and being able to choose the needs in life rather then the wants. At this point it shows that Aristotle contends that a society that includes citizens that he believes are of human excellence will reflect the same values upon it’s state.
Aristotle’s visions of the ideal government have been an influential teaching to political philosophy. His teachings seem to strongly reflect the ideas of communism and authoritarian systems. Aristotle’s emphasis on moderation and the perfection of the people prove this. Even though his book Politics by Aristotle seems to lead more towards a communism type of system, Aristotle’s writings have had an effect on many present systems today.
Aristotle would have the state follow the rule of the people and the rule of the majority through his democracy. He states that each member of this democracy has a share of goodness and intelligence that makes the jus...
In Book I of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle states that the ultimate human goal or end is happiness. Aristotle then describes steps required for humans to obtain the ultimate happiness. He also states that activity is an important requirement of happiness. A virtuous person takes pleasure in doing virtuous things. He then goes on to say that living a life of virtue is something pleasurable in itself. The role of virtue to Aristotle is an important one, with out it, it seems humans cannot obtain happiness. Virtue is the connection one has to happiness and how they should obtain it. My goal in this paper is to connect Aristotle’s book of Nicomachean Ethics to my own reasoning of self-ethics. I strongly agree with Aristotle’s goal of happiness and conclude to his idea of virtues, which are virtuous states of character that affect our decision making in life.
To start, according to Aristotle, the end of every action aims at a good (1094a1-10). He goes on to say that the highest good is the most complete, that it is good in itself and is not chosen to gain something else. Aristotle believes that the highest good that every action aims for is happiness, because it is self-sufficient (1097b1-10). For example, why does a person want a high paying job? So they can earn money. Why does a person want money? So they can get things. Why does a person want to get things? So they can become happy, or believe that it would give them happiness. Aristotle comes to this conclusion by taking into account the opinions of people, realizing that almost everyone is trying to obtain happiness (1095a10-20). In addition, Aristotle believes the means for achieving happiness are through the excellence of one's being. The term Aristotle uses here is aretê, or virtue. Essentially, virtue is the excellence of something, in this case moral action (1095b20-30). Virtue leads to happiness because it "seems to be more durable even than the kinds of knowledge" (1100b10-20). Earlier, Aristotle came to the conclusion that happiness is something that is not changed easily. If ...
Aristotle begins his ethical account by saying that “every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and every choice, is thought to aim for some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim” (line 1094a1). Though some things might produce higher good than others, Aristotle looks for the highest good, which he says we must “desire for its own sake” and our actions are not decided on some other goal beyond this good itself (line 1094a20-25).[1] This highest good is then realized to be happiness (line 1095a16-20).
In his discussions of constitutions and cities in Politics, Aristotle makes it very clear that his top priority is to provide people with the opportunity to pursue and achieve the good life. An integral part of this is the stability of the constitution. Although Aristotle explicitly states that a kingship is the best system of rule for any given generation, its lack of stability from one generation to the next disqualifies it from being the best in reality. In his attempts to find a constitution with stability, Aristotle comes to the decision that the middle class would be the ruler of such a constitution. This, he says, will minimize the corruption that can easily take place within the rich or the poor, and will ensure lasting stability. In order to enable the middle class to take a role of power, Aristotle allows them to obtain wealth, and more specifically private property—a huge diversion from the opinion of Aristotle’s mentor, Plato put forth in the Republic.
In the Politics Aristotle brings up 3 types of governments, kingship, aristocracy, and polity. Aristotle says that the good forms of these governments are those that aim towards the common good. Aristotle describes the common good as the most authoritative or highest goods. For a city or state this would be the virtue and happiness of its citizens. The common good is brought up time and time again in the Politi...
...kingship, aristocracy and polity are all good forms of ruling because each serves the interest of the people or community. Overall, Aristotle believes that we must not question how many rule, but instead ask how they are capable of ruling or do they rule in a manner that best serves the community. Aristotle’s Politics gives a simpler critique of democracy than Plato’s Republic, however it is convincing in the sense that in order to rule for the good of the community or the good life (Bios) one should only question that capability of those ruling rather than ask the quantity.
Aristotle’s Strength is his belief in moderation (Book480). Aristotle believes the ultimate goal in life is to be happy and people will do what makes them happy. He defined the highest good as “eudaimonia” (Chaffee 477). To a...
Aristotle begins his discussion of politics by concerning herself with the setting of human interaction and politics itself: the city. He precedes to define the city as a community of sorts with the specific quality of being for the sake of some good. Aristotle basis this claim on his observations of his own city of Athens, and the philosophy of his mentor Plato. A community works for the good because humans individually seek what is good so a community ought to work towards the good. More specifically, “…the good that most of all controls all the other goods…” (930) Aristotle is seeking to critically analyze politics – in order to do so, he must break politics into their component parts therefor he identifies politics as the good or teleological end of the city, defines a city, and then identifies her component parts: individuals. From the component parts and their interrelations Aristotle identifies the end of a city: the good. And because political communities are merely communities arranged for the ascertainment of some good, the qualities of a city – instantiated for the greatest good –
Throughout book four, Aristotle talks about what would be the best regime. As he goes on, Aristotle relates the four cardinal virtues, justice, courage, wisdom, and moderation to his explanation of the “best” regime. Aristotle is basically presenting the idea as to what characteristics the “best” regime should have in order to be fair to all citizens being governed. In the passage, Aristotle argues that in order to have the best regime, you must create a regime that is equal and fair to everyone. “Hence, agreement must first be reached on what is for everyone, practically speaking, the most choice worthy way of life, and then on whether this way of life is the same for all in common as for each separately or whether it is different” ( 1323a14,
Aristotle says, “States are citizens who make up the state” (pg.100). The citizens are the one that should administer justice. The community is the state according to Aristotle who quotes; “the virtue of the citizen must therefore be relative to the constitution of which he is a member” (pg 2). Virtuous actions for the state and the middle class will rule in the most virtuous way. The virtue of soul is the person who master their reason. The highest virtue is exercising your reason to the service of the state. The quality of the citizen of that state is going to be the best form of that state. Democracy is the best way for the rule of law. He also feels, “Law is reason unaffected by desire” (pg 72). Family ...
It was Aristotle’s belief that everything, including humans, had a telos or goal in life. The end result or goal was said to be happiness or “eudaimonia”. He explained that eudaimonia was different for each person, and that each had a different idea of what it meant. Further, he said that people must do things in moderation, but at the same time do enough. The theory, of “the golden mean of moderation” was the basis to Aristotle's idea of the human telos and concluded that living a virtuous life must be the same for all people. Aristotle maintained that the natural human goal to be happy could only be achieved once each individual determined his/her goal. A person’s telos is would usually be what that individual alone can do best. Aristotle described the humans as "rational animals" whose telos was to reason. Accordingly, Aristotle thought that in order for humans to be happy, they would have to be able to reason, and to be governed by reason. If a person had difficulty behaving morally or with ethics, he was thought to be “imperfect”. Moral virtue, a principle of happiness, was the ability to evade extremes in behavior and further to find the mean between it and adequacy. Aristotle’s idea of an ideal state was one where the populous was able to practice eth...
One of Aristotle’s conclusions in the first book of Nicomachean Ethics is that “human good turns out to be the soul’s activity that expresses virtue”(EN 1.7.1098a17). This conclusion can be explicated with Aristotle’s definitions and reasonings concerning good, activity of soul, and excellence through virtue; all with respect to happiness.
Aristotle feels we have a rational capacity and the exercising of this capacity is the perfecting of our natures as human beings. For this reason, pleasure alone cannot establish human happiness, for pleasure is what animals seek and human beings have higher capacities than animals. The goal is to express our desires in ways that are appropriate to our natures as rational animals. Aristotle states that the most important factor in the effort to achieve happiness is to have a good moral character, what he calls complete virtue. In order to achieve the life of complete virtue, we need to make the right choices, and this involves keeping our eye on the future, on the ultimate result we want for our lives as a whole. We will not achieve happiness simply by enjoying the pleasures of the moment. We must live righteous and include behaviors in our life that help us do what is right and avoid what is wrong. It is not enough to think about doing the right thing, or even intend to do the right thing, we have to actually do it. Happiness can occupy the place of the chief good for which humanity should aim. To be an ultimate end, an act must be independent of any outside help in satisfying one’s needs and final, that which is always desirable in itself and never for the sake of something else and it must be
This continuing prosperity for the sake of a good life is what Aristotle believes the goal of the ideal state should be. Aristotle said ¡§that life is best, both for the individuals and for the cities, which has virtue sufficiently supported by material wealth to enable it to perform the action that virtue calls for it¡¨. He feels that since man, as individuals, strives for happiness, then man, as a collective group, should strive for the happiness of the state. Since it is now established what the ideal state should aim for, we may begin at what and by the Ideal State is composed.