Imagining Other:
Political Philosophy Part 1
Week 3: Aristotle - extracts
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Aristotle: ‘Politics’ – extracts.
(i) Book 1 chapter 1:
Observation tells us that
every state is an association, and that every association is formed with a view
to some good purpose. I say ‘good’ because in all their actions all men do in
fact aim at what they think good. Clearly then, as all associations aim at some
good, that association which is the most sovereign [‘highest’?] among them all and embraces all others will aim
highest, i.e. at the most sovereign of all goods. This is the association which
we call the state, the association which is ‘political’.
[Aristotle goes on to argue that it is not true
that the role of a household-manager or a master of slaves is the same
as that of a statesman – there is a qualitative difference, and not just a
difference in numbers:] this will be
quite evident if we examine the matter according to our established method. We
have to analyse other composite things till they can be subdivided no further;
let us in the same way examine the components of the state...
(ii) Book 1 chapter 2:
We shall, I think, in this as
in other subjects, get the best view of the matter if we look at the natural
growth of things from the beginning. The first point is that those which are
incapable of existing without each other must be united as a pair. [e.g. male and female – but also ruler and
ruled, or master and slave, since] the element that can use its
intelligence to look ahead is by nature ruler and by nature master, while that
which has the bodily strength to do the actual work is by nature a slave, [or] one of those who are ruled...
Thus it was out of the
association formed by men with... women and slaves, that a household was first
formed... This association of persons, established according to nature for the
satisfaction of daily needs, is the household....
The next stage is the village,
the first association of a number of houses for the satisfaction of something more than daily needs.
The final association, formed
of several villages, is the state. For all practical purposes the process is
now complete: self-sufficiency has been reached, and while the state came about
as a means of securing life itself, it continues in being to secure the good life. Therefore every state exists by nature, as
the earlier associations too were natural. This association is the end of those
others, and nature is itself an end: for whatever is the end-product of the
coming into existence of any object, that is what we call its nature... The aim
and end is perfection; and self-sufficiency is both end and perfection.
It follows that... man is by
nature a political animal. [In this they
are different from animals]...
Furthermore, the state has priority over the household
and over any individual among us. For the whole must be prior to the part. [A hand is not a hand without a body]
(iii) Chapter 4:
[This chapter compares a ‘good man’ with a ‘good
citizen’ – Aristotle seems to me to be saying that the ‘virtue’ – areté – of a
good man is a specific kind of virtue, whilst...] the virtue of a citizen of repute seems to be... to
be able to rule and to be ruled well... [likewise
a good ruler has to know how to be ruled. I think what he is saying is that
they both need a view of the whole. However, there are some other
important points made along the way:]
So then: we say a citizen is
a member of an association, just as a sailor is: and each member of the crew
has his different function [virtue]... rower, helmsman... and the rest... [Each
individual has] a special description of his virtue; but equally there will
also be a general description that will fit them all, because there is a task
in which they all play a part – the safe conduct of the voyage; for each member
of the crew aims at securing that. Similarly the task of all the citizens,
however different they may be, is the stability of the association, that is,
the constitution...
[A master has no need of knowing how to carry out the
labour of his slaves, he only needs to know how to direct them.] But there is another kind of rule – that exercised
over men who are free, and similar in birth. This we call rule by a statesman.
It is this that a ruler must first learn through being ruled... Not that good ruling and good obedience are
the same virtue – only that the good citizen must have the knowledge and
ability both to rule and be ruled. That is what we meant by the virtue of a
citizen – understanding the governing of free men from both points of view...
But the only virtue special
to a ruler is practical wisdom; all the other must be possessed, so it seems,
both by rulers and ruled. The virtue of a person being ruled is not practical
wisdom but correct opinion; he is rather like a person who makes the pipes,
while the ruler is the one who can play them.