Ancient Political Theory Aristotle’s Politics

Aristotle 1. Recap 2. The Problem of Faction 3. Aristotleian and Madisonian Solutions 4. Polity of Mixed Government

I. Recap  1.Aristotle’s Understanding of the Polis –Authoritative Association Authoritative AssociationAuthoritative Association –Authoritative Good Authoritative GoodAuthoritative Good  2.Human Nature? Human NatureHuman Nature –Definition –Implications

I. Recap  3.Classification of Constitutions –Definition of:  State State  Citizen Citizen  Constitution Constitution –Classification Scheme Classification SchemeClassification Scheme –Evolution of the Polis Evolution of the PolisEvolution of the Polis

The Problem of Faction  Collapse of the Greek city-state system  End of self sufficiency  Which constitution is best? –Criteria of the best polis –Teleological understanding of reality

The Problem of Faction  Monarchy? –No: we want the highest level of communal activity possible. Monarchy won’t allow that

The Problem of Faction  Democracy? –No: remember our inegalitarian understanding of nature; therefore unlikely that the virtues will be distributed evenly through the population

The Problem of Faction  Aristocracy? –Yes. –Why?  Allows for public participation in reason  Power will be diffused through the group rather than concentrated in a single individual  Likely that will be able to have moral virtue or goodness in this restricted group of people

The Problem of Faction  Evolution of the polis problem  How to prevent the decay or at least stave off the decay.  How do we account for the collapse of these regime types?

The Problem of Faction  Answer? –The existence of factions within the body politic  Why do factions arise? –Need to re-examine the organization of the polis

The Problem of Faction  What is the first necessity of the polis? –Need to sustain mere life in order to begin to pursue the good life  But –The production of mere life creates class differences which makes pursuit of the good life untenable  How or Why?

The Problem of Faction  If we assume that: –Scarcity exists, and that –Talents and luck are unevenly distributed in the population, then  In the division of labor of the city, we will inevitably get an inegalitarian social system, with the population divided into distinct and competing classes

The Problem of Faction  The Power of the Rich: –The wealthy have a natural common interest in protecting wealth –Oligarchic faction is inevitable –Claim to power?  Since wealth is necessary for polis to run, and wealth is built on inequality, it is permissible to treat unequals as unequals.

The Problem of Faction  Power of the Poor? –In a city, likely to have many more people who are poor rather than rich –Power of numbers –Ideological claim?  Since demos (the people) defend the city and the wealthy who live there, then each group contributes equally important functions to the polis, so that justice then means allowing everyone into the ruling class

The Problem of Faction  How to settle between the two?  Aristotle argues that at one level, both groups seem to be right, but that at a deeper level both are wrong  Both forget that the aim of the polis is not simply mere life, but the good life (III, ix, 1280b a2)

The Problem of Faction  The city needs an aristocratic faction  Not necessarily wealthy, but a small group concerned with the good (moral virtue)  Unfortunately, such people are relatively powerless (not necessarily rich and not a majority)

The Problem of Faction  Life of the polis will degenerate to the Lowest Common Denominator (pursuit of mere life) where either the demos or the oligarchs rule, and pursuit of the good life is lost  So… need to determine how to control factions

Aristotle vs Madison: Madison’s View  Recall your U.S. politics course…  Madison argues that factions are a function of human nature (we’re selfish) mixed with liberty (people free to associate and pursue self interest)

Aristotle vs Madison: Madison’s View  Madison argues (Federalist #10) that there are 2 ways of controlling factions: –Stop by controlling causes (either by denying liberty or enforcing equality) –Legitimize factions and let ambition counteract ambition  Institutionalize factional strife within the framework of government

Aristotle vs Madison: Madison’s View  Note: this doesn’t really encourage anyone to act in the interest of the group as whole, only to pursue narrow selfish ends  Is it really desirable to let every faction or group participate, regardless of the end pursued?

Aristotle vs Madison: Madison’s View  What happens when an evil faction takes hold? –American Nazis vs. Weimar Germany  In the U.S., we throw up our hands and allow every group to participate  Inherent danger in that… Aristotle’s solution?

Aristotle vs Madison: Aristotle’s View  Both Aristotle and Madison share a constitutional mechanism for controlling faction, but differ on their conceptions of what constitutes the good life  Keep track of the distinction between what is good for self and what is good for the whole  Aristotle argues that we need at least a minimal commitment to a conception of the good life

Aristotle vs Madison: Aristotle’s View  His solution? “The first and obvious point to make is that if indeed we do understand the causes of their [i.e., Constitutions’] destruction, then we understand also the causes of their preservation. For opposites are productive of opposites, and destruction is the opposite of preservation” (V, viii, 1307b26)

Aristotle vs Madison: Aristotle’s View  His solution? –Given that we have two different factions, what can we do?  Options are constrained by the raw material we have to work with  Don’t allow officeholders a financial gain in holding office: “It is most important in every constitution that the legal and other administrative arrangements should be such that holding office is not a source of profit” -- V, viii, 1308b3I  Implication: only oligarchs will rule  Pay people to vote –Demos can control the rulers

The Polity of Mixed Government  People will choose their rulers on the basis of which are the “best” oligarchs  Aristotle argues that we need to try to mix the oligarchic and democratic elements together so that once we assemble the government, it is neither democratic nor oligarchic

The Polity of Mixed Government  In this way we can try to get the oligarchs to act more like aristocrats  Why? –In order to gain votes they’ll need to appeal to the interests of the other class. They’ll need to offer a vision of the good life for the city as a whole.

The Polity of Mixed Government  This system is necessary because a decent society can be preserved only through the moral quality of the citizenry  So we should reject the Madisonian model because it encourages factions without also encouraging the development of an idea of the good life

The Polity of Mixed Government  So Aristotle’s vision of the best regime is the polity – a political association which attempts to form a just regime with less than perfect people

Aristotle’s Conservatism: Rule of Law  Before moving on… one quick question.  Why control faction at all?  Why not just support the right faction and set up a classless society?