Politics, Book I: The Polis PHIL

Aristotle’s Ball of Yarn

Key Ethical & Political Terms: Virtue Happiness (final end) Nature Polis Hierarchy Final Cause/End—Telos These are intertwined like the ball of yarn, which unravels when one tugs the string.

Two Ways to Understand Polis Historically: Household: master rules wife, slaves, children Villages: ruled by chief or king = monarchical; City: equal citizens rule in turns as statesmen: constitutional rule; Each form is natural; Different kinds of rule in different organizations. Organically: Body-polis Analogy The polis is the body, the whole that is prior to the parts; The citizens are the interdependent parts; Whole could do w/out some parts, but parts cannot do w/out whole.

Therefore: The Whole is greater than the sum of its parts. What are some implications?

Nature of Man ‘…we must look for intentions of nature in those things which retain their nature’; Study therefore the best man, not just average man (Pol. 1.5). Man is political, social animal; Intended by nature for a social life; Anyone who is not social is ‘either a beast or a god’ (Pol. 1.2); Each person contains ruling and ruled elements (see next slide).

Hierarchy & Its Justification Man Master Husband Woman Mother Wife Slave Barbarian non-Greek Ruling Element ReasonPartial Reason Appetite Corresp. Body part BrainBrain & Body Body

Each person’s fundamental attributes are by nature. Therefore: Hierarchy is natural.

Master-Slave relationship (Pol. 1.6) Slaves = living tools or instruments Master should not abuse his authority; Master and Slave can be friends and have common interest; BUT only if relation is natural, not if it is conventional! Why?

Actual Slavery Status No rights; Property of master, who could kill or punish in any way he wished; Law required slaves to be tortured when giving evidence; Manumission (grant of freedom) rare in ancient Greece (common in Rome). Sources of slaves Birth Conquest/War Criminal conviction; in Athens this meant being sent to the silver mines, where death was certain; The reality was different from Aristotle’s theory!

Other views of slavery Sophists: teachers of rhetoric to lawyers They taught that slavery is a convention; Not a natural institution; People become slaves through capture in war (or birth), but there is no slave by nature; It is therefore incorrect to assume that Aristotle’s review simply reflects the view of his peers! This would be Historicism: reduction of a view or idea to being simply a product of its era.

Aristotle’s view of conventional slavery (Pol. 1.6) Convention is not necessarily right, it’s just customary (although ‘a sort of justice’); E.g. convention that people captured in war may be made slaves; Why? Because the cause of a war may not be just; Aristotle could have added: war itself may be unjust (he later criticizes Sparta for making war its goal); Idea of kings (presumably more excellent than ordinary men) being slaves seems absurd.

Aristotle on Women Husband’s “rule over his wife is like that of a statesman over fellow citizens” (Pol. 1.12). Women have a degree of governing capacity, i.e. for child care, but ‘without authority’ (Pol. 1.13); ‘Silence is a woman’s glory’ (Sophocles, quoted in Pol. 1.13); Aristotle favors moderate exercise for women; Women should be much younger than their husbands (18 for wife, mid-30’s for husband) (Pol. 7.16).

Actual Status of Women Athens: Confined to home: weaving and child care; Allowed outside for important religious festivals; No sports! Forbidden to marry or have relations with metics (foreign males); Metic women had greater freedom. Sparta: Young women exercised in public; Participated in sports; Did not perform household labor; Responsible for childcare; Old husbands introduced young men to their wives for procreation.

Next time: Household Management Two views: 1) Art of acquiring wealth (a lesser goal); wealth only a means to an end, not an end in itself (Pol ); -critique of retail trade (Pol. 1.9); -critique of usury (Pol. 1.10); 2) Art of managing people (‘human resource management’) (Pol ).