Aristotle and Democracy

Overview  Aristotle The Polis Virtue Natural Slavery Good Government

Aristotle  Biographical Overview B.C.E. Born in Macedonia, to wealthy parents connected to the royal household Studied with Plato for 17 years Tutor to Alexander the Great B.C.E. 335/4 returned to Athens and founded own school – the Lyceum

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman  The Politics is an attempt to understand the essence of political life  Aristotle grounds that understanding on the facts of “real world” political life

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman “Since we see that every city is some sort of partnership, and that every partnership is constituted for the sake of some good (for everyone does everything for the sake of what is held to be good), it is clear that all partnerships aim at some good, and that the partnership that is most authoritative of all and embraces all the others does so particularly, and aims at the most authoritative good of all. This is what is called the city or the political partnership” (Book I, chapter 1).

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman  “Since we see that every city is some sort of partnership…” City => association that aims at highest good Politics => activity that happens in a city

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman Two ideas we need to develop here: 1.Authoritative Association 2.Authoritative Good

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman  Authoritative Association Every association aimed at some end Family (Book I, chp. 2, 1252b) Town (Book I, chp. 2, 1252b) City/Polis (Book I chp. 2, 1253a)

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman The Family Structure Two associations: Male/Female Ruler/Ruled End of Family? Reproduction (1 st association) “needs of daily life” (2 nd association)

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman The Village Structure Groupings of families End of the village? Reproduction “needs of daily life”

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman The City –SStructure  Ggroupings of villages (Book 1, chp. 2) –EEnd of the city? –RReproduction? –“needs of daily life”? –Eend of the city = not just life or living, but living the “good life.”

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman  The Polis: “The partnership arising from several villages that is complete is the city. It reaches a level of full self-sufficiency, so to speak; and while coming into being for the sake of living, it exists for the sake of living well” (Book 1, chp b).

Authoritative Association  Authoritative Association The authoritative or sovereign association is one that decides the aims of other (smaller or constitutive) associations Thus the polis exists prior to the individual

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman Authoritative Association “ The city is thus prior by nature to the household and to each of us. For the whole must of necessity be prior to the part; for if the whole is destroyed there will not be a foot or a hand … For if the individual when separated is not self sufficient, he will be in a condition similar to that of the other parts in relation to the whole ” (Book 1, chp. 2, 1253b). Back

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman “One who is incapable of participating or who is in need of nothing through being self- sufficient is no part of a city, and so is either a beast or a god” (Book 1, chap. 2, 1253b).

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman Two ideas we need to develop here: Authoritative Association Authoritative Good

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman Authoritative Good Three Classes of Good Good Consequences Good Consequences & Good in Themselves Authoritative/Sovereign Good

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman Good Consequences Nothing intrinsically good about surgery. It’s good only because of its consequences

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman  Good Consequences & Good in Themselves For example: vision They have good results and they’re good Would rather have vision than not have it (unlike surgery) and the consequences of its possession are also good

Authoritative Good  Authoritative/Sovereign Good Supreme Goods Things just good in and of themselves Not a means to any other good For example: happiness Happiness is that state where we have all that we should have. Back

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman  Virtue is that aspect of something that enables it to develop itself and to achieve its final end.  Virtuous person is one with properties that enable him/her to develop fully human capacities.  Good polis, then, is one which fosters virtue.  Polis is the authoritative good since it allows for the development of our fully human capacities.

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman “From these things it is evident, then, that the city belongs among the things that exist by nature, and that man is by nature a political animal” (Book 1, chp. 2, 1253a)

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman  Aristotle’s View of the Polis vs. Modern Conceptions Today we view politics as a means of insuring private good We use politics for selfish ends  For Aristotle, man is a political animal, political life is part of the individual

I.The Polis and the Political Stature of Man/Woman  Politics means getting together in public and deciding what we ought to do this activity allows for development of virtue where virtue is a public activity How do we know the essence of human species? “Everything is defined by its task and its power…” (Book 1, chp. 2) Need to develop this idea more fully

II. Teleology 1.Everything in nature is ordered, exists for a purpose 2.Everything has a nature, and built into each nature is an end (telos) 3.Acorn example, again 4.How to know end? Observation 5.How to know what to observe?

II. Teleology “It is in things whose condition is according to nature that one ought particularly to investigate what is by nature, not in things that are defective. Thus the human being to be studied is one whose state is best both in body and in soul…” (Book 1, chp. 5, 1254a)

II. Teleology  Man -- in right sort of polis -- can grow to be “full” human where “full” means achieving full human potential Contrast with contemporary conceptions where politics is private; a means to secure private interest For Aristotle, the private is simply a means to sustain politics. Politics is what is really important, so need to subordinate private life to public life

II. Teleology Politics is a public activity indeed it is the activity which distinguishes us from other social animals What is politics? Why is it special?

II. Teleology  Politics is: Activity where people decide and then act on the decision Based on rational persuasion, not coercion (logos =speaking = only possible with other humans) Our humanity is only attainable in political setting

II. Teleology “One who is incapable of participating or who is in need of nothing through being self- sufficient is no part of a city, and so is either a beast or a god” (Book 1, chp. 2, 1253a). Conducted only between equals

II. Teleology Our humanity is attainable only in the polis Raises question: who should be included in politics?

III.Natural Slavery  Recall Point II.1: Nature has an order  Order is hierarchical

The Scale of Being pond scum

The Scale of Being pond scum insects

The Scale of Being pond scum insects reptiles

The Scale of Being pond scum insects reptiles mammals

pond scum insects reptiles mammals human beings The Scale of Being

III. Natural Slavery  Why should we suddenly become standardless as we cross human threshold?  No reason for egalitarianism  Not everybody is able to take care of themselves so...

III. Natural Slavery  Slavery, under the right conditions, is natural Slavery is just insofar as some people are slaves by nature  Slavery indispensable to good polis  Politics is a leisure activity

III. Natural Slavery  Unless we have one class permanently engaged in producing the sustenance necessary for life, nobody is able to attain the good life and thus to achieve the proper end of the species. Question of how to distribute burdens of labor and leisure Slaves do all the manual work, masters develop into “full” human beings Good polis needs slaves

The Good Polis  What is the good polis?  How would we determine the nature of the good polis?

Aristotle’s Regime Types MonarchyTyranny AristocracyOligarchy PolityDemocracy Size Of Regime “End” of Regime Public GoodPrivate Gain back

Aristotle’s Regime Types MonarchyTyranny AristocracyOligarchy PolityDemocracy Size Of Regime “End” of Regime Public GoodPrivate Gain

Aristotle’s Regime Types MonarchyTyranny AristocracyOligarchy PolityDemocracy Size Of Regime “End” of Regime Public GoodPrivate Gain

Aristotle’s Regime Types MonarchyTyranny AristocracyOligarchy PolityDemocracy Size Of Regime “End” of Regime Public GoodPrivate Gain

Aristotle’s Regime Types MonarchyTyranny AristocracyOligarchy PolityDemocracy Size Of Regime “End” of Regime Public GoodPrivate Gain

Aristotle’s Regime Types MonarchyTyranny AristocracyOligarchy PolityDemocracy Size Of Regime “End” of Regime Public GoodPrivate Gain

Aristotle’s Regime Types MonarchyTyranny AristocracyOligarchy PolityDemocracy Size Of Regime “End” of Regime Public GoodPrivate Gain

Aristotle’s Polity  Monarchy? No: we want the highest level of communal activity possible. Monarchy won’t allow that

Aristotle’s Polity  Democracy? No: remember our inegalitarian understanding of nature; therefore unlikely that the virtues will be distributed evenly through the population

Aristotle’s Polity  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

Aristotle’s Polity  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?

Aristotle’s Polity  Answer? The existence of factions within the body politic  Why do factions arise? Need to re-examine the organization of the polis

Aristotle’s Polity  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?

Aristotle’s Polity  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

Aristotle’s Polity  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.

Aristotle’s Polity  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

Aristotle’s Polity  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)

Aristotle’s Polity  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)

Aristotle’s Polity  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’s Polity  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’s Polity  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  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

Machiavelli  Niccolò Machiavelli (1469 – 1527)  European Renaissance Declining power of Church Advancing in Science, Arts, Literature  The Prince written in 1513 during period of political exile

Copernican Universe

Machiavelli  Machiavelli & Florence Medici family rules city French forces invade, set up republican government Machiavelli gets role in government, ends up as high civil servant, some diplomatic missions and military operations

Machiavelli  Machiavelli & Florence Spanish defeat the French, and reinstall the Medici Machiavelli is arrested, tortured, and eventually exiled to his country home beyond the city walls During this period (he’s in his 40s) he begins his philosophical/political writing, including The Prince and The Discourses en ordinary morality is not binding and he/she/they can pretty much do what they must to stay in power