Aristotle vs. Plato: Justice, State, and Governance
Aristotle and Plato: Competing Visions of Justice and the State
Aristotle’s Conception of Justice
For Aristotle, justice is the virtue that consists in total compliance with laws. However, he also refers to it as a particular virtue that regulates interpersonal relationships by imposing equal treatment. These conceptions of justice reveal the connection between ethics and politics in Aristotle’s thought:
- The idea of legal justice shows that ethics depends on politics; if virtue is to obey all laws, it is because laws establish virtuous ways of behaving.
- The idea of equal justice describes the relationship between ethics and politics, since the distribution of public offices must be made according to the demands of justice.
Indeed, for Aristotle, ethics and politics are intertwined because he is convinced that man is by nature a social being.
Plato’s Distinct View of Justice
Plato, however, had a different concept of justice, alleging that “everyone does their own thing,” meaning that each of the three social classes (producers, guardians, and rulers) of a state performs its specific function.
The Purpose of the State: Aristotle vs. Plato
Aristotle’s State: Achieving a Happy Life
According to Aristotelian thought, the purpose of the state is simply to provide its citizens with the means to attain a happy, good, and satisfactory life through three possible political regimes:
- Monarchy (one ruler)
- Aristocracy (rule by a few)
- Democracy (rule by all citizens)
These three forms of government are perverted when power is not directed towards the realization of justice but to the rulers’ own advantage. Thus, they can be converted into tyranny, oligarchy, and demagoguery, respectively.
Plato’s State: Order, Rigidity, and the Wise
Plato’s philosophy, by contrast, seems to be based more on ensuring a fair, orderly, and fully determined state, often neglecting the basic needs of the population. Plato also advocated for a very rigid state ruled by the wise, unlike Aristotle, who offered three possible ideal political regimes.
Critiquing Plato’s Ideal State
Stability vs. Individual Happiness
From my point of view, and as mentioned earlier, Plato seems more interested in the stability of the entire state than in the happiness of the individuals living within it. Plato’s Republic is based on dividing the population into three classes:
- Rulers
- Producers
- Guardians
Everyone has a role and is educated to comply with it; therefore, there is no way to change social class. Individuals are destined to permanent work. For example, a ruler must rule, and even if they prefer to be a guardian or producer, they must necessarily remain at their post. Certainly, stability and efficiency are valuable in the operation of a state, but are they the most important criteria to achieve an ideal state? We could say that our modern thinking is closer to Aristotle’s thought on government, which emphasizes ensuring the welfare of the people.
Philosopher-Rulers and Intolerance
Moreover, the attitude of the philosopher-rulers in Plato’s utopian state, as described in The Republic, would likely exhibit a certain intolerance. For example, if a philosopher claims to possess universal truths, they would likely be totally intolerant of people with different ideas, as they would not believe any other point of view and might not admit they are wrong. However, even in the unlikely event that such universal truths exist and could be known, it’s improbable that all philosophers would agree with all government decisions. This implies a degree of pluralism and relativism among them, which Platonic thinking strongly rejects. Today, we would likely label Plato’s proposed rule as a totalitarian state.
Plato’s Progressive Ideas
It is worth noting, however, that Plato believed women could be rulers of the state, just like men, precisely because rulers govern the state by virtue of their reason. He thought that women have exactly the same ability to reason as men, provided they receive the same education and are freed from childcare and housework. Plato wanted to abolish the family and private property for the rulers and soldiers of the state. And education of children was so important that it could not be entrusted to anyone; it should be the responsibility of the state to educate children.