Aristotle’s Political Philosophy and Ethics
Policy
There is a connection between justice and politics, i.e., between ethics and politics. They are two aspects of the same practical knowledge concerned with human well-governed prudence. Policy proceeds from the essentially social human character (society).
Legal Justice
If the result is universal or general in obedience to the laws, it is because the laws establish ways of behaving, being virtuous to obey the laws.
Distributive Justice
The distribution of state offices should be in accordance with the requirements of justice.
Ethics and Policy as Community
The ethics and politics of the human occupy themselves to govern with prudence. The human being is a social being and only in society can reach his right, a dignified and happy life (influence of Socrates and Plato).
Humans are social by nature because they have the ability to speak. An animal and its civic word are the foundation of community and social policy. Human beings can only achieve their perfection and well-being in living with other human beings. A solitary life, even with everything necessary for happiness, is not virtuous because the individual is not self-sufficient. The state is the most perfect form of society, where one can achieve a good life, dignity, and contentment. The state is the superior form of organization that seeks the common good, enabling citizens to achieve a high quality of life.
(*) Plato believed that to be happy, it was only necessary to cultivate the soul.
(*) The concept of the state as a natural organism contrasts with the sophist view of the state as an artificial pact.
Natural Levels of Companies
To address needs such as food and shelter, the family was the basic social unit. The man has authority over children, slaves, and women (with the latter, democratic authority). The union of families forms the village. Both communities could not survive alone without the polis or state, the community with natural self-sufficiency, concerned with the happiness of citizens.
A community is defined by pursuing the same goal: the common good.
Concept: City
Citizens are those who belong to the state naturally. Citizens are involved in the preparation of legal justice that involves the common good: happiness. They practice public virtues, not necessarily being natives.
Forms of Government or Political Regimes
The common good can be achieved through various forms of government, which Aristotle calls political regimes.
(*) Plato believed in a single form of virtuous government: the aristocracy of knowledge.
Aristotle believed that government did not have to know the Idea of Good, but practice it. The end of politics is action, which gives us experience.
Virtuous and pure forms of government, which seek the ultimate good, are:
- Monarchy: Governs one.
- Aristocracy: A minority government.
- Politeia or Republic: Government of a majority according to universal law, justice, and the common good. This is a just democracy.
(*) Plato regarded democracy as a vicious government because it was ruled by elected people without preparation.
Regimes become perverted when power is oriented towards the self-interest of the ruler, giving rise to vicious and unjust forms of government:
- Tyranny: Freedoms are suppressed. Governs one.
- Oligarchy: The rulers are the richest. Governs a minority.
- Demagogia: Majority rule is not in accordance with the law of general justice but with public opinion. This is a degenerate democracy.
The organization of government according to Aristotle was truncated with the appearance of the Empire. The emperor was absolute, establishing dogma. Participation in the common good ceased, and the concept of citizen was replaced by the individual, who only cared about private life for fear of reprisals.
The Philosophy After Aristotle: Hellenism
In the Hellenistic period, the wise know how to live well. With the arrival of Alexander the Great’s Empire, local civic and political life melted away. The focus shifted to the search for personal happiness and well-being, which lies in ataraxia, impeturbability of the soul or absence of concerns, serenity to life within autarchy or self-mastery and inner freedom.
Moral schools of Hellenism share the pursuit of personal happiness but differ in their approaches:
- Epicureanism: Virtue is the absence of pain through askesis. Seek pleasure in moderation to avoid negative consequences. Happiness is pleasure.
- Stoicism: Virtue is apathy (lack of passion). Follow the logos (universal reason or destiny).
- Skepticism: Virtue is epoché (suspension of judgment) and aphasia (suspension of speech) due to the impossibility of determining good and bad. Happiness is the lack of dogma, according to universal reason or destiny.