Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero: Political Philosophy
Plato
Origin of the City
Plato believed that the origin of the city lies in our natural need for others, owing to our lack of self-sufficiency. We are not naturally self-sufficient because we need others to acquire the goods to meet the basic material needs of life. Plato regards these materials as innate abilities, talents, and strengths. For example, we need help finding food, cultivating crops, and building houses.
Plato also believes that there is a lack of spiritual self-sufficiency with respect to the cultivation of our excellences. We need other people to help us develop as human beings, as opposed to just being animals.
End of the City
The end of the city, according to Plato, is justice. Justice is the harmonious unity between the good of each individual and the common good. In the ideal city, Kallipolis, justice amounts to each person doing what his nature demands, thereby allowing the satisfaction of his nature. So, justice is the harmonious fit between the good of each and the good of the whole. The good of the whole can only be achieved when everyone satisfies their nature.
The good of one’s own nature has to be consistent with the good of everyone else’s nature. The satisfaction of one’s own nature helps another satisfy their own nature and vice versa, which satisfies the good of the whole. There is no gap between the good of each and the common good.
Myth of the Metals
Plato uses the Myth of the Metals to explain the structure of the ideal city:
- All citizens are born of Mother Earth.
- While in the Earth, metals were mixed into our souls, which define our nature.
- This concept balances geometric and algebraic equality. Citizens come from the same source but have different classifications.
Gold: Reason
Silver: Thymos (Spirit)
Bronze & Iron: Material Appetite
- In the Myth of the Metals, you get simple equality and proportional equality. The purpose of the myth is to inculcate the two types of equality to provide the framework for what justice might look like.
Aristotle
Origin of the City
Aristotle states: “The city comes into being for the sake of living and exists for the sake of living well.” It is for the goal of meeting life’s daily needs that people come together, thereby creating households and, by extension, the city.
The origin is based on the family. Models of rule include:
- Man + Woman: Rule amongst free and equal people
- Parent + Child: Kingly rule
- Head of Household + Slave: Mastery
Multiple families coming together form a village. A village, combined with self-sufficiency, forms a city.
End of the City
The end of the city, according to Aristotle, is eu zen (living well). Eu zen is met in cities that are based on merit and rule for the sake of the whole. This can be described by whether the ruling party is one, few, or many.
Taxonomy of Regimes
| How many rule | For the sake of the whole | For the sake of the ruler |
|---|---|---|
| One | Monarchy (Parent & child) | Tyranny (Mastery/slavery) |
| Some/Few | Aristocracy (Parent & parent) | Oligarchy (Rule by the few rich) |
| Many/All | Polity (Timocracy) | Democracy (Ruled by many poor) |
Cicero
Origin of Political Life
Cicero believed the origin of political life is the divine spark of reason and the particular tradition, people, and family into which we are born. This is linked to natural law, and the fact that it is law/rule governed. The divine spark of reason is connected to natural law and our capacity to follow the law generally and pose laws for ourselves.
- Human beings’ common capacity for reason and rationality.
- The natural/organic, biological, and historical family/people/tradition into which we are born.
The first is used to guide the second.
End of Political Life
The end of political life is the realization of human community at the intersection of the two points of origin, employing natural law to guide and preserve the particular biological and historical conditions into which we are born. Because humans have this common capacity for reason and rationality, we must always be guided by our faculty for reason. Justice, then, is acting in accord with natural law, and natural law is grounded in reason. Thus, it follows that he who acts in accord with natural law is acting both justly and reasonably.
Depth of Analysis
The nature of the human being is rationality. Political community employs what is common to all of us to guide, order, and integrate the material part, which is particular to each of us, depending on the community to which we are born. The same way that the end of the human being is to have the mind rule the body so that the two are unified, the end of the city is to have what is common to all human beings guide what is particular to the human beings of the community to have unity in the same way. This also makes it possible for the human being to act in accord with the flourishing of the entire community.