Aristotle on Politics

“And it would seem to belong to the one that is most governing and most a master are, and politics appears to be of this sort, since it prescribes which kinds of knowledge ought to be in the cities, and what sorts each person ought to learn and to what extent; also, we see that the most honored capacities, such as generalship, household economics, and rhetorical skill, are under this one” (1094a 28-1094b 4) Aristotle’s words may surprise or disgust some readers. However, the proposition is appealing when one examines the “political life.”

We must first remember that Aristotle lived and wrote in the Athenian democracy, where civic duty was highly valued. Men like himself, virtual Renaissance men of their day (had the Renaissance occurred by that point, of course), met at the gates of the city to discuss and debate, eventually transferring these plans to the governmental circle and using them to better the lives of the population. Even Socrates, who refused to enter formal politics, valued civic discussion. In fact, as we all know, Plato (via Socrates) attempted to form the government that would create the most just population.

Socrates’ points about the soul and its effect on the city are also valid in describing Aristotle’s opinion. Just as a certain type of man would be reflected in a certain government (aristocratic man to aristocracy, timocratic to timocracy, etc), the just man would reflect justice in his political action. After all, Aristotle, in The Politics, states that justice is man’s salvation, and that it “belongs to the polis; for justice...is an ordering of the political association” (1253 a 20-22). Since people naturally must live in a society and societies must have some rule of law, than the political life is one that completes the life of others. It is human management, and it both reflects the manager and the populous whose life is bettered by his actions.

Finally, the political life allows man to receive the greatest of human accomplishments, honor, while also exercising the greatest of human abilities, reason. Therefore, it will yield some level of happiness in the soul. At the same time, it is used to affect and improve the lives of one’s countrymen through the determination and administration of justice, thus yielding happiness in the whole of society.