Book report on Politics for SOC 602



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The Politics, by Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

NY: Prometheus Books, 1986), 252 pages with short biography but no table of contents, index, introduction, or bibliography. Translated by William Ellis.

Book Report by Richard Hogan, August 1997.

Aristotle offers models of city government that might achieve the goal of providing the "good life" of virtue and happiness, tempered by moderation. He considers how efforts to achieve this goal through the appropriate means (by insuring that the best (most virtuous) men govern) might be affected by the nature of the citizenry and the nature of the established government--monarchy (rule by one), oligarchy (rule by few/rich), or democracy (rule by many/poor).

"Aristocracy" (rule by the few who are most virtuous) seems to be the perfect government (p. 120) but requires a substantial population of citizens "who enjoy moderate and convenient fortune" (p. 127). In modern terms, a substantial middle class must sustain the state against the demands of the rich and the poor. "For if some possess too much, and others nothing at all, the government must either be in the hands of the meanest rabble or else a pure oligarchy" (p. 127).

Generally, the form of government should be determined by the nature of the population. If (as among slaves and barbarians) the general population lacks virtue, one who is virtuous (a king) should rule. If (as among the Greeks) the citizens are virtuous, the supreme authority should rest with the many (p. 144).

Since all governments may be corrupted, however, the goal (for each type of government) is moderation. The people (king, or oligarchy) should not be granted power "superior to law," and moderation, law, and education should guide authorities in their efforts to achieve the collective goal of virtuous living (p. 166).

Consequently, cities will tend to be most successful if they adopt mixed forms of government, balancing the means and ends of oligarchy and democracy and educating their citizens for a virtuous life.

In Book VII, Aristotle offers concrete suggestions for how a city might govern. He considers the difficulty of governing large populations (p. 209), the proper distribution of public and private lands (p. 219), the construction and use of public squares, public and private buildings (Chapter XII), the proper age for women and men to marry (p. 233), and how to protect children from evil influences before they reach the age of reason (p. 237). Book VIII focuses on how the children of citizens should be educated by the city, once they reach the age of reason. "It is evident then, that there should be laws concerning education, and that it should be public" (p. 238).

It is equally clear, however, "that there are some persons whom it is impossible by any education to make good men" (p. 181). These persons, who are by nature not capable citizenship, would be employed by the citizens as slaves, servants, and wives, who would perform all requisite servile labor (p. 220). It is, in Aristotle's mind, "natural ... that some beings command and others obey ... [although] there is a natural difference between a female and a slave ... [I]t is [likewise] proper for the Greeks to govern the barbarians, as if a barbarian and a slave were by nature one" (pp. 2-3).

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Aristotle was born in Macedonia in 384 B.C. and went to Athens at age 17. He was Plato's student and Alexander's teacher. For Aristotle, the Athenian democracy (683 B.C.) was ancient history. After the Pelopponesian War (431-404 B.C.) Sparta over-ran Athens.

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