- His work-Politics
Intro: father of pol science as he was the first to analyse , critically and systematically, the subject matter of politics and identified its core elements such as sovereignty of law, constitutionalism, etc.
- Similarity b/w guru and chela:
- He and Plato believed in natural inequality of men. Plato- myth of metals ; Aristotle- justification of slavery
- State is prior to Individual
- both had no faith in masses. Plato wanted philosopher king whereas for Aristotle democracy was second worst form of govt.
- Difference b/w guru and chela:
- His ideas:
- Gave theory of justice -
- This was given in context of theory of revolution.
- talks about the idea of inequality. Believes in the inherent inequality between men. Hence he justifies slavery as well.
- Says treat equals equally and unequals unequally.
- Talks about proportionate equality, i.e. those who contribute more in service of the state and thus show greater civic excellence deserve more from the state than those who contribute less. Marxists oppose this! Doesn't support absolute equality as being injustice with the person who is more talented and meritorious .
- He held that if a state will give equal treatment to those who are unequal in their merits and talents, it will give rise to the feeling of injustice, which will ultimately result into revolution and sedition
- For him, numerical equality as against proportionate equality was relevant in case of democracy. But Aristotle was not in favour of democracy which for him was the second worst form of government after tyranny.
- Give theory of state-
- “Man is by nature a political animal.” Hence state is the natural habitat of man.
- Says only state is capable of fulfilling man's needs. Hence state is highest of all associations (like village, family) having its origin in the natural needs of man (inspiration for monistic theory of sovereignty propounded by Hobbes and John Austin)
- ”one who can live w/o state is either a beast or god, but can’t be a man”
- State is more important than man because man becomes man in presence of state.
- To live in a state is destiny of man, that’s why nature has not made man self sufficient.
- Theory of slavery:
- Says slavery is natural as well as useful
- Those who do not have reason or courage are slaves
- Utility of slaves:
- Says when slave is working master can indulge in useful activities of state
- Slavery is also useful for slave because slave cannot live life on his own., he needs constant guidance
- Slave can learn from master and develop virtues
- He even suggests to liberate slave in case he develops virtue.
- Criticism
- It may be law of nature but we don't live in nature , but in a society. “What is” must not determine “ what ought to be”
- Against Kant’s categorical imperative- no one ought to treat the other as means to his own end.
- Theory of property:
- Critique of Plato's communism.
- He was aware of evil consequences of extreme wealth. he advocated individual property but common use (similar to Gandhi's model of trusteeship)
- Said property gives man sense of achievement, hence inspired Locke.
- Inequality breeds revolution ( Buddha- asks people not to accumulate wealth as poverty breeds hatred, cruelty and violence.)
- Cite Thomas Piketty and World inequality report 2022
- Theory of constitution:
- Studied 158 constitutions.
- Polity= golden mean of democracy and oligarchy. For him democracy is second worst after tyranny. (Give ref of Sydney Verba and Gabriel Almond that too much participation is dangerous for polity as per his civic culture)
- Why rule of middle class is best-
- In his words- Civility of middle class will smoothen the rough edges in society.
- rule of middle class is best as they are neither rich nor poor.
- both rich and poor are prone to breaking law. One due to arrogance and other due to ignorance
- Both rich and poor do not trust each other.
- he says middle class should be more in number as too much inequality breeds revolution.
- Theory of revolution:
- He was a status quoits and conservative and hence was opposed to revolution.
- For him any change small/big is a revolution
- Says main cause of revolution is inequality and injustice.
- Says societies built on extreme inequality are bound to collapse.
- Post COVID K shape curve that shows rising inequalities
- Proposed proportionate equality and not absolute equality(hence criticism by Marxists) as means to avoid the feeling of injustice. Said it is unjust to treat equals equally...
- state cannot treat slaves and masters equally as masters are contributing more to the service of the state.
- He suggests state should recognize the talent and merit of each person and reward a person in proportion to his contribution to the society so that people working more do not feel cheated.
His critics:
1:
Emmanuel Kant criticizes him for justifying slavery. Says no one ought to treat the other as means to his own end.
2:
Dworkin also criticizes on his theory of Justice . He says a person must not be held responsible for the un-chosen circumstances.
- Aristotle an inspiration for:
- Locke- for justifying the need for property.
- Ardent- for deliberative democracy and direct democracy. Aristotle says state is a family of families and diff families have diff interests and hence all adult male and propertied class should come together to deliberate on laws
Conclusion- Aristotle emerges as intellectual Colossus. No man before and after him could hope to rival his intellect- Jonathan Barnes