Western Political Thought – Aristotle

ARISTOTLE (384-322 BCE)

Regarded as the father of Political Science, Aristotle was born in 384 BC. He is the greatest disciple of Plato. His philosophy was both a critique and a corrective of Plato’s ideas.

Aristotle is often called the philosopher of common sense. He does not look for the ideal state. He is concerned with the best practicable state.

Aristotle is the greatest exponent of the Doctrine of Mean, which says that morally virtuous activity is a habit of choice lying between two vices, the one of excess and the other of defect. For instance, courage is a virtuous act that lies between two vices, rashness and cowardice. Take another example: a person of temperance neither suppresses natural appetites altogether nor sinks in it; such a person enjoys what is enjoyable in the right measure at the right time. Temperance is thus a virtue.

Aristotle is a functionalist and as such he looks at social institutions with positive and utilitarian perspectives. He prefers gradual and evolutionary change and is against radical changes. This Aristotelian idea influenced the value system of western civilisation in significant ways. Monarchy in Britain, for instance, has not been abolished but is evolving.

Aristotle’s general view of the world is teleological — everything in the universe has a telos, meaning end or purpose, peculiar to itself. All of us move towards that end. Telos of a pen is that it writes well. Telos of a man, according to Aristotle, is that he achieves a state of ‘eudaemonia’. Eudaemonia denotes a lifelong state of active ethical well-being.

Aristotle’s major works include Politics and The Nicomachean Ethics.

What we will discuss in Aristotle include:

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