by Brian Taylor

Created on: February 03, 2010

Aristotle's "Politcs" is deeply rooted in much the same philosophy as his "Ethics."  That is to say, his primary concern is that each of us, regardless of our place, be "good." We shall need to address both the ideas of what he means by "place" and "good" before we can understand Aristotle's position.

We shall also remember that Aristotle lived from 384 to 322 BC and his ideas are getting a little dusty. This doesn't make the ideas wrong, but certain aspects of his thinking are contemporarily suspect due to the sensibilities of modernity. This will become apparent as we continue.

Aristotle, as a Greek and as an intellectual, in his time, subscribed to the value of the State. To him a man without a State is a man unable to serve, toil, learn, own a home, even cook a meal. A man without the State is a man without God in Aristotle's eyes. Indeed, for some men, the State is God. It can be so decreed in Aristotle's Politics because he says "To a poor man  the Ox is his slave." There are layers to Aristotles' politics with each of us fulfilling our purpose, even the slave.

The rulers are the older rich, the oligarchs and the educated. They are organized like a Senate of experienced intellectuals, steered by a heirarchy that ends in Kingship. They are answerable, however, to the Citizenry, that is to say, those that may vote hold the ultimate sway. By giving democratic power to the constituents of the Kingship, Aristotle attempts to steer clear of tyranny. While it's true that an Aristocracy makes up the Government, they are working in the interest of what is essentially "the middle class."

The middle class are above the slave class. There power stems from the fact that they are the bulk of the citizenry in a democratic system. They are the worker bees.They have homes, they provide labour.  Aristotle cares only that they can use reason. For if they can listen to debate and decide logically they can steer the Senate correctly, doing what is "good." They also serve as arbitrators between the poor and rich.

Slaves, according to Aristotle, can see reason but have none. Thus, even the middle class could have mastery over a slave. Political mastery is over equal persons. This is to say, the middle class are equal to the Aristocracy, they are all Citizens. A slave can not be a Citizen any more than piece of property could.

Citizenry is key to Aristotles' Politics as it is to much of his sociological ideology. This, I believe, is due to the fact that during

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