POLITICAL THOUGHTS OF ARISTOTLE

POLITICAL SCIENCE

SUBMITTED BY
CHANCHAL BANOTE

UGID – UG21-32

1ST SEMESTER 1ST YEAR

2021-2022

SUBBMITTED TO
DR. MADHUKAR SHARMA, SIR

PROFFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

MAHARASHTRA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, NAGPUR

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………..

AIM OF THE PROJECT……………………………………………..

OBJECTIVES………………………………………………………….

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY………………………………………

RESEARCH…………………………………………………………….

 Political science in general ……………………………………….

 Political view of Aristotle………………………………………….
 Citizenship…………………………………………………………
 Distributive justice……………………………………………….
 Slavery…………………………………………………………….
 Revolution …………………………………………………………
 Regime……………………………………………………………..
 Legacy……………………………………………………………...
 Aristotle and modern politics……………………………………..

CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………….

BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………
INTRODUCTION
Aristotle carved out a separate position in the history of political philosophy and made major
contributions with his clever thoughts. Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, logician, and
scientist who lived from 384 to 322 BCE. His cataloguing of constitutions is being used in
constitution studies today. He considered political science to be the master science,
investigated humans in a political society, and suggested that a human being can only live an
articulate existence as a member of a state. Politics is a "practical science," according to
Aristotle, because it deals with keeping citizens satisfied. His philosophy is to uncover the
ultimate objective of life, or virtue as he refers to it.
The term "politics" is derived from the Greek word polis, which simply referred to any city-
state in ancient Greece. According to Aristotle, the polis reflected the highest levels of
political union. Being a citizen of a polis was required for a person to live a good life.
Obtaining this status required a person to acquire the appropriate political contacts in order to
secure permanent residence. According to Aristotle, this effort demonstrated that "man is a
political animal."
With no doubt, Aristotle's many undertakings shaped his political acumen in ways that his
predecessors and contemporaries could not. His progressive excursions in the biology of
natural flora and animals are clearly reflected in his political naturalism. He categorizes the
polis and its many constitutions into six kinds, three of which he considers to be excellent and
the remaining three to be harmful. The desirable ones, in his opinion, are constitutional
governance, aristocracy, and kingship, whereas the evil ones are democracy, oligarchy, and
tyranny. He believes that an individual's political worth is directly related to their efforts to
improving the quality of life in their polis.
He regards the state (polis), defined as a city-state such as Athens, as the ultimate form of
community, pursuing the highest of goods. Families of men and women, owners and slaves,
make up the most rudimentary societies. A village is made up of families, and multiple
villages make up a state, the world's first self-sustaining community. Politics is the result of a
comprehensive and often sharp investigation of political life, spanning from the origins and
purpose of the state to the complexities of institutional arrangements. Government, according
to Aristotle, must be in the hands of one, a few, or many people, and governments may
govern for the common good or for the rulers' own benefit.
While Aristotle's views on slavery, women, and labourers are frequently unpleasant to
modern readers, his investigation of government types (and the causes of their survival and
collapse) is always fascinating. Tyranny is the rule of a single person for personal benefit,
whereas monarchy is the rule of a single person for the common good. When a minority
administration serves the best interests of the state, it is referred to as "aristocracy," but when
it only serves the ruling minority; it is referred to as "oligarchy." "Polity," according to
Aristotle, is "popular government for the common good," whereas "democracy" implies
"chaotic mob rule."
If a town has a notable individual or family, Aristotle argues that monarchy is the ideal form
of government. However, such a circumstance is extremely rare, and the risk of miscarriage
is considerable, because monarchy deteriorates into tyranny, the worst form of government.
In theory, aristocracy is the best constitution after monarchy (because the ruling minority is
the best-qualified to rule), but in practise, Aristotle preferred a form of constitutional
democracy, because "polity" is a state in which rich and poor citizens respect each other's
rights and the best-qualified citizens rule with the consent of all.

AIM OF PROJECT
The aim of this project is to study the political theory and his understanding of Aristotle, to
highlight his contribution to Political Science

OBJECTIVES OF PROJECT
Ch….

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The method used to approach the afore-mentioned study in this research paper is doctrinal
method of research. It is source- based research which gathers its content from traditional and
modern sources of written text such as books, journals, newspapers and e-sources. This
method is both analytical as well as descriptive. The issues in the project have been examined
thoroughly by applying intensive literature review. The researcher has made effort to
critically examine all sources to provide an insightful and perspicacious analysis. Opinions of
research scholar, academicians, and other experts who have dealt with this subject have been
used as real contribution to this research.

RESEARCH
POLITICAL SCIENCE IN GENERAL

ARISTOTLE’S VIEW ON POLITICS

CITIZENSHIP
DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE

SLAVERY

REVOLUTION

REGIME

LEGACY

POETRY AND RHETORIC

Aristotle defined rhetoric as a topic-neutral discipline that studies diverse tactics of

persuasion. In his advice to orators on how to exploit their audience's moods, Aristotle offers
a systematic and often insightful treatment of human emotion, dealing in turn with anger,
hatred, fear, shame, pity, indignation, envy, and jealousy—each offering a definition of the
emotion as well as a list of its objects and causes.

Despite the fact that only the first book of the latter, dealing with epic and tragic poetry, has
survived, the Poetics is far more well-known than the Rhetoric. Among other things, the book
aims to respond to Plato's criticisms of representative art. Material objects, according to
Forms theory, are imperfect copies of original, actual Forms; artistic renderings of material
objects are thus essentially copies of copies, two steps removed from reality. Furthermore,
theatre has a particularly negative impact since it arouses dishonourable desires in its
audience.

ARRISTOTLE AND MORDERN POLITICS

Aristotle's influence on philosophers of all shades has lasted for centuries, including
conservatives, communitarians, liberals, libertarians, and democratic theorists.

It is not unexpected that so many different political ideologies may claim Aristotle as a basis.
His strategy frequently leads to different views. When confronted with a tough problem, he is
prone to carefully and nuancedly considering competing views, and he is frequently willing
to acknowledge that there is truth on all sides. In one point, for example, despite his criticism
of democracy, he allows that the justification for rule by the many based on the crowd's better
understanding "may perhaps involve some truth."

He frequently uses his own principles in questionable ways, such as arguing that because
associations should be governed logically, the home should be run by the husband rather than
the woman, whose reasoning skill "lacks authority."

Modern advocates of Aristotle's overall approach sometimes argue that he misapplies his own
principles in this situation, leaving unanswered the question of how they should be applied.
Furthermore, the way he applied his concepts–for example, that a citizen of a state must be a
hoplite soldier–might have sounded reasonable in his social context. However, it's debatable
how these would apply in a modern democratic nation-state.

The difficulty of extrapolating to contemporary political situations can be seen in Aristotle's

discussion of legal reform in Politics II.8. He starts by putting out the case for more flexible
legislation. Shifting from traditional to enhanced treatment procedures has proven effective in
medicine, for example. A current law may be a relic of primitive savagery.

In Cymae, for example, Aristotle describes a law that allowed an accuser to summon several
of his own relatives as witnesses to show a prisoner's guilt of murder. "It is evident from the
previous," Aristotle continues, "that some regulations should be adjusted from time to time,"
but "caution appears to be required for those who observe the issue from a different
perspective."

Because the law is based on residents' habit of obeying it, any changes to it should be handled
with caution. It may be preferable to leave broken laws in place rather than encourage
lawlessness by altering laws often. Furthermore, there are concerns about how and who will
amend the laws.
Despite providing valuable insights, Aristotle closes the issue and never returns to it. His
point of view can be summarized as follows: Aim for a happy medium when it comes to
amending the laws: don't be too bound by tradition, but also don't be too ready to change
them. As reasonable as this axiom appears to be, it plainly leaves a lot of room for debate
among contemporary "neo-Aristotelian" philosophers.

Should laws be altered, for example, to allow self-described transgender people to use
sexually segregated restrooms? Conservatives and liberals may agree on Aristotle's basic
restriction on legal reform, but may disagree on how to apply it in a specific circumstance.

The majority of Aristotle scholars make no attempt to show that he is in line with any modern
perspective. Rather, they see him as relevant to our times because he achieves a remarkable
synthesis of idealism and realpolitik in deep and thought-provoking discussions of perennial
concerns in political philosophy, such as the role of human nature in politics, the individual-
state relationship, the role of morality in politics, the theory of political justice, the rule of
law, the analysis and evaluation of constitutions, and the relevance of ideals to practice.

CONCLUSION