Aristotle's Political Science Writings

Aristotle believes that every art and inquiry is aimed at some good, that everything has as its goal some good. In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle identifies political science as the discipline that has as its goal the study of what is good for mankind. Ethics are actually a branch of political science, and personal ethical science is at one level while political ethical science is at a higher level of inquiry. For Aristotle, statecraft holds a primary position because it employs all the other sciences. It must therefore embrace as its aims the aims of all the others. The purpose of political science is to secure the good. This is on a higher level for the state than it is for the individual because while the securing of the good for the individual is itself a good, the securing of the good for an entire nation of people is of a higher order (Wheelwright 157-159).

Aristotle's political teaching is available to us today primarily in the Politics and the Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle made a distinction between "theoretical" sciences, those pursued for the sake of knowledge, and "practical" sciences, or those pursued for the sake of the benefits deriving from them. Politics for Aristotle was a practical science (Strauss and Cropsey 118-119). The Ethics and the Politics are clearly linked. A.W.H. Adkins holds that the Nicomachean Ethics and the Politics were intended by Aristotle to be read together and that they can be properly understood only if they are read in this

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ruler should act for the good of the state and not for his own benefit. The constitution that supports this idea is the constitution that is acceptable: It is clear then that those constitutions which aim at the common good are right, as being in accord with absolute justice; while those which aim only at the good of the rulers are wrong. They are all deviations from the right constitutions. They are like the rule of master over slave, whereas the state is an association of free men (Saunders 189). Aristotle's description of the state as an association of free men aligns him with democratic theory, though he expresses a distaste for democracy at a certain level and finds that there are certain classes in society that should not be given the right to participate because they are not worthy. For Aristotle, indeed, democracy is often best when fewer people participate rather than when more do. He says that democracy in rural communities is preferable because farmers are too busy to attend meetings and involve themselves in government, thus leaving matters to the more capable and educated. In urban regions, however, craftsmen and shopkeepers manage to attend meetings and participate, and for Aristotle these are not the best

Category: Philosophy - A