When studying philosophy and political science in general, the names of Plato and Aristotle are often mentioned as the most prominent minds and the starters of many philosophical and political doctrines. Both philosophers were concerned with the nature of the State, or the polis, the forms it could take and which one of them could be considered as the best possible regime a society could give itself. According to Bertrand Russell, Aristotelism gave the foundations to forms of government based on reason, while Platonism gave foot to idealism and the establishment of mysticism as a way to control societies . This work will analyze the writings of these two philosophers that were dedicated to finding out the best way to guide or govern the polis.
The Republic of Plato
Both Plato and Aristotle were concerned with the nature of the individual and society, but each one had very particular points of view. Plato, and his particular defense of idealism, proposed that every man should fulfill a specific role in the society, and that role would be determined by the character of a person. He was of the idea that there were three kinds of people: the wise, the courageous and those who had an appetitive soul. Plato then compares the state to a body composed of parts, each one with a specific function in it, proposing a stratified and static society where every individual has a pre-determined position and role acquired at birth. The philosophers were the individuals most qualified to rule since they would had the capacity to comprehend reality and make the best judgments. The courageous would be in charge of the protection of the city, and the rest of the people is bound to follow their leaders without questioning them. Plato was sure that this kind of order would ensure justice since it is the “harmony that results when everyone is actively engaged in fulfilling his role and does not meddle with that of others” .
His idea of a just state would be that of a totalitarian state where even the music and arts had to be regulated by it . For this effect, Plato proposed the establishment of a separate class especially trained to rule and protect the state, in a fashion that would resemble modern attempts of social engineering. This separate class of guardians would be raised differently in a way that might be perceived as communist, where men and women would live together, without having anything that could be considered property, not even children or wives. Said regime would encourage the apparition of the necessary traits this class should have in order to rule wisely. Plato conceived the State as a “kind of higher organism in which the citizen had pretty well lost his personality” , giving it a socialistic touch.
Plato also made a distinction between the kinds of governments a society could give itself and the way they would progressively degenerate. He thought that there were a series of political systems that would degenerate progressively as people gave in to their most basic instincts. The first one was aristocracy, or rule by the best. Aristocracy is not the rule of the richest or the rule by the few. Plato made it clear that Aristocracy would be the rule of the virtuous and it would be the ideal political regime, guided by a group of philosophers living a communal way of life that would allow them to govern without worries about property or the burdens of family . After a while, this form of government based on wisdom would give in to a less virtuous regime based on courage and ruled by military warlords seeking honor. This timocracy would not last long either, slowly giving in to appetites of the ruling elite, and being transformed to an oligarchy or rule by the wealthy that would spend little but acquire much, and would be only concerned about their wellbeing while neglecting the needs of the society. The next political regime for Plato is democracy, or the rule of the people. This form brings about equality that lacked in the previous forms, but it is void of virtue and tends to be an unstable system. Plato says that to bring about democracy it is only enough to “kill some of the other side, expel others, and to the rest give an equal share of political power and offices” , which portrays his dislike for this kind of constitution. The rule of the people opens the possibility that a demagogue, a person that proclaims himself as a protector of the lower class, takes power and establishes a tyranny, the last and most depraved form of government .
Aristotle´s Constitutions
The works of Aristotle are based on those of his former teacher, Plato, but are mostly a rebuttal of them. Unlike Plato´s determinism, Aristotle believed that any man could become a ruler or be part of a ruling class if given proper education, and he thought that the rule of the many was qualitatively better than the rule of one “because anyone can rule well when educated by the laws and many ruling together are better than one ruling alone” . When referring to art, laws and education, Aristotle has a less statist view than his teacher, and accepts that they are bound to change because they were not perfect in the first place, and laws should be formulated in universal terms so it can be more broadly applied .
His opinion of the communal view of Plato was that having common property, wives and children would actually bring about injustice and fraction society. Aristotle believed that justice meant to treat equal men equally, inequalities derived from merits, and benefits should be distributed to individuals according to what they deserve . Just like Plato, he believed that the best form of government is an aristocratic rule, but the members of this class could not be deprived of property or freedom, or separated from the rest of the society living the communal life suggested by Plato. On the contrary, the best rule would come from individuals that participated in full in the political community, learned about virtue through education and observation of just laws, and had property and freedom .
The best constitution of a state, according to Aristotle, would be one where the majority of the citizens are educated and virtuous. He did not believe that people are born with pre-determined roles, or that there are classes of people that have specific functions in a society conceived as a higher entity. Instead, he believed that educating vast majority, a middle class that would stand between the richest and the poorest, a society of virtuous would arise. They would certainly possess wealth, but in moderation, which would make them less prone to act unjustly against fellow citizens and also have less disposition to fraction .
Aristotle did also create a classification of constitutions, but it was based in the number of rulers a society decides to give itself. There are three kinds of correct constitutions according to him: the monarchy, the aristocracy and the polity, and each one could degenerate to a deviant form of itself. The rule of one, or monarchy, can be maintained as long as the king puts the interests of the many above his own. When this ceases to be so, the monarchy turns into a tyranny. The same happens with the aristocracy, the rule of a virtuous few, when it degenerates into an oligarchy, the rule of the wealthy. The polity is the third best form of government, and it supposes the rule of an educated and numerous middle class. Aristotle believed that this could eventually degenerate to a democracy, the rule of the poor, and would soon give rise to a powerful demagogue .
Modern States and Ancient Philosophies
The thoughts of Plato and Aristotle can be found embedded in many of the ideologies used to guide most modern states. Those imbued with Platonism, tend to direct the lives of their citizens and impose utopias that end up shrinking the liberties of their subjects in the name of virtue. On the other hand, although Aristotle defended slavery and was not found of financial activities , he set the foundations of freer societies based on the belief that education could give people the tools to rule themselves with moderation, and give themselves the best laws.
References
Aristotle. Politics. London: Dover Thrift, 2000.
Frye, P. "Plato´s Political Ideas." The Mid-West Quarterly (1914): 1-17.
Miller, Fred. "Aristotle's Political Theory." 21 September 2012. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . 4 April 2014.
Plato. Republic. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1992.
Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy. New York: Stratford Press, 1946.
