Aristotle’s Philosophy: Ethics, Wisdom, and Politics
Aristotle’s Ethical and Political Philosophy
The Importance of Virtue
If a person acts as a whole, their desires will be governed by their thoughts. Virtue involves the conscious control of one’s thoughts and actions. Moral virtue is defined as “a willingness to choose the appropriate action, according to the criteria of a prudent person” (Nicomachean Ethics, II, 1106b). We must find a balance, a mean between two extremes, one of excess and one of deficiency, both of which are vices. For example, regarding pleasure, the mean is temperance, while the extremes are abstinence and indulgence. When facing danger, the mean is courage, and the extremes are cowardice and recklessness.
The Thinking Part of the Soul
Within the thinking part of the soul, Aristotle distinguishes three functions: contemplative, practical, and productive. The contemplative, or scientific, function involves contemplating universal, necessary, and unchanging aspects of reality. The practical and productive functions relate to determining the best means to achieve desired ends. Corresponding to these distinctions are three intellectual virtues: contemplative, practical, and productive. From an ethical perspective, the most important are the practical virtues, especially prudence, which guides us to choose the appropriate action, avoiding excess or deficiency.
Wisdom and Contemplation
Wisdom, according to Aristotle, is good for nothing beyond itself; it is an end in itself. It is the highest pursuit for humans, not to be exchanged for anything else. Wisdom, or contemplation, is the activity that brings the greatest happiness. A person is happier to the extent they can engage in the contemplative life. However, Aristotle believes not all people have access to this life, specifically excluding “passive women,” “slaves,” and those “brutalized by manual labor.”
Within the “polis” (city-state), some individuals, the best, can engage in theoretical science and achieve full development of human nature, serving as “wise men” to others. Facilitating the existence of these individuals is the highest function of the polis, and a reason why Aristotle studied politics.
Man as a Social Being
Aristotle believed humans cannot thrive in isolation. We need others and only in community can we meet our needs. Humans are social beings by nature. Some animals, like bees, are also social. They make sounds and communicate pleasure and pain. But humans are the most social, possessing language (“logos”). Language allows us to exchange views on right and wrong, desirable and harmful, and to reach agreements reflected in laws that constitute the “polis.” Membership in a “polis” is as natural as having eyes or legs. Humans are political animals by nature, and the “polis”, the self-sufficient city-state, is the perfect society because it has the means to achieve its ends. It comes after the family and other societies that it protects and helps achieve their own ends. “The city is prior to the house and each of us. Since the whole is necessarily prior to the part.”
The Organization of the State
Having witnessed the instability of city-states, Aristotle believed that achieving security and stability for a good life was more important than finding a perfect system of government. He analyzed existing states empirically. In Politics, he distinguishes between “the best constitution in general” and “the best constitution in the circumstances.” A theoretically good constitution may not suit a country’s specific historical context. These circumstances determine the most appropriate constitution. The three possible forms of government are: monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. Theoretically, Aristotle considered monarchy the best, but given human nature, aristocracy is preferable. Unlike Plato, he saw democracy as a good system, requiring an educated populace. When any of these systems prioritizes self-interest over the “arete” (virtue) of citizens, it degenerates into a vicious government: monarchy into tyranny, aristocracy into oligarchy, and democracy into demagoguery.