Up to Exam 1 Flashcards
Plato
437-347 BC
Leading philosopher in ancient Athens. Served in the military, taught by Socrates
Educated Aristotle in Philosophy Law Mathematics and Logic
Major work was the Republic and Allegory of the Cave
Allegory
the richness of its teachings lies in not the literal details of the story but the larger philosophical questions implied by the details
The WORLD is an allegory
Allegory of the Cave
Becoming an enlightened individual
Our lives consist of watching shadows. We are mesmerized by our own world, not knowing it is vacuous in nature. We are entertained, informed and reassured by the mundane and the sublime in our reality, not knowing both are merely artificial constructs
we are all prisoners
We are so certain that we know reality because we are empirically observing it. Complacency has become part of our nature.
Plato and Justice
The highest purpose of the state is to pursue justice. Justice is presented as following nature.
Following your nature is being true to the person that you are
when each person is acting justly, the state itself is just
Plato’s 3 natural groups
1) manual labor
2) physical danger (military)
3) policy making, public service, class of guardians, rulers
striving for advancement was not encouraged. only few can rule, and democracy was not the best for a state to live naturally.
plato was an elitist.
Injustice
To plato, it is acting contrary to nature
Aristotle’s reasons to live
1- nourish and reproduce
2- to sens rand move
3- To think
Plants have one, animals have one and two, humans have all three
Aristotle’s virtue
Happiness consists of the disposition toward the best exercise of a man’s rational capacity
This is virtue
Two kinds of virtue according to Aristotle
Intellectual: theoretical knowledge
Moral: The way in which one desires/pursues or has an aversion to/avoids
Disposition to feel or act according to the proper mean between opposing vices in various fields or feeling or activity. The proper mean is the point at which the pleasant correlates with the fine and the useful and the painful with the base and the useless
Mean= Right rule
Book I Chapter 4 “Politics”
property, agency
Property is an important part of Household management
All subordinates are property
Slaves are subordinate because they do not control their own actions
Those who have agency over their actions are not slaves
Book I Chapter 13 “Politics”
household management property
For Household Management, human beings are more important than inanimate property
The soul has both a ruling and a ruled element each is valuable in different ways
The balance of mind and body is essential in society
The free person and the slave, the woman and the man, and the man and the child all relate to one another in a similar way
Politics Book 1 Chapter 1
what is rulership aimed to do according to Aristotle
Ruler and rule
Overstate is a community of some kind
A city as a community that seek some sort of GOOD
Rulers should aim to direct as many Citizen
Every city consists of households. Those who rule over a household have different responsibilities than those who rule over a city
Those who rule the household vs those who rule over their city
Rulership is aimed to direct as many citizens as possible toward Good whether in the form of: societal order, greater wisdom, other positive goals
Every state is a community of some kind
Politics Book 1 Chapter 2
what is a necessary of the the city
When several villages are united in a single complete community, large enough to be nearly or quite self-sufficing, the State comes into Existence
A state necessitates that relationship of the Ruling and the Ruled
Aristotle believes some should be Slaves some should be Masters
Greeks should control aliens/barbarians (non-Greeks)
In Households that make up Cities Power is distributed for the needs of Daily Life (the leader was always the Eldest Male)
The first communities formed when several Households joined together as a village
Cities help people live well with increased efficiency and access to resources
Aristotle believes humans are political beings by nature because they need one another to survive and thrive
Aristotle believes cities must focus on encouraging Moral Behavior
One cannot survive without the other (men and women)
Book 1 Chapter 3
three elements of successful household
Even city is composed of Households
Complete households include slaves and free people
Three elements essential to successful households
The head of the household dominates women, children and slaves
The head of the household dominates the marriage
The head of the household dominates procreations
Everyone has a certain role
3 elements of successful household
head dominates women, children, and slaves
head of procreation
head fo marriage
Book 1 Chapter 5
society requires what? from birth, individuals divide into what? what relationship applies to the body and soul?
From birth, individuals diverge into tho se who rule and those who do not rule
“for that some should rule and others be ruled is a thing not necessary, but expedient”
Ruler and ruled relationships create harmony in society
The ruler ruled relationship applies to the human body’ the soul rules the body, and passion is ruled by intellect
Society requires both Slaves and Masters, and one is not less than the other.
Aristotle
Aristotle was a political scholar skilled at forming arguments. Before writing “Politics” he sent his students to 158 cities to study how they functions and bring back positive and negatives
Aristotle often cites specific Cities as ex’s of governments that do and do not work.
Trade is important. There is a role in household. You want more than what you need, that will break down the household, and in turn, society will breakdown too.
Master Slave relationship according to Aristotle
He views it as a moral relationship
The Master is responsible for a mastering virtue and the Slave must perform a serving virtue.
In this sense the slave is not abject but has much of the same intellect as the master.
Women according to Aristotle
According to Aristotle, women are unfit to rule or serve as heads of households. Aristotles ideal household requires relationships of control and domination, beginning with the head of a household, a man.
Money according to Aristotle
Aristotle sees nature as a means towards sufficiency and having enough and considers money part of nature, or the natural order of things
Aristotle believes that excess wealth— money from money begins to separate from nature
The Household according to Aristotle
Aristotle begins with the smallest power dynamic and the foundation of all cities— the Household. From the Household comes a larger groupings. Each member of a household and a community plays a vital role.
Aristotle considers the household the base of all relationships in a community; an orderly household will lead to an orderly society.
Politics Book 2 Chapter 1
what does he preface for book 2
Seeks a model for the best government to find this he studies existing regimes. Citizens form the basis for any city; they must share some commonality
Book 2 Chapter 3
Aristotle notes no two citizens are alike, so citizens cannot form a cohesive group, and the statement all say the same thing is a fallacy.
They cannot form a cohesive group
children will always look to find their biological parents
Book 2 Chapter 4
family unit
The family unit reduces the chance of homicides assaults and verbal abuse. He says if citizens
The matter of children is also complicated. Children should be raised by their household and not the community
Heterosexual relationship is the foundation of a positive society.
It takes a Villiage is not true to Aristotle.
How does Aristotle feel about the collective family collective unit? (family unit and children)
Aristotle believes that only a heterosexual relationship can be the functional foundation of a household, and by extension, a positive society. Children should be raised by the household, not the community, and a successful family unit reduces the chances of homicides, assaults and verbal abuse.
Book 2 Chapter 6
Legislators need to focus on two things:
The territory and the people who inhabit it
Book 2 Chapter 6
Private Property
Private property is important for a well-functioning society. Private property helps control the population because people will have only as many offspring as they can afford
Territory only needs as much as they need to live
Excess goes against nature, for money and territory
Book 2 Chapter 7
excess
The greatest injustices are caused by excess
no one should own more than five times as much as any other citizen
Human wickedness is insatiable. We will go to war with someone just because they have more than us
Excess only works in smaller societies
Book 2 Chapter 9
sparta
Looks Sparta and sees that women have lead and have political potential, but not encouraged.
Encouraging procreation like Sparta will increase poverty because households will not have the resources to provide for their offspring.
Women should not gain wealth
Book 2 Chapter 11
the two c’s
Carthage : any well born family (wealth is valued more than virtue) (oligarchy)
Crete : rulers are elected by elite family (monarchy)
Book 3 Chapter 2
citizenship according to Aristotle
Citizens are people whose parents are both citizens; often previous generations of the family were citizens too. Someone who participates in making the regime or forming the city is a citizen.
Forming the city after a revolution
Book 3 Chapter 3
Is citizenship determined justly?
Some dispute whether citizenship is determined justly. When a democracy replaces a tyranny or an oligarchy, who should become to a citizen? To answer this question, Aristotle says it is important to know the space the city occupies and where people live within the city. A city remains the same even when the regime changes.
