Essay on "Politeia in the Politics"

Essay 4 pages (1453 words) Sources: 1

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Aristotle recommends, however, that there be some minor property qualifications (like the possession of arms) to be required for those who wish to participate in the government (ibid, 214).

Aristotle also considers the three elements of civic government. In this scheme, there is the deliberative, the executive and also the judicial. The deliberative element participates in public matters. These include foreign policy, the enacting of laws, judicial cases where a severe penalty is involved and also the appointment of public officials. The executive element holds public order together and takes the responsibility for governing and also issuing commands. The judicial element then passes rulings on the matters of both private and public interest. A democracy generally permits all of the people to be involved in these matters. However, an oligarchy permits only a very select group to be involved. Both constitutional government and aristocracy permit all the people to be involved in some matters but only a select group in others. The executive elements vary greatly from politeia to politeia, according primarily to four factors: which include the number of offices, the length of tenure in a given office, the function of each office and the methods by which officers are appointed. The methods of appointment may vary depending on who is responsible for doing the appointments, determining who is eligible to be appointed and what methods are used to appoint. These may be by election, by lots, or by both (ibid, 117-118).

The concept that everything requires moderation is central to Aristotle's ethics. Also, it is integral to his politics. This is why he the merit of empowering the middle class. Rather than having a vague, theoretical suggestion, he backs up the argument with practical considerations. These practical considerations feel that the middle class is least susceptible to self-interest, to factionalism and to the hatred of the other classes of society. The polis is at its base a koinonia. This is a shared venture in that everyone participates in order to achieve the common good. Even more so, the Greek civic life greatly esteemed as virtues friendship and cooperative striving. In this way, the middle class, is least likely to feel resentment toward the other classes. This embodies the all-important virtue and is therefore the best suited for a government (ibid, 209).

There is an understandable temptation for scholars to associate Aristotle's three branches of government (deliberative, executive, and judicial) on a one to one basis with the three branches (legislative, executive, and judicial) put into effect in the United States in the late eighteenth century. Though are similar in name, the systems are quite different iun many ways. Firstly, Aristotle does not propose a legislative branch. In Greek times, these laws were seen as being permanent and not to be subject to modification. Therefore, a legislative branch would have been irrelevant. Secondly,, Aristotle's judicial element is much closer to our modern lower courts than to the United States Supreme Court that constitutes the judicial branch of our government. There were not any professional judges or lawyers in ancient Greece. Therefore, a jury of citizens decided all court cases. The United States judicial and executive branches most nearly correspond to those of Aristotle's deliberative and executive branches (ibid).

Again, one might also distinguish between Aristotle's executive and deliberative branches by maintaining that the executive deals with the day-to-day business and also the deliberative element deals except in exceptional cases. The executive branch consists only of those who issue orders and not of all of the public servants (many that were slaves). The deliberate branch, much like the judicial branch and is called together into a large assembly to deliberate on the matters of public interest (ibid).

Conclusion

In this short essay, the author will demonstrated that Aristotle viewed man as a political animal. He then set out a scheme in the Politeia that would allow man enough room to live up to this nature. It is this author's contention that Aristotle proposes a mean between pure democracy and oligarchy. In this middle area, political and philosophical balance could be achieved to make the constitutional optimum a reality.

Works Cited

Aristotle, & Everson, S. (1996). Aristotle: The politics and the constitution of athens. Cambridge,… READ MORE

How to Reference "Politeia in the Politics" Essay in a Bibliography

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