Royer Jed. M.

Quiñones Pol Sci 71

Plato's Political Philosophy

According to Plato, social diversity and conflicting interests, which involve the

danger of civil strife is the starting point in assessing the best political order. The

classification is distinct in a political community according to Plato. It is composed of the

noble, the rich, and the poor, along with them are the idiosyncrasies, values and political

desires to lead. Hence, in Plato's perspective, this is more likely to be correlated with

chaos and unto deciding which is the best political system. Plato believes that the best

political order which promotes social peace in the environment of cooperation and

friendship among different social groups, each benefiting from and each adding to the

common good.

In Republic, Plato posited that the mixed or composite constitution that fixes the

discord among different partisan interests and includes aristocracy, oligarchy and

democracy tenets. It must be noted that Plato's view on the government is distinct. The

ideal type of government which is democracy, “government of the people by the people

and for the people,” as it is the most just and equitable. Freedom and equality are what

sets democracy apart from other types. But Plato does agree on democracy as the most

ideal type. In the Republic he argued the direct democracy of his time precisely because

of its noticeable features. On to the first point, Plato believed that although democracy

involves freedom, this might actually lead to excessive freedom or liberty which could

turn to anarchy which causes disorder due to non-recognition of authority. For Plato's

1
second point, he argues that the equality ought to be shared in terms of capacity and

power empowers power-seeking individuals which could be a greater source of

corruption and malpractices in the society. Those rules who value their personal

advances than yield to the general welfare. This is highly attributable to Plato's origin

and background in ancient Greek political practice that is unstable, giving birth to

anarchy and then to tyranny- breeding leaders unskillful and not morally fit.

According to Plato, for democracy to be adapted, it must be a qwell-thought off

process where people should select their rules and they should not just come by mere

accident or chance. They must be carefully and deliberately selected. A sound judgment

is a pre-requisite in arriving at sound political policies and decisions which should yield

to the general welfare of the state. As Plato put it, " competence is a major requirement

for civil servants.

Plato is not politically skeptical on democracy, in fact, he added that there is an

intergenerational approach unto passing on a better generation. This includes a good

political order, good education and upbringing. There is the possibility of surpassing the

predecessors in this sense. It can be deduced then, that Plato's idealism and liberalism

is showing that the hope for a better future is anchored on good education and good

governance. That when people also strive to cooperate and live and seek to understand

their differences, forgetting war or partisan strife- then there is no doubt that the quality

of life is deemed improved.

Plato lived a mark in establishing that upholding the rule of law, synchronizing

and interplay of interests, fairness as the lifeblood of the ideal political order, the

integration of constitution and existing laws of the land, the comparison between the

2
ideal and the worse political practices, and selection of competent rulers are a must in

building a just and trustworthy political order.

References:

Korab-Karpowicz, W.J. (N.D.) " Plato: Political Philosophy". Retrieved from:

https://www.iep.utm.edu/platopol/

Brian, N. (2015). Western Political Thought: From Socrates to the Age of Ideology, Long

Grove: IL: Waveland PressInc.

3
 Aristotle’s Political Philosophy

Before talking about Aristotle’s prominent political philosophy, I think it’s

imperative that a discussion on his biography be done first to understand better his

distinct and widely accepted and practiced theory of politics. To begin with, Aristotle was

a Greek philosopher who lived from around b. 384 – d. 322 BCE. He studied in Athens

where he became a student of Plato. He was the tutor of Alexander the Great, the son

of King Philip II of Macedon.

Aristotle is one of the most influential thinkers in the world since the ancient

period until today. He basically studied a number of disciplines during his time. He was

the father of many disciplines including political science, and even psychology as some

scholars would suggest. Further, he was a scholar of mathematics, logic, physics,

metaphysics, philosophy, literature, among other things. But out of these disciplines, he

is best known as a philosopher. In fact, he is famously considered as “The Philosopher”

all over the world.

Now that we have already created enough space for his biography, a discussion

on his political philosophy will now follow. It must be noted, however, that his political

philosophy is quite broad. So what we will do is focus on the main themes of such. So,

to start, Aristotle, in his Politics,talks about the 6 constitutions or types of government or

simply regimes−which by the way are still practiced until now by certain states− which

include the following: 1) Aristocracy; 2) Oligarchy; 3) Monarchy; 4) Tyranny; 5)

Democracy; and 6) Constitutional Government. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,

it says:

4
 Regimes differ according to the principle of justice and central quality by which

offices are distributed, and by their proclivity to serve the common good.

Democracies attempt to distribute offices equally to those who are equally free,

and the better ones serve a common good, and not only the class good of the

majority. But even the better democracies are inferior to regimes such as

aristocracy and monarchy that attempt to distribute offices unequally to the

practically virtuous, in this way serving a common good. Still, all democracies are

superior to oligarchies, which distribute offices unequally to the unequally

wealthy, and to tyrannies, that serve the tyrant’s pleasure. All political

communities—all cities and countries—require wealth, secure freedom, and

virtue, so good laws measure the rule even of the excellent.

On top of this, Aristotle also believed that man is a political animal. As

expressed in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, it says:

Although nature brings us together - we are by nature political animals – nature

alone does not give us all of what we need to live together: "[T]here is in everyone

by nature an impulse toward this sort of partnership. And yet the one who first

constituted [a city] is responsible for the greatest of goods" [1253a29]. We must

figure out how to live together for ourselves through the use of reason and speech,

discovering justice and creating laws that make it possible for human community

to survive and for the individuals in it to live virtuous lives. A group of people that

has done this is a city: "[The virtue of] justice is a thing belonging to the city. For

5
 adjudication is an arrangement of the political partnership, and adjudication is

judgment as to what is just" (1253a38). And in discovering and living according to

the right laws, acting with justice and exercising the virtues that allow human

society to function, we make possible not only the success of the political

community but also the flourishing of our own individual virtue and happiness.

Conclusively, it is important to realize that Aristotle wants people to come

together and work toward a shared goal for the betterment of the state or polis.

With this comes the idea of what regime best fits the community. It really depends

on the kind of leaders and the set up in that society. As long as the citizens are

geared toward uplifting each other then things are in proper place.

References:

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-politics/

https://www.iep.utm.edu/aris-pol/

https://thegreatthinkers.org/aristotle/introduction/