UCI Summer MA / Literature of Citizenship / 2002 / Lupton ARISTOTLE AND CITZENSHIP: FACTS, PARADIGMS, DEFINITIONS (from Stanford Encyclopedia

of Philosophy, <plato.Stanford.edu>) BIOGRAPHY Aristotle (b. 384 - d. 322 BC), was a Greek philosopher, logician, and scientist. Along with his teacher Plato, Aristotle is generally regarded as one of the most influential ancient thinkers in a number of philosophical fields, including political theory. Aristotle was born in Stagira in northern Greece, and his father was a court physician to he king of Macedon. As a young man he studied in Platos Academy in Athens. After Platos death he left Athens to conduct philosophical and biological research in Asia Minor and Lesbos, and he was then invited by King Philip II of Macedon to tutor his young son, Alexander the Great. Soon after Alexander succeeded his father, consolidated the conquest of the Greek city-states, and launched the invasion of the Persian Empire. Aristotle returned as a resident alien to Athens, and was close friend of Antipater the Macedonian viceroy. At this time (335-323 BC) he wrote or at least completed some of his major treatises, including the Politics. When Alexander died suddenly, Aristotle had to flee from Athens because of his Macedonian connections, and he died soon after. Aristotles life seems to have influenced his political thought in various ways: his interest in biology seems to be expressed in the naturalism of his politics; his interest in comparative politics and his sympathies for democracy as well as monarchy may have been encouraged by his travels and experience of diverse political systems; he criticizes harshly, while borrowing extensively, from Platos Republic, Statesman, and Laws; and his own Politics is intended to guide rulers and statesmen, reflecting the high political circles in which he moved. POLITEA (Constitution; Citizenship) The formal cause of the city-state is its constitution (politeia). Aristotle defines the constitution as "a certain ordering of the inhabitants of the city-state" (III.1.1274b32-41). He also speaks of the constitution of a community as "the form of the compound" and argues that whether the community is the same over time depends on whether it has the same constitution (III.3.1276b1-11). The constitution is not a written document, but an immanent organizing principle, analogous to the soul of an organism. Hence, the constitution is also "the way of life" of the citizens (IV.11.1295a40-b1, VII.8.1328b1-2). Here the citizens are that minority of the resident population who are adults with full political rights. ALSO: "The generic name -- a constitution": or "polity" (politeia, constitution). In modern English "polity" is not a common word, but when it is used it means form of government or type of constitution; thus one might speak of a democratic polity or a monarchical polity. Aristotle uses "polity" both in that way, as the generic name for a constitution of any sort, and as the name of one of the sorts. One of the kinds of polity is "polity", i.e. the polity or form of government in which all citizens rule and are ruled in turn. The idea of polity is that all citizens should take short turns at ruling. It is an inclusive form of government: everyone has a share of political power. He sometimes calls it "polity", sometimes "political" or "constitutional" government -- these are interchangeable. (From R.J. Kilcullen, http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/politics)

SEE ALSO: Fredrick Miller, NATURE, JUSTICE, AND RIGHTS IN ARISTOTLE'S POLITICS (Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 149: "Historically the term politeia (constitution) derived from polites (citizen) and originally had the meaning of 'citizenship' (see Herodotus IX.34.1), a connotation it also has in Aristotle (Pol. VII.9.1329a14)."

ARISTOTLE ON MARRIAGE AS A FORM OF CONSTITUTIONAL RULE Politics Chapter 12, [1259 a40-]: A husband and father... rules over wife and children, both free [i.e. neither is a slave], but the rule differs, the rule over his children being a royal, over his wife a constitutional rule. For although there may be exceptions to the order of nature [i.e. occasionally a wife may be wiser than her husband], the male is by nature fitter for command than the female... But in most constitutional states the citizens rule and are ruled by turns, for the idea of a constitutional state implies that the natures of the citizens are equal, and do not differ at all. Nevertheless, when one rules and the other is ruled we endeavour to create a difference of outward forms and names and titles of respect... The relation of the male to the female is of this kind, but there the inequality is permanent. Glossary of Aristotelian Terms action: praxis citizen: polits city-state: polis community: koinnia) constitution: politeia excellence: aret (also virtue) free: eleutheros good: agathos happiness: eudaimonia happy: eudaimn justice: dikaiosun law: nomos lawgiver: nomothets master: despots [but also kyrios??] nature: phusis noble: kalon (also beautiful) political: politikos (of, or pertaining to, the polis) political science: politik epistm practical: praktikos practical wisdom: phronsis right: exousia ruler: archn self-sufficient: autarks sovereign: kurios without qualification: hapls (also absolute) without authority: akuron Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon

Your current position in the text is marked in red. Click anywhere on the line to jump to another position. polits 1 [cf. also polits] 1. a member of a city or state (polis ), a citizen, freeman, Lat. civis, Hom., etc. 2. like Lat. civis, a fellow-citizen, Hdt., Aesch., etc. 3. theoi politai poliouchoi, Aesch. politikos 1 [polits] (Middle Liddell Dictionary) I. of, for, or relating to citizens, Plat., etc. 2. befitting a citizen, like a citizen, civic, civil, Lat. civilis, Thuc.; politiktera egeneto h oligarchia more constitutional, Arist.:-- adv., politiks like a citizen, in a constitutional manner, Lat. civiliter, Dem. 3. consisting of citizens, to politikon, hoi politai, the community, Hdt., Thuc.: the civic force, opp. to hoi summachoi, Xen., etc. 4. living in a community, Arist. II. of or befitting a statesman, statesmanlike, Xen., Plat. III. belonging to the state or its administration, political, Lat. publicus, Thuc.: --h politik (sub. techn ), the art of government, h p. epistm or h p. alone, the science of politics, Plat.: --ta politika, state-affairs, public matters, government, Thuc., etc. 2. civil, municipal, opp. to natural or general, Dem. IV. generally, of or for public life, public, opp. to kat' idias, Thuc., Xen. FURTHER READINGS AND RESOURCES Aristotle wrote a short book entitled The Constitution of Athens, a history of the successive legal reforms that created the Athenian politea (constitution / polity). The text is available in full at the Avalon Project, an electronic legal resource housed at Yale University Law School. See http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/. SCHOOL OF ATHENS, Painting by the Italian artist Raphael (1510-1511). At the center of the painting are Plato and Aristotle. Plato points upwards, towards the world of eidos (ideas, forms) Aristotle gestures outwards, towards the world of phenomena. Later schools of philosophy radiate outwards from their central dialogue. See http://www.goodart.org/artofetc.htm#sanzio for the image on line and a brief discussion.