10/15.doc

10/15/09 9:03 AM In readings, take apart each piece of the reading and reconstructing the architecture of a person?s argument From Virtue to Action ??political science spends most of its pains on making the citizens to be of a certain character, viz. good and capable of noble acts? (946) Aristotle believes citizenship is active participation, links to the citizenship in freedom. He believes some people are natural slaves and are thus not capable of freedom. Freedom is the opposite of slavery, thus for Aristotle slavery is the opposite of citizenship. Need to be a man, then you are capable of citizenship Aristotle?s Politics (c.347-322 B.C.E.) Based on lecture notes from his classes. He was the philosopher of the middle ages. Various gaps in the text, use imagination to fill in those gaps. He works from experience and then Lecture Outline 1. Hierarchy of Communities page 1 paragraph one ?We see that every city state si a cmmunty f somesort..? makes 3 claims. Every city-state is a community, a community is any gathering of people on any scale from a couple to a nation Every community has a purpose, it exists for some good. Political community is the greatest community of all. It encompasses all of the others Hierachy of community Couple>>Household>>Village>>City-State (Political Community 2. Couples and Households First layer, is man and wife, master and slave. Then add children are a household. Book One Chapter 2 paragraph 1- ?First then, those who cannot exist without each other form a couple as one female and male for sake or appropriation?? No person can be self-suffiecient, no person can flourish on their own. City State needs each other. Superiors and Inferiors ?Soul and body are the basic constituents of the animal he soul is the natural rules: the body its natural subject Ruler>>Rules, Soul>>Body. Hiearchy of rationality over animality. If we let our desiers go wild, our animality has conquered rationality. Have to accept naturalization, take a conventional social form (by custom or tradition) Sees in society women are subordinate, men are the only people in politics. Then think men are just suited for politics because they are the people active in politics He has never seen women participate in deliberation, or have a chance to get better at it. He has mistaken the effects for the cause. That women themselves must be the problem, not society itself. Master to Slave Pg 8 & 9 ?Therefore those people?? Sees that people are naturally good at serving others. He is good at being belonged to someone else. Ex. Look at these people that are good at manual labor, look like they are command. Some people get very practiced in command. A natural slave can understand reason but cannot excersise it. Justifying Familial Hierarchy ?The deliberative part of the sold is entirely missing from a Slave; a woman has it but lacks authority; a child has it but is incompletely developed (9). They come together and manage a household, manage cooking, cleaning, labor. 3. Villages and City-States Village-group of households that have come together, often extended family. ?The first thing to emerge from these two communities is a houshold?But the first community constituated out of several households for the sake of satisfying needs other than everyday ones is a village..A complete community constituated out of several villages, once it reaches the limits of total SELF-SUFICIENCY.. is a city-state.? (2-3) Takes a village to build a house, harvest crops. When a city-state comes together ?It comes to be for the sake of living, but it remains in existence for the sake of living well.? (3) Once the city-state comes together, even though it once was for trade and military uses. Then it is open to politics. Within political life, when there is a gathering of strangers. What does it mean? That when they form a community, Political Animals-?It is evident from these considerations?? 4. Nature and Politics man is a political animal. Politics is natural. If we are fulfilling our nature we are engaging in it. To be naturally political it means we must naturally be social. Political animality is not just any kind of social interaction. It is humans interacting in such way that they can achieve the best life possible. Priority ?The cit-state is also Prior in nature to the household and to each of us individually, since the whole necessarily to the part? (4) Beasts and gods ?anyone who cannot form a community with others, or who does not need to because he is self-sufficient..is either a beast or a god? (5) 5. Citizenship and Rule pg 66 and 67, Citizenship = judgment, ?An unqualified citizens is defined by nothing else? ?The capacity to rule and be ruled in turn is?praised, and being able to do both well is held to be the virtue of a citizen? (72) Understand the complexity of politics between the governed. Expect certain things from the political community. See the hard choices rulers have to ?There is?a kind of rule excercised over those who are similar in birth and free. This we call ?political? rule. A ruler must learn it by being rules, just as one learns to be a calvarly commander b serving under a calvalry commander?? (73) How does his vision of citizenship differ from other visions. Living is a subordinate to living well. Need to live according to the good. Check-in about how Aristotle subordinates freedom and citizensip POL S 201 10/15/09 9:03 AM 10/15/09 9:03 AM