Philosophy

Philosophy Study Guide

potentials and goals that could be achieved only within the context of a just, rationally ordered state. The natural order is for people of wisdom to lead society, people of courage to protect its interests, and people of temperance to provide the basic nurturing needs of the community. Plato’s ideal society is based on the concept of cooperation, a state in which all people fulfill their distinctive functions, fully committed to the general interests of society as a whole. 10.4 Aristotle: Society is the Natural State of Humanity Aristotle believed that man is a political creature by nature and that existing in social communities in our natural state and that we can exist as fully formed individuals only through our social relationships with others. Our self-identity is at its core a social identity, shaped by the network of people who form our social community, and within which we are embedded. Aristotle’s work titled Politics is where he discusses that humans are naturally social creatures and political animals in the same way that many other species instinctively herds and packs, but humans have the ability to transcend those of other animals. Our ability to use language enables us to think and communicate in complex, symbolic, and abstract ways. All of these thinking and language abilities enable humans to reflect on their social communities and evaluate them in terms of concepts such as just and unjust meaning good and evil. For Aristotle, the fact that the state is prior to the individual means that humans can achieve their full potential only through their social existence. Aristotle believed that any individual who can exist independently of human community must either be a beast or a God. For humans to achieve their potential, they must work cooperatively with others to achieve virtue for themselves and for their community. Aristotle believes that different people have different potentials to fulfill however, he felt that slaves were fulfilling their distinct duty which many people today would find offensive and he does not accord women a status comparable to free men. Aristotle articulated the concept of distributive justice endorsing the notion that wealth and goods should be fairly distributed among the members of society. Aristotle also recognized that the poor and disadvantaged members of society required special protection in a just society to ensure that their basic needs were taken care of. Aristotle believed that humans are inherently political social animals who achieve their individual potential only through social interaction. For him, the state is prior to the individual meaning that the interests of the community take precedence over the interest of the individual citizens. 10.5 Justice Depends on a Social Contract Plato and Aristotle both envisioned an ideal society as one based on the assumption that justice was the natural result of each citizen performing his or her natural function, no matter what that person’s position in the social hierarchy. Both Plato and Aristotle grounded their social and political visions in their metaphysical beliefs: Plato’s quest for rational enlightenment and wisdom and Aristotle’s belief in the purposeful nature of every dimension of the universe. The Middle Ages in Europe was dominated by the influence of religion. The ruling monarchs often sought to establish their authority by claiming they ruled by divine right supported by the full force of God’s will. Thus the state and the rulers came to be seen as an integral part of God’s kingdom on earth. The seventeenth-century

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