Oktay KAYMAKWhat do you think about relationships between political thoughts history and two important Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle? These thinkers laid the foundations of political thought. In this article I want to give you some information about Plato and Aristotle.
Firstly I want to talk about Plato and his book “Republic”. Plato (427-347 B.C.) was a philosopher who born in Athena. He is student of Socrates. He was from aristocratic family. When we come to “Republic”; The first work that deserves to be called political science, in that it applies systematic reasoning and critical inquiry to political ideas and institutions, is Plato’s “Republic”. The main ideas of “Republic” is that the right kind of government and politics can be achieved with precise and scientific thought. According to Plato no theory of politics can be sound unless based on the study of man. As well as Plato says in political thoughts there are two forms; public and private. Plato finds Homer,Hesoid and other masters of Greek literature opprobrious and corrupting. For Plato education is very important for better government and public service. Plato has several classification. The first classification is about society. According to Plato, society divided into three. These are rulers (guardians), fighters and working populations (farmers, merchants, doctors, actors…). The second classification is about virtue and character. Plato says there are four main virtue; wisdom, courage, appetite and justice. The characteristic quality of the rulers is wisdom, just as courage is the characteristic of the fighters and appetite is the distinctive trait of the working population. According to him the republic is opposed to democracy on two levels of argument: explicit and implicit level. The main difference between the ruler-philosophers and the producers in the republic is the difference between political wisdom and technical knowledge. In addition Plato’ concept of truth is more absolute and individual aristocratic.
Secondly Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was Greek philosopher born in Stagirus. He is student of Plato. Aristotle set up a school his own the Lyceaum. Aristotle famous book is “Politics”. The Politics about natural man, regime and politics. His Politics are the first systematic treaties in their respective fields (psychology, aesthetics…). Aristotle is very important for Political philosophy. According to Aristo political science is the most of science. In politics there are two important ideas; the state is community and that it is the highest of all communities. According to Aristotle as a natural in two ways. Firstly the state is important than family secondly the man is natural political animals. The human have logos. For Aristo there are three community. First form family, second form village and the third and highest form city state. According to Aristotle monarchy to be the most ideal kind of government. He talk about organic state; Aristotle may not have been the first to consider the state a community but he was the first to define it clearly as such and thus he laid foundation for the organic conception of state.
In this chapter I want to compare Plato and Aristotle. According to Plato, the reality is constant but for Aristotle reality has been directed to the development. Aristotle’s biological, scientific and historical interests enabled him to view the philosophical problem of reality from a more dynamic and relative standpoint than Plato’s and Aristotle’s conception of the static therefore encompasses a wider range of forms of state, varying blends of idea and circumstance, of the perfect and the imperfect. Plato defend, the unity of state but for Aristotle this union leads to conflict. Plato’s conception of the state carried the idea of unity, implicit in all organic theories, to the excess of self- destruction; Aristotle found the counterweight to such an extreme and perfectionist view in the elements of his thinking that pointed toward relativism and pluralism. Aristotle’s criticism of Plato’s management style; Aristotle says in an obvious reference to Plato that there are some who would have none but the most perfect. “The knowledge of the best state may have some value as norm and standard but on the other hand, “the best is often unattainable, and therefore the true legislator and statesman ought to acquainted, not only with that which is best in the abstract but also with that which is best relatively to circumstances. Where the attention to Plato in the Republic at least, is centred on the desirable kind of the state, Aristotle holds that we should consider, not only what form of government is best, but also what is possible and what is easily attainable by all. Plato argues aristocracy but Aristotle argues monarchy.
In conclusion Aristotle and Plato very important for political Thought. They have laid the foundations of political thought. Plato and Aristotle is conflicting with some issues Please don’t forget if you want to politics you should learn important Greek political thinkers Aristotle and Plato.
Oktay KAYMAK
