Page 64 - DPOL201_WESTERN_POLITICAL_THOUGHT_ENGLISH

Western Political Thought

Notes faith on philosophic rule. Aristotle characterized political authority as constitutional between
equals, and since an individual was a political animal who found fulfilment only within a polis, it
was natural for people to aspire for political positions. Constitutional government with respect to
citizenship rights allowed people to compete for political office without civil chaos.
Aristotle defined a state as a collective body of citizens. Citizenship was not to be determined by
residence, since the resident aliens and slaves also shared a common residence with citizens, but
were not citizens. Nor could citizenship be defined by the share one had in civic rights, to the
extent of being entitled to sue and be sued in courts of law, for this right belonged to aliens as well.
A citizen was one who enjoyed the right to share in the deliberative or judicial offices, and was able to
exercise his political rights effectively. A citizen also enjoyed constitutional rights under the system
of public law.
For Aristotle, a citizen was one who shared power in the polis, and unlike Plato, did not distinguish
between “an active ruling group and a politically passive community”. Aristotle stipulated that
the young and the old could not be citizens, for one was immature and the other infirm. He did
not regard women as citizens, for they lacked the deliberative faculty and the leisure to understand
the working of politics. As far as the working class was concerned, though some states made them
citizens, they clearly did not have the aptitude nor the leisure to display the true excellence to
shoulder civic responsibilities. A good citizen would have the intelligence and the ability to rule
and be ruled. He, however, shared with Plato the perception that citizenship was a privilege and
a status to be inherited.
Aristotle pointed out that in order to discharge functions effectively, citizens would inhabit a polis
that was compact and close-knit. He was critical of Plato’s prescription that a citizen body of 5000
would be the ideal, for that was too large and would require unlimited space, such as the sprawling
lands of Babylon, rendering impossible functions like military command, public communications
and judicial pronouncements. A cohesive citizen body, where everybody would know one another
intimately, would be able to settle disputes effectively and satisfactorily, and distribute political
offices according to the merit of the candidates. The quality of citizenship would suffer in a larger
political community due to lack of intimacy.
Aristotle described a good citizen as someone who could live in harmony with the constitution,
and had sufficient leisure time to devote himself to the tasks and responsibilities of citizenship. He
regarded the existence of diversity of interests within a citizen body as essential to the practice of
citizenship, for it was through a balance of these interests that good government was attained. A
good citizen would possess virtue or moral goodness that would help in realizing a selfless and
cooperative civic life. He regarded citizenship as a:
... bond forged by the intimacy of participation in public affairs. The bond was moreover
a relationship which was guarded with some jealousy by those privileged to enjoy it.
It was neither a right to be claimed nor a status to be conferred on anybody outside the
established ranks of the class, no matter how worthy such an outsider might be.
Indeed, Greek citizenship depended not so much on rights which could be claimed as
on responsibilities which had with pride to be shouldered (Heater 1990: 4).
Both Plato and Aristotle pleaded for responsible and effective forms of education for citizenship.
This, they considered, was a cure for the corruption and political instability of their times. They
were equally critical of the casual manner in which the Athenian state regarded the tasks of
citizenship. As a corrective measure, both prescribed state-managed and state-controlled education.
In the Laws, Plato made it clear that the guardian of laws controlled the educational system by
selecting teachers only from among those who were willing to teach the laws and traditions of the
state in a manner determined by the guardians. Both Plato and Aristotle were committed to the idea
of state-controlled education. They “believed that different styles of civic education should be used

58 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY