Aristotle was a educated man who questioned everything. In 350 B.C.E Aristotle wrote a very popular book titled Politics. In the book, he brought about discussion from the purpose of government to how the government should be utilized by its citizens. Patrick Coby stated, "at one time or another Aristotle's favor turns to monarch, to aristocracy, to polity, to some mixture of the three, or to any sort of constitutional order in which the rule of law is paramount"(Coby. 1986). He made many valid points on his breakdown of politics, but his specifics on politics as an art, politics as law, and moral education in politics stick with us and has carried on throughout the years as the U.S government has adapted many of his teachings and theories. Aristotle, although would go back of forth at times, believed that politics was considered a science or tech. However, during the process of his writing he was unable to dissociate himself from Plato's understanding and many times has to recourse to Plato's understanding of politics as an art(Coby. 1986). For example in book IV, he models after gymnastics which says is applicable to medicine, shipbuilding, tailoring, and all the sundry arts(Aristotle. 350 BCE). This …show more content…
He was firm in his stance that political power does not always bring the nobility out of people, but sometimes the corruption. He suggest in his theory of politics that power be limited to safeguard those left subject to the rule(Aristotle. 350 B.C.E). From this, he determined that a government of well constituted laws would be preferable. The U.S. government upon its induction of democracy, which gives the people the power to govern themselves in a sense. With that, we established the U.S. Constitution and its Amendments. Thus ensuring rights be clear and power be limited. Also, with the utilization of our democracy, no branch has ultimate power, which allows us to have checks and balances of the other
Enlightenment Influence on American Government and Revolution The Enlightenment era was around the 18th century. A time where many different philosophers imputed many of their own thoughts and beliefs on religion, human rights, the government and other important situations involving our country today. Many figures associated with the Enlightenment were, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Baron Montesquieu, and Beccaria, to name a few.
Our Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution because The Articles of Confederation had too many weaknesses. Our Constitution now guards us from having any sorts of tyranny. The systems we use are Checks and Balances and Separation of powers. Checks and Balances is a system that allows other branches to check on each other to make sure anything they do does not go over their given power. The system of Separation of Powers ensures that our three branches are not being ruled by just one person.
In the United States Constitution, we have a very important system called checks and balances. This system was needed to control the power of each branch of government. Without a structure to control the amount of power each branch has our government would be controlled by one group of people. The system of checks and balances helps to prevent tyranny. The overall idea of checks and balances is formed on the observation that people act selfishly and make efforts to increase their own power and wealth at the cost of others.
“When the people fear their government there is tyranny:When the government fears the people there is liberty”. This quote by Thomas Jefferson best describes the vision our Founding Fathers had for our country. This way of thinking led them to write the Declaration of Independence in protest of King George III tyrannical government. Our Forefathers borrowed from the teaching of an ancient Greek philosopher named Plato and his student Aristotle. They believed that a tyrannical form of government was the least likely to prevail because one person that has all of the power is more susceptible to making mistakes and abusing power.
Aristotle did not consider all people equal; Locke and Aristotle had differing views on citizenship in their respective polity or commonwealth. He, Aristotle, argued that only certain people should participate in the political process. This contrary to Locke’s ideals that all people were created equal. Moreover, Aristotle did not consider all inhabitants of a state as citizens; he did not think women, aliens, or vulgar people, to name a few, should be granted the rights of citizens. According to Locke, all members of a society had equal rights, except for
It provides the overall structure of our democratic government. By separating powers into three branches and creating a system of checks and balances between the branches, it continues a long tradition in American
All in all, Aristotle’s philosophy made an astounding influence. In fact, it is in Aristotle’s Philosophy that Alexander the Great, which the former tutored in 347 BCE, laid down the foundations of the latter’s empire. Throughout Alexander’s rule, the influence of Aristotle, his mentor, can be seen in the former’s skillful and diplomatic handling of difficult problems throughout his career. When Alexander became a king, he had set forth on a Persian expedition to expand his empire.
I will argue that even with the evidence provided, Aristotle’s theory on
Plato employs Socratic discussion to converse upon these issues — encouraging his interlocutors to interrogate — by asking numerous open-ended questions in order implore others to examine their beliefs. Comparatively, Aristotle deviates from dialogue and instead expresses and elucidates on his theories in a prosaic and meticulous fashion. Plato’s work reads like an offbeat conversation between curious minds.
If Plato had portrayed an Ideal State in hid republic which could be built in heaven only, Aristotle came down to earth while drawing the outline of his ideal state. Like a true scientist he does not attempt any impossible scheme in formulating his theory if Ideal State. His ideal state is attainable on his earth. We must first consider not only what is ideal but also what is the best attainable in actual practice. The only difference between a monarchy and an aristocracy is that in the first case virtue is centered in one person.
Aristotle advanced the philosophy of ethics, where he demonstrated that it is a means of achieving an end to happiness. However, happiness means many things to different people. To Aristotle, the most adequate way to pursue happiness is through the virtue of excellence. In his writings, Aristotle connected his therory of virtue to economics, and leadership as well. It is a matter of connecting ones personal ethics to that of ones business ethics.