Aristotle and Plato: A Comparison of Ideal Rule

Aristotle and Plato: Who Should Rule?

• Those with the most knowledge and virtue should rule, aligning with epistemocracy
• Epistemocracy comes from episteme (knowledge) and krateo (to to rule). Defines a political system where power is based in expertise.
• A politician's role is to act as a nomothetes (law giver) to create appropriate laws for the city-state.
• Three types of knowledge distinguished:
  • Episteme: Scientific
  • Techne: Craft
  • Phronesis: Ethical
• Phronesis emphasized in ruling, which is both theoretical and practical

Plato

• Most writings are in the form of dialogues between him and Socrates.
• Socrates was sentenced to death for corrupting the youth.
• Plato founded The Academy:
  • Taught subjects like biology, astronomy, mathematics and philosophy.
  • Operated for 300 years.
  • Attracted minds like Aristotle.
• Advisor to Dionysius II, ruler of Syracuse.
• The Republic talked about forms of government and justice.

Athenian Democracy

• Excluded women, slaves, children, and foreigners.
• Ekklesia (assembly):
  • Met 40 times a year.
  • Citizens spoke and voted.
  • Discussed legislation or military matters.
• Boule (council):
  • Alternative committee.
  • Set agendas.
  • Acted as jury and decided war.
• Citizens chosen by sortition and served for a year, overseeing the Athenian bureaucracy.

Plato's Ship of State Analogy

• The ship symbolizes the state, where the owner is the citizen:
  • He is strong but lacks eyesight and navigation skills.
• Crew members are the politicians who compete for control without skills, resulting in demagoguery.
• The true navigator:
  • Is the philosopher.
  • Understands the art of sailing.
  • Often ignored.
• Analogy says that the masses are not equipped to make decisions and philosophers should rule.
• Sailors quarrel, representing disagreement in a democracy.
• Sailors lack skills, like democratic leaders with lack of expertise
• Threatening to kill anyone who says captaincy can be taught is anti-intellectualism.
• Sailors drink and feast- like democratic leaders prioritizing short-term pleasures over responsible governance (hedonistic).
• The one who persuade the owner is praised, just like demagoguery proves vulnerability to misplaced admiration.

Democracy's Vulnerabilities

• The system is vulnerable to manipulation by charismatic leaders.
• Prioritizes desire over virtue.
• It causes nepotism.
• Creates a false identity by giving equal power to those without wisdom.
• Politics need to be based on knowledge rather than rhetoric.

Disorder and Disunity in Democracy

• Direct democracy leads to constant disagreement.
• The masses lack distinct political skills and make poor decisions.
• Conflict between classes.
• Susceptible to change and lacks consistent leadership.
• Systems should aim harmony and stability.

Ideal of Harmony

• Truth is harmonious.
• A just society should be unified with everyone serving its proper function.
• Philosopher-king has true knowledge to guide the state to justice and stability.

Machiavelli's Opposing View

• Questions Plato's ideal of truth and harmony.
• Advocated for pragmatism over idealism - effective rules prioritize staying in power over moral ideals:
• Leaders may need to deceive for the state's greater good.
• Concept of virtue is what is best for the state rather than traditional moral virtue.

Problems with Epistemocracy

• Qualifications for leadership need to be assessed
• Selection and monitoring need qualifications standards an enforcement
• Need legitimacy and public acceptance to avoid population exclusion
• Ensuring that experts don't prioritize self interests through accountability mechanisms.

Sortition - Aristotle

• Democracy comes from the belief in equality
• All citizens should have right to participate in governance
• Promoted the use of the lottery to assign public offices
• Ensured equality and prevent power concentration
• Elections associated with oligarchies that wealth or qualification limits to participation
• Elections became democratic later, but impractical due to population
• Military roles were not assigned by sortition as they required qualifications

Limitations of Sortition

• Random people may be underqualified, leading to poor decisions.
• Bureaucrats are vulnerable to lobbies.
• Difficulty in large states in statistical representation.

Plato's Two Cities Model

• Used as normative models, they are a framework to evaluate justice.

The City of Pigs

• A need-based economy where no individual can supply to all needs, everyone needs cooperation.
• Labour is divided reflecting diverse abilities.
• Trades its surplus.
• Free of slaves, citizens own properties.
• Limited government intervention.
• Presumed pacific and left alone.
• Puts surplus resources into population increase rather than luxury.

Kallipolis

• Also known as the "beautiful city".
• Organized in three classes:
• Guardians (rulers): Philosopher kings who govern.
• Auxiliaries (soldiers): Those who defend.
• Workers: Those who provide goods and services.
• Hierarchy, each with specific functions for common good.
• Theory of the tripartite soul mirrors the city's structure.
• Rational part: Provides wisdom.
• Spirited part: Provides courage, will or emotions.
• Appetitive part: Controls the other two.

Plato and Human Nature

• People born with inherent abilities that are heritable or chosen by chance.
• Differences reflect hierarchy.
• Advocate for eugenics program to cultivate desirable traits.
• Alignment is morally good.
• Eugenics: Beliefs and practices aimed at improving genetic quality of humans.

Civic Religion

• Means to create unity without force.
• Common rituals and values.
• Promotes the good serving serving as philosophy and governance bridge as philosophy is not accessible so religion helps people grasp those ideas
• Tries to rationalize the pan-hellenic religion.
• Rationalized it because the ideas of immorality and anthropomorphism didn't align with his philosophical pursuit of truth and virtue
• Advocates censorship of poets who do not follow his ideals
• Control education to instill proper values from early age.
• Uses this to create a virtuous society.

Cave Analogy

• A metaphor for human/reality nature.
• A group of prisoners are chained inside a dark cave facing a wall.
• There is a fire behind them, people carry objects to cast shadows on the wall.
• Shadows are their reality as they have no concept of true objects.
• Represents how humans often mistake perceptions.
• Struggle to see the sun when freed, then come back and can't see in the darkness.
• They cannot understand causal relationships.
• Science requires understanding of origins.
• True knowledge must be shared to others suggesting reality is painful and isolating. Emphasizes the distinction between superficial, correlational knowledge and true causal understanding.

Noble Lies - Plato

• In the ideal city, the state uses mythical narratives to unite, often portraying the land as a mother figure.
• This causes guardians and citizens to want to defend their state so the goal is survival of state.
• That's realism where state survival comes before any considerations.
• Those in power may withhold information for the greater good.

Education

• Universal no matter social class; everyone can become leader- meritocratic approach.
• Not just distributing knowledge, but develop virtue and grow intellectually.
• Like in the tripartite soul, education brings harmony between rational, spirited and appetitive parts of the soul.
• Lifelong learning.

The Laws

• Tool for harmony rather than serving interests.
• Cooperative endeavor benefiting all citizens.
• Law operates through persuasion, introducing preludes to laws that explain their rationale.
• Understands justice as doing their role based on natural abilities and summarized as 'to do one's own business not to be a troublemaker'.

Philosopher-Kings

• Philosophical aptitude is natural.
• Two reasons:
• Consequentialism: A small number of philosophers should sacrifice and the end will justify the means.
• Constraints on consequentialism: Only if the philosophers have benefited from the city should they do society well.

Tacit Social Contract

• The state provides benefits and in return, philosopher-kings benefit the entire city with their intellectual ability.
• Invalid in poorly-ordered cities where philosophers don't benefit.

Communism for the Guardians

• Private property should be abolished for the guardian class (soldiers and rules).
• This is to prevent them from abusing power for personal gain.
• Producing class allowed to own surplus.
• Guardians lived communally and lived without luxury.
• Rewarded with recognition. Extended to the family.
  • Even wives were common property.
  • Frees women from domestic duties which is determined by the state.
• Prevents corruption.
• Ensures the welfare.

Positive Eugenics

• Proposed a breeding program to maintain soldiers and rulers
• Rigged lottery presented as random to maintain while it is controlled by rulers.

Negative Eugenics

• Preventing the reproduction of the unfit
• Suggestions of abortions and infanticides.
• Acknowledges two limitations to eugenics beliefs:
• Chance: Imperfect outcomes are inevitable.
• Guardian compliance: Even the class may struggle.

Platonic Feminism

• Differences are innate which are heritable with small elements if change.
• Symmetry, the best women are as good as the best men so they should serve as soldiers
• Socrates did not agree
• Privileges should be offered to women who offer the same qualities to men.
• Not to be taken as equality
• Views on women are inconsistent and he is more traditional in the Laws.

Al-Farabi and Ibn Rushd

Al-Ghazali (1058-1111)

• Referred to as the 'Proof of Islam'
• Criticized other Islamic philosophers such as Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina.
• Identified three sins of the philosophers against Islam:
• Believing only immaterial souls are rewarded, denying bodily resurrection.
• Claiming that God only knows universals and not particulars.
• Asserting that the world is eternal and was not created

Five Pillars of Islam

• Faith: There is no god by God, Muhammad is the messenger of God.
• Ritual prayer: Five times a day.
• Giving: Giving wealth to the needy.
• Fasting: Abstaining in Ramadan.
• Pilgrimage to Mecca: Once in a lifetime.

Six Pillars of Faith

• Belief in:
• One and unity of Allah.
• Existence of beings.
• Divine origin of Quran and others.
• Accepting all prophets sent including Muhammad.
• Affirming the afterlife day.
• God knows and everything comes from his will.

Muhammad

• The Quran: the direct word of God.
• The Hadith: collections about Muhammad's life.
• Both form the Sharia, the Islamic law.
• Fiqh: is the human understanding of the Sharia through jurisprudence.
• Referred to as the ‘Seal of the prophets'.
• He is the final prophet in Islamic tradition.
• Much of the Arabian peninsula had been united under Islam.

Rashidun Caliphate

• Refers to the rule of the first four caliphs after Muhammad. Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman ibn Affan and Ali.
• Chosen through shura and guided Muslims
• The caliphate combined authority with no separation of church and state.
• The Ummah: The community based in religion

Al-Farabi

• Known as the second master after Aristotle.
• Applied Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy within Islamic frameworks.
• Different religions can represent the same truth in various ways
• Philosopher gives truth.
• The ruler guides the community
• Religions can coexist for elite intellects

The Virtuous State

• The goal is flourishing.
• Hierarchical
• Division upon skills and cognitive facilities.
• Embraces Aristotle by with humans as social political animals

Cosmological Truths

• Believes the best city is a empire, rejecting the city state focus of Plato and Aristotle.
• True leader or imam had theoretical and practical truth, just like concept of philo ruler.
• Religion causes people into virtue and flourishing. Citizens need science to identify religions

True Leader

• The first leader is the Imam.
• He is not led by others, he guides others.
• Received recommendations from God through effective communication
• For believers this is a comparison to the profit and for Skeptic is a non-religious view of leader

Democratic State

• Receptive to true leadership
• More positive over Plato
• The election of the king by the people is like the first Caliphate.
• Promotes pleasure, liberty, multi-cultural, coexistence of religion and philosophy.
• It can be dangerous for those that become one.

Ibn-Rushd Feminism

• Argues women's incompetence is cause by the social conditions.
• Like Feminism says they should be treated equally along side proper with providing equal training.
• Criticised against confinement as it is decorative in women
• Doesn't favour wealth for women

Mandate of Heaven

• Legitimises authorities power
• Good rulers are considered to have Heavens approval, and those that are cruel lost mandate Philosophical framework to lead virtue with legitimacy
• Bad governance is believed to cause calamities.
• Responsibility is needed to keep social harmony.

Confucius Virtues

• Ren - care and humanity to govern with enlightened paternalism
• Yi - Righteousness
• Li - Conduct with social norms
• Xin - Truthfulness

Alternative to Confucian

• Believed in moral standards delivered from heaven
• Mohism emphasise a belief in tradition
• Important to give love to all people through ties
• He argues that the will is the wisest and noblest

Human Nature

• Malleable if changed with education.
• Actions come from its consequences
• Heaven desires wealth and life
• The rules are to create prosperity, population, and maintain order

Empirical Claims

• Impartial actions are good
• People should act impartial to all

Application To Practical

• Warfare is opposed = Frugality is used
• Meritocracy is the idea to elevate anyone no matter the social background

Criticism of Confucian

• Elaborated are contributing

Mencius

• Often called the second sage after Confucius
• Unless through importance approaches, emphasis on justice as adn to do to foster moral development

Four Key Values

• Ren - compassion for the heart
• Yi - shame of hearts
• Li - Heart of respect
• Zhi - Heart of approval

Virtue's Role

• It is that governance and social development has its rule
• Good governance for society
• social influences that stop social behaviour
• education with social conditions in the environment

Moral Implications

• Has importance over governance for the development within itself that are innate

Machiavelli's Science

• Relies on theoretical rational to operate
• Can achieve any goals with proper understandings in situations

Effective Actions

• Effective actions set objectives with the context

• doesn't focus on the governments or principles but on power. Scientific power comes leadership with effective

• Clarity with realistic

• Evidences to predict

• adaptable

• focus on resulting success

Aristotles Causes

• understanding phenom with stable patterns

• gas has plans goal and is the the plan

• ignorance that causes results that are bad

  • Efficient the force that brings change

• Material is substance where it is made

• Goal is a Teleological that comes from striving

• Formal physical and abstract shape to have form

The New Prince

• new faces that have the capacity to rise too power

• new skills and official those face challenge.

• must authority those resist

• not apart of moral in compass

• Effectiveness

• Able to govern

• Wisdom

• willing acts serve state

Fortune

• luck with actions for half force is free will
• Feminine energy which is a controller
• power those virtu to seize control of luck for the seize the power
• space for those to limit and control their divine interventions
• contribution for those to cause secular
• forces as the successful shifts to create the internal skills to manipulate

Imaginary

• moves the governance that affects the real world. And focuses over the reality goals
• believes those goals those those cannot be achieved are for the people

Truth

• moral with a society with morality to disasters
• moral immorality those who are required breaks the the Christian thoughts
• the goals here goes towards pragmatism

Knowledge

• One must get to know ones objectives

• Knowledge to maintain and gain personal objectives

• Observation those to go over instructions

• One should emulate figures with historical

Machiavellian leader

• Balance fear with love safer than those too be loved those who respect property and to those of clear cause those excellent should give generosity
• All power to those
• the to be to able citizens to want simple ambition control and great reward the people those unified power those religion

Explore Aristotle and Plato's perspectives on who should rule, focusing on epistemocracy. It emphasizes the importance of knowledge and virtue in leadership. The role of a politician is to be a 'nomothetes,' crafting appropriate laws for the city-state, with 'phronesis' (ethical knowledge) being crucial for rulers.