The philosophy of politics.
Every time when I discuss politics I can not help but to think back on two people that so long ago have reasoned and imagine political theories that are still in use today. Plato and Aristotle are considered to be “Founding Fathers” of modern political theories. I armed myself with Hacker Andrew’s Political Theory: Philosophy, Ideology, Science: New York: Macmillan, 1961 and took a stroll down the “philosophical memory lane”. In order to compare the political theories of two great philosophers of politics we need to examine each theory in depth. Plato is regarded by many experts as the first writer of political philosophy, and Aristotle is recognized as the first political scientist. They each had ideas of how to improve existing societies during their individual lifetimes. It is necessary to look at several areas of each theory to seek the difference in each. The main focus of Plato is a perfect society. He creates a blueprint for a utopian society, in his book The Republic, out of his dislike for the tension of political life (Hacker 24). This blueprint was a sketch of a society in which the problems he thought were present in his society would be eased (Hacker 24). Plato sought to cure the afflictions of both hum
Plato and Aristotle alike were two men who had ideas on ways to improve existing society. Plato, a political philosopher, was in the pursuit of philosophical truth (Hacker 114). Aristotle was concerned with the citizen and the design of political institutions(Hacker 114). They both had well thought out ideas and plans on how to build a better society. Both Aristotle and Plato have had a tremendous impact on political scientists of today. Aristotle helped to developed some democratic ideas. In conclusion these men were great thinkers. Their opinions on society and its functions were quite different, but they both had the same intention, to build a better way of life for the societies they lived in and for the societies that would come to Both Plato and Aristotle agree that justice exists in an objective sense: that is, it dictates a belief that the good life should be provided for all individuals no matter how high or low their social status (Hacker 91). "In democracies, for example, justice is considered to mean equality, in oligarchies, again inequality in the distribution of office is considered to be just," says Aristotle (Hacker 91). Plato sees the justice and law as what sets the guidelines for societal behavior. Aristotle, unlike Plato, is not concerned with perfecting society. He just wants to improve on the existing one. Rather than produce a blueprint for the perfect society, Aristotle suggested, in his work, The Politics, that the society itself should reach for the best possible system that could be attained (Hacker 71). Plato relied on the deductive approach, while Aristotle is an example of an inductive approach (Hacker 71). Utopia is a solution in abstract, a solution that has no concrete problem (Hacker 76). There is no solid evidence that all societies are in need of such drastic reformation as Plato suggests (Hacker 76). Aristotle discovers that the best possible has already been obtained (Hacker 76). All that can be d
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Approximate Word count = 1333
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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