Aristotle's Theory of Citizenship

Paper Summary:

The paper examines why the essential crux of Aristotle's theory has a contradiction within it. On the one hand, Aristotle holds that extremely active participation is the highest good both for the individual and for the community. On the other hand, he denies this "good" to most people -- notably, the poor, slaves, and women.

From the Paper:

"At its heart, Aristotle's ideal state, whatever its specific form of government, maintains its legitimacy by serving the good life for the people as a whole. Aristotle's description of the state as an association of free men aligns him with democratic theory, though he expresses a distaste for democracy at a certain level and finds that there are certain classes in society that should not be given the right to participate because they are not worthy. Aristotle calls his version of democracy by the name "polity" and describes its constitution as assuring political control to be exercised by the mass of the populace in the common interest, and he analyzes the nature of the polis, the city-state, and its workings in his Politics, a work which actually addresses issue of ethics and morality more than politics as we mean it today. It is a book of politics because it acknowledges that to achieve a moral and so happy life, the attempt must be made in terms of a civil society embodied in the city-state of the time."

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