Paper Summary:

This paper discusses and compares the views on politics that are expressed in Plato's "Republic" and Aristotle's "Politics," favoring Aristotle's ideas over Plato's. The writer describes Plato's ideal city state, which has three classes, guardian, auxiliary, and the tradesmen, where the guardians are the ones whose opinions matter. No movement is allowed between classes and everyone's place is set so that competition does not exist. This does not take into consideration the opinions and wisdom of the individual. The writer explains that Aristotle, although a student of Plato with many similar ideas, argues that this conception of a state is not natural. A state should have a ruling class, but they must not exceed the middle class whose opinions do matter. The writer explains that since human beings are extremely competitive by nature, Aristotle's view on equilibrium and stability in government makes for a realistic state. The writer points out that Plato believed in the equality of women, which was not approved by Aristotle, and expresses the opinion that if Aristotle had combined a few more of Plato's ideas with his own, his state would have been the most factual and valid.

From the Paper:

"Plato's ideas in the Republic defer greatly from the ideas of Aristotle in his writings in Politics. The Republic is the first work that deserves to be called political science, in that it applies systematic reasoning and critical inquiry to political ideas and institutions (Ebenstein 2). Plato's main character in the Republic is his teacher, Socrates. Plato embodies ideas that Socrates had and also his own ideas of what government should be like. Many of the ideas of the Republic may be considered undemocratic, or out right antidemocratic, but this writing is the first glimpse into the basic fundaments of government."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ebenstein, Alan. Introduction to Political Thinkers. 2. Canada: Thomson Wadsworth, 2002.

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