Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who is considered as the Father of Political Science.He was a disciple of Plato and also his greatest critic. Plato who was an idealist preferred the rule of a wise philosopher king who was above the laws and considered the state as a family with the philosopher king like a father.
Aristotle was a realist and was critical of the institution of the philosopher king. According to Aristotle , the practical form of philosopher king will be tyranny which he considered as the worst form of government.He considered state as a family of families with persons having different viewpoints coming together to deliberate and frame laws. Aristotle considered laws as collective wisdom which prevail over that of philosopher king. Aristotle thus planted the seedling of doctrine of separation of powers.
Aristotle's principle of Golden Mean is seen in his support for polity which is rule by the middle classes over democracy. According to Aristotle , democracy was the rule of ignorant masses. He takes a functional view of slavery and considered it beneficial to society and considered only adult land owning males as citizens.
The basic premise behind the doctrine of separation of powers is that when power gets accumulated by a single person or a body of government, it becomes a greatest threat to the liberty of the citizens. The separation of powers also known as the 'trias politica' aims at dividing the states into branches or estates with independent powers and responsibilities thus implying an independent functioning of each pillars of the democracy. It tries to bring exclusiveness in the functioning of these branches of the democracy. This doctrine was first observed by a greek philosopher Aristotle in the 'Politics' that every government, no matter its form, performed three distinctive functions: "the deliberative, the magisterial, and the judicative." In modern terminology these activities correlate respectively to the legislative, executive and judicial functions of the government.
While Aristotle identified these basic powers common to all forms of government, but he did not necessarily advocated that they should be exercised by entirely different branches.
Though Aristotle was the forerunner of the doctrine or idea of separation of powers, the principle that major governmental functions should be divided into distinct branches and lodged into them respectively was advanced much later by the likes of French philosopher Montesquieu. But at the very first, the idea was planted by aristotle hence to call him as the harbinger of the doctrine of separation of powers is justified.
few grammatical mistakes 1. ....................exclusiveness in the functioning of these branches of 'government'........ 2. .....................divided into distinctive branches and 'their powers being' lodged into them.................
In his book "Politics", Aristotle the Greek Philosopher of Antiquity had examined over 50 Constitutions of his time to arrive at a theory of State. Being guided by pragmatism, the fundamental directive of Aristotle was to prescribe a most practicable form of good governance by comparing relative merits and demerits of each form of State organisation. Democracy in Aristotle's time was such a form of government that was ruled by deliberative strictures made of all citizens of the concerned City-State.
Using scientific methodology of anatomy, he classified the Constitutions in a sixfold division, with three ideal structures on the left and three perverted structures on the right. Here Aristotle has classified Democracy as a perverted form of governance, as 'Rule of all Citizens' has an inevitable trend to deteriorate into a mob rule of ignorant masses.
Even in Aristotle's theory of Justice, he views Democracy poorly, accusing it of Inequality due to treated Unequals Equally and thus contributing to instability and Revolution. Therefore Aristotle promotes the idea of Polity as an idealised version of Democracy which he establishes as the Golden Mean between Oligarchy and Democracy by allowing only eligible citizens to organize the deliberative ruling structures of State.
In conclusion, Aristotle's view on Democracy was shaped by existing political structures of Greek Civilization in Antiquity and thus cannot be equated with modern understanding of Democracy. Yet in some forms, his idea of eligible citizenry in public service survives in modern democratic polities that prescribes strict qualifications for holding offices of governance. The same is evident even in the Indian Constitution of today.
Comment. "Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters pain and pleasure, it is for them alone to point out what we ought to do and what we shall do" Bentham.
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who is considered as the Father of Political Science.He was a disciple of Plato and also his greatest critic. Plato who was an idealist preferred the rule of a wise philosopher king who was above the laws and considered the state as a family with the philosopher king like a father.
ReplyDeleteAristotle was a realist and was critical of the institution of the philosopher king. According to Aristotle , the practical form of philosopher king will be tyranny which he considered as the worst form of government.He considered state as a family of families with persons having different viewpoints coming together to deliberate and frame laws. Aristotle considered laws as collective wisdom which prevail over that of philosopher king. Aristotle thus planted the seedling of doctrine of separation of powers.
Aristotle's principle of Golden Mean is seen in his support for polity which is rule by the middle classes over democracy. According to Aristotle , democracy was the rule of ignorant masses. He takes a functional view of slavery and considered it beneficial to society and considered only adult land owning males as citizens.
The basic premise behind the doctrine of separation of powers is that when power gets accumulated by a single person or a body of government, it becomes a greatest threat to the liberty of the citizens. The separation of powers also known as the 'trias politica' aims at dividing the states into branches or estates with independent powers and responsibilities thus implying an independent functioning of each pillars of the democracy. It tries to bring exclusiveness in the functioning of these branches of the democracy.
ReplyDeleteThis doctrine was first observed by a greek philosopher Aristotle in the 'Politics' that every government, no matter its form, performed three distinctive functions: "the deliberative, the magisterial, and the judicative." In modern terminology these activities correlate respectively to the legislative, executive and judicial functions of the government.
While Aristotle identified these basic powers common to all forms of government, but he did not necessarily advocated that they should be exercised by entirely different branches.
Though Aristotle was the forerunner of the doctrine or idea of separation of powers, the principle that major governmental functions should be divided into distinct branches and lodged into them respectively was advanced much later by the likes of French philosopher Montesquieu. But at the very first, the idea was planted by aristotle hence to call him as the harbinger of the doctrine of separation of powers is justified.
few grammatical mistakes
Delete1. ....................exclusiveness in the functioning of these branches of 'government'........
2. .....................divided into distinctive branches and 'their powers being' lodged into
them.................
Good answer got many points
DeleteAristotle's view on Democracy:
ReplyDeleteIn his book "Politics", Aristotle the Greek Philosopher of Antiquity had examined over 50 Constitutions of his time to arrive at a theory of State. Being guided by pragmatism, the fundamental directive of Aristotle was to prescribe a most practicable form of good governance by comparing relative merits and demerits of each form of State organisation. Democracy in Aristotle's time was such a form of government that was ruled by deliberative strictures made of all citizens of the concerned City-State.
Using scientific methodology of anatomy, he classified the Constitutions in a sixfold division, with three ideal structures on the left and three perverted structures on the right. Here Aristotle has classified Democracy as a perverted form of governance, as 'Rule of all Citizens' has an inevitable trend to deteriorate into a mob rule of ignorant masses.
Even in Aristotle's theory of Justice, he views Democracy poorly, accusing it of Inequality due to treated Unequals Equally and thus contributing to instability and Revolution.
Therefore Aristotle promotes the idea of Polity as an idealised version of Democracy which he establishes as the Golden Mean between Oligarchy and Democracy by allowing only eligible citizens to organize the deliberative ruling structures of State.
In conclusion, Aristotle's view on Democracy was shaped by existing political structures of Greek Civilization in Antiquity and thus cannot be equated with modern understanding of Democracy. Yet in some forms, his idea of eligible citizenry in public service survives in modern democratic polities that prescribes strict qualifications for holding offices of governance. The same is evident even in the Indian Constitution of today.
Nice one
Delete