COMPARE AND CONTRAST: PLATO And ARISTOTLES



Compare and Contrast

Compare and Contrast Plato and Aristotle: Women politics

Introduction

Plato and Aristotle had different ideas of women politics and political justice. In The Republic, Plato creates the ideal city, which is needed to guarantee justice. He aims to create a peaceful united city that will lead to the greater good of the community and individuals. Unlike Plato who imagines the ideal city, Aristotle looks at actual cities in The Politics. He doesn't want to create the ideal city; he aims to improve the existing city. While their ideas about politics and justice were different, they both strived to find a better way of life for society and hoped to achieve political justice(Aristotle, 1984, para, 2, p. 21).

In order to define justice, Socrates attempts to create an ideal city, one that is healthy and just. Socrates begins by “investigating what justice looks like in the cities” in order to “go on to consider it in individuals” (Plato, 1992, p. 45, para 3). He believes that it is through speech that one will see the way in which both justice and injustice come into being. Socrates argues that people come together as partners and form cities based on mutual needs because “each [person] isn't self-sufficient but is in need of much”: food, shelter, clothing, and other necessities (Plato, 1992, para 4, p.46). It is in the need that the men have of one another in a healthy city that justice can be found (Plato, 1992, para 3, p. 29). In the Republic, Plato argues that justice is social, structural, and peaceful. He also believes that people function best doing one thing well.

Compare And Contrast: Plato And Aristotle

According to Socrates, people naturally differ in nature; “different men are apt for the accomplishment of different jobs” (Plato, 46). Socrates argues for specialization by saying, “one man, one art” (Plato, 1992, para 2, p.47). He argues that this concept of specialization is the only way to make certain that each job is done well. Socrates goes on to divide the city into three distinct classes: producers, warriors, and rulers. Socrates believes a just city requires a division of labor in order to guarantee the stability of the city and provide the common good for the citizens. He states that, “each thing becomes more plentiful, finer, and easier, when one man, exempt from other tasks, does one thing according to nature” (Plato, 1992, para 4, p. 32). 7). A strict division of labor is the only way to construct a just city, in which few laws are required. Socrates uses the analogy of the healthy city to describe how “justice and injustice naturally grow in cities” (Plato, 1992, para 1, p. 49).

A healthy city becomes an unhealthy, “feverish” city when people become driven by desire and want more than the mere necessities of a healthy city. Some people will not be satisfied with the mere necessities; thus, relishes will be added. When people desire more and more luxuries, the city ...