h of the metals. By making the people believe, through a myth, that the distinction of each Plato and Aristotle on Politics 4class is biological as well as moral, Plato reassures that there won't be any disruption in the harmony of the state. Whereas Plato's The Republic (Jowett, trans. 2000) is a text whose goal is to define Justice and in doing so uses the polis, Aristotle's The Politics's (Lord, trans. 1985) sole function is to define itself--define politics. Aristotle begins his text by answering the question: "Why does the state exist?" His answer is that the state is the culmination of natural associations that start with the joining of man and woman ("pair") which have a family and form a "household"; households unite and form villages; villages unite and form the state. This natural order of events is what is best because it provides for the needs of all the individuals. Aristotle, like Plato, believes that a person is not self-reliant. This lack of sufficiency is the catalyst in the escalating order of unions among people. In Lord’s translation (1985) of Aristotle it appears that he is not very set on breaking down society. His argument says that there are different classes in society, but they are naturally defined. For example, he devotes a lot of time to an explanation of the "naturalness" of slaves and their role in society. Aristotle is also very sexist and explicitly states so. His view is that women are inferior to men in all senses. Perhaps the most pertaining to our discussion is the citizen, whose role is purely political. Both Plato and Aristotle seem to agree that some people are not capable of practicing an active role in political life. Plato's reason is that the lower class is not mentally adept for the intricacies of higher knowledge on the good. Aristotle seems to base his opinion on a more political issue. He believes that only those that fully participate in their government should be considered citizen...
