GOODNESS, NOBILITY & VIRTUE IN ARISTOTLE'S POLITICAL SCIENCE

In: Polity: the journal of the Northeastern Political Science Association, Band 19, Heft 1, S. 5-26

Abstract

ACCORDING TO SOME OF ITS PROMINENT REPRESENTATIVES, LIBERALISM TAKES NO POSITION ON QUESTIONS REGARDING THE HUMAN GOOD; ITS CONCERNS ARE INSTRUMENTAL OR PROCEDURAL. CRITICS SUBMIT THAT NO SOCIETY IS ACTUALLY EVER NEUTRAL ON SUCH QUESTIONS AND THAT IT IS THEREFORE BETTER TO BE SELFCONSCIOUS ABOUT THE CONCEPTION OF THE GOOD WHICH IS BEING TACITLY PROMOTED. SMITH CONSIDERS ARISTOTLE'S POLITICAL SCIENCE AS THE LOCUS CLASSICUS OF THE VIEW THAT POLITICAL LIFE CAN BE JUSTIFIED ONLY WITH REFERENCE TO SOME STANDARD OF HUMAN FLOURISHING AND GOOD CHARACTER. HE ARGUES ALSO THAT ARISTOTLE'S CONCEPTION OF NOBILITY IS MUCH MORE REALISTIC THAN HIS DETRACTORS MAY HAVE LED SOME OF US TO BELIEVE.