politics

Chapter 25 Volume (Γ) Three (5)
The first thesis has already been touched upon, 20 "Man should naturally be an animal oriented toward urban life" ("Man should by nature be a political animal").Although in life, human beings sometimes do not need to depend on each other, but human beings also have a natural disposition to be willing to live together in society.For the common good, they can of course join together, join a political group according to their duties, and enjoy a good life according to their duties. 25 Whether individually or in society as a whole, the main purpose is to obtain a good life.But only for the purpose of survival, human beings already have the need to form and maintain political groups. Lines 20-26 explain that political groups, that is, city-state organizations, have three purposes: (30) simply to achieve human survival , that is, military and economic life. ([-]) To further satisfy the natural disposition of human beings to live in groups, that is, economic and social life. ([-]) Going a step further, use political institutions to coordinate the functions of each person to realize the good life of human beings, that is, moral life. .If the suffering in the world is not too great, the reality of existence may already contain some good factors.This is an obvious phenomenon.Many suffer countless sorrows, but persist in refusing to give up their existence.From this evidence, we can know that although the world is purely for survival, it must also contain happy days and natural pleasures. [-]
It is not difficult to distinguish the various kinds of dominion commonly referred to.The chapters we teach in the public courses are divided into (inside) intensive courses and (outside) public courses taught in Lyceum College, see "Eulen" Volume 1217 22b63; German "Vol. 35.In the book, the various kinds of domination are explained more than once.Among them, the rule of the master over the slave belongs to one of the categories.This combination of free masters and natural slaves can indeed benefit both, but when masters exercise ruling power, they always take their own interests into account as much as possible. Simply because once the slave dies, the master's interest disappears.

In terms of what we call housekeeping, the rule of parents over wives and children and general family members belongs to the second category. This kind of rule is mainly aimed at the interests of the ruled, and also takes into account interests on both sides. 40 In this case, just like medicine, physical exercise, and other non-political technologies, 1279ɑ they do not manipulate their technologies for their own interests. Even if the technicians have benefited themselves by doing so, it can only be said is incidental.Physical education teachers can also occasionally practice with the students they teach, just like the helmsman of a ship can also be a sailor.The gym teacher or helmsman devotes most of his time to the interests of the whole class of apprentices or ship's sailors under his command,5 and even if the teacher is occasionally one of the students, he is still a teacher in his own right, or the helmsman as a teacher. When he is one of the sailors, he also receives the benefit of the whole class or the whole ship incidentally.

The same metaphor applies to the third type of government, that of the constitutional government of the city-state.When a city-state is based on the principle of equality,10 when the political system is composed of people of the same status, the citizens (city-state constituents) naturally think that the office of governance should be held by everyone in turn, because it mainly serves the interests of the ruled , so these obligations should be shared by the public in turn, and the ruler, as a member of the citizen group, also incidentally obtains common interests.This system was originally in line with nature. At the beginning, people thought of it separately: since I took care of the interests of others when I took on this obligation, then when it is their turn to govern, they will definitely take care of my interests. See Vol. 15 1261a37-b6. .However, the situation has changed.

Once the cheapness of office, and the vestiges or erosions to be gained from the administration of public goods, have struck the minds of men, they long to occupy high offices for a long time.This kind of public officials seem to be entangled in serious illnesses, and they can only be rescued from their illnesses through legal restrictions. Once they lose their positions, they will become emaciated.In short, seeing these people's fanatical pursuit of power, one cannot but feel that this behavior is actually a kind of pathology.An obvious conclusion can be drawn from the above: 20 Judging by the principle of absolute justice, all kinds of regimes are legitimate or authentic as long as they take into account the public interest; They are all wrong regimes or abnormalities that deviate from the authentic regimes.Such perverted regimes are autocratic, because they rule in the way masters manage slaves, while city-states are groups of free people.

章七
After explaining the above problems, we can gradually study the types of regimes, and examine the nature of each type. 25 We first discuss the authentic regime, and after explaining the authentic regime, the corresponding abnormal regimes will be easy to understand. The meaning of "regime" (πολιεα, Polydia) is equivalent to that of "official group" (πολευμα, Polydoma), and the public group refers to the "executor of supreme governance" in each city-state. The executor of power, the "master" (κριο), is a sovereign figure. Slaves call their "master" by this, and subjects call their monarch by this. "Sovereignty" (ò κριον), in terms of politics, refers to a state's "supreme governing power" or "the institution of the final ruling of the state government"; many translations quote "sovereignty", this translated name. The etymology of sovereign comes from Latin superanus ("Lord", like the so-called "Emperor" in ancient China), which was popular in the Middle Ages.

The Greek city-states, from the monarchy to the civilian regime, the process of the royal family or the citizen assembly adjudicating political affairs are different from the ruling methods of China, the Roman Empire or the European kings in the Middle Ages. ò κριον and sovereignty refer to things that are the same, but the mood is different.It can be one person, a minority, or a majority.If the purpose of the rule of this person or minority or majority is to take care of the common interests of the whole state, then we say that the public service group controlled by him or them is the authentic political system.On the contrary, if he or the public affairs group they are in charge of only take care of the self-interest of one person or a few people or the common people, then it must be a perverted regime. .In these regimes that deviate from the orthodox,30 ordinary citizens cannot be called "citizens" if their public interests are not taken into account; The political system should take into account the interests of the people of the entire city-state.A regime (government) with one person as the ruler is usually called a "royalty (monarchy)" if it takes care of the interests of the people of the country.

And if the government is ruled by a few people-albeit more than one person but not a majority,35 it is called an "aristocratic (meritorious) government".This form of government is given such a name, either because the rulers are "virtuous", or because it has "the best purposes" for the city-state and its people.The last type, which is governed by the masses and can take care of the public welfare of the people of the whole country, we call it a "republican regime", which is actually a general term for general regimes.For the use of a family and genus name as a variety name, see Note 1273a5 of Volume II. , for a reason. 40 One or a few men may become rulers by virtue of particular virtues, but when the number gradually increases it is difficult to find so many men whose virtues are perfect in every respect, 1279b only virtues of a military nature can be expected in the majority People realize that Wude is often particularly prominent in the masses.Therefore, in the republic, the supreme governance is in the hands of the warriors who defend the country. Here, only those who are armed and capable of holding a shield can be called citizens, and thus enjoy political rights. Chapter 1265, 28a1288; Volume 12, Chapter 1297, 1b[-]. .

Corresponding to the above-mentioned types of perverted regimes, 5 tyranny is a perverted monarchy, oligarchy is a perverted aristocratic regime, and civilian regime is a perverted republic.The tyranny is ruled by one person, and his actions are also for his personal interests; in this chapter, the oligarchy (minority) regime, authentic and abnormal, the six types of regimes are classified based on: (10) the number of rulers ([-]) The purpose of governance is for the public as a whole or for the people in power.Here, as the description of the second and third types of abnormal regimes, another classification basis is introduced, namely ([-]) the distinction between rich and poor or class.If it is named according to class, the oligarchy here should be called "plutocratic regime (πλονοκραα)".The interests of the rich are pursued; [-] common government is the interests of the poor.None of the three can take care of the interests of all citizens of the city-state.

Chapter eight
Regarding the nature of these regimes, we need to conduct a more detailed study one by one, which contains certain difficulties.When we conduct academic research on any academic topic, we should not only be satisfied with the general overview of reality,15 we should also clarify the truth of each individual case without omission.As mentioned above, tyranny is the rule of one person (monarch), who handles the public affairs of the city-state in the same way that masters treat slaves according to the principle of despotism; An oligarchy (minority) regime; conversely, if the propertyless poor (mass) hold the supreme power, it becomes a civilian (majority) regime. 20 The first difficulty arises in the definitions of plebeian and oligarchy given here.The plebeian (poor) government has been interpreted as the rule of the majority see Chapter VII 1279b6—Chapter Eight 1279b19. , but under certain circumstances, the majority of people representing the highest governance in a city-state are property owners (well-to-do families).Similarly, oligarchic (plutocratic) regimes have originally been interpreted as the rule of a few people see Chapter 1279 6b1279-Chapter 19 [-]b[-]. , but in a certain situation, there are fewer poor people than rich people in a city-state, but they are all talented, so they have mastered the ruling power.

Thus, both are contrary to the definition stated above. 25 Let us solve this dilemma by combining the above two types of definitions: Wealth is associated with the minority, and the majority is associated with poverty, so that the definition of oligarchy becomes that a small number of rich people control the governance of the city-state .Similarly, the commonwealth is defined as the control of the ruling power by a large number of poor people.But here another difficulty arises: 30 If our new definition covers all oligarchies and plebeian regimes, then the occasional situation mentioned above, that is, a city-state with many rich households and few poor households, will In one city-state, the majority of wealthy households control the political power, while in another city-state it is a small number of poor people who control the political power. How should we name these regimes?The above argument shows that the factor of numbers should be a secondary attribute. 35 Since the general city-state is often rich in few rich and poor in many, the above-mentioned special cases are just accidental events.The main difference between oligarchy and civilian government is not the number of people. 40 The difference between the two should be the difference between rich and poor in principle.Therefore, we can define it as follows: any political system, regardless of the number of rulers, if it is based on wealth, it must be an oligarchic (plutocratic) political system in 1280ɑ; similarly, if the poor are the main body, it must be a civilian government.

As we said just now, in the world, there are generally few rich households and many poor households.If, in a city-state, all are free citizens, and the wealthy are confined to a smaller part of them, the one marked by liberty, the other by wealth,5 these are the two parties of oligarchs and plebeians. to fight for the actual basis of power.

Chapter Nine
Secondly, we need to first determine the principles held by those who advocate oligarchy and civilian government, and identify the justice (law) concept justice (δκη), "justice concept" (ò δκαιον), their respective Une "δκ" is the "direction" for the "right" way, which may come from the same older language as the Latin word "digitas" or "directe".In China, "justice" is often used as a substitute for "justice", with similar intentions.The later French droit and Italian dritto mean "law", both derived from the Latin word "directum", which is similar to the Greek δκαιον, and has both meanings of "righteousness" and "law". .Both oligarchs and populists have their own understanding of justice, but if their understanding is insufficient, then the justice they hold is incomplete, and everyone only sees some aspects of justice.For example, in a common government, "justice" is identified as "equality" in the distribution of political functions.This is indeed equality,10 but it is equality among like persons, not equality for all.In oligarchy, however, the "unequal" distribution of political functions is justified.This is indeed justice, but it is only limited to unequal people, and it is not universal justice.

Neither the oligarchs nor the populists considered the factor of who could apply the principles they advocated,15 and so both parties made their own misjudgments.Each judges only in his own interest, and the majority are really bad judges if they decide their own cases.Justice (Fa Yi) is concerned with the person.A just (legitimate) distribution is one that bestows on those who pay their due value.I have already explained this point in "Ethics" see "Niron" volume five chapter three 1131a15. .According to this purport, the just distribution of functions ("political rights") should take into account the merits or merits of each appointed person ("civic duties"). 20 Although both the oligarchs and the populists advocate the equality of things, they disagree on the question of the equality of persons.The main reason for this kind of disagreement is that as mentioned above, they are both judges of their own cases, so they made wrong conclusions; another reason is that both parties have their own understanding of the concept of justice based on prejudice. But each thinks that what they have reached is absolute and complete truth.The prejudice of the oligarchs (plutocrats) lies in "wealth", and they believe that those who are superior to wealth should have priority in everything; the prejudice of the populists lies in "free status", and they believe that if one thing is equal, everything is equal. 25
(End of this chapter)