politics

Chapter 31 Volume (Γ) Three (11)
Therefore, giving unequal names to equals, or conversely, 15 giving equal names to unequals, is like assigning equal amounts to unequal constitutions, or giving different degrees to equals. Just like food and clothing, these are bad in everyone's eyes.The conclusion drawn from this point of view is that names and positions should be obtained in turn, and equal people should be the ruler and the ruled alternately, which is just.But such a conclusion is tantamount to advocating the rule of law.Because the established rotation system is the law.In this way, the rule of law should be superior to the rule of one man.Following this idea of ​​the rule of law, it should also be understood here that even though state affairs sometimes still depend on the wisdom of certain people (rule of man),20 these people are limited to using their wisdom in the application of law, so that this superior power Become the legal guardian "The legal guardian" (νουοφ λαξ) was originally the name of a middle-ranking official in the political system of Athens (see volume 1298, 29b1282, etc.). above (see Chapter 3 7b[-] of this volume).There are [-] legal guardians in Athens, who sit next to the chairman when the citizens' assembly or council is in session. If there are proposals or resolutions that violate established laws and political systems, the guardians can deny them on the spot.power.It can be admitted that a state must have a number of officials and someone must be in power, but when everyone has the same personality and equal personality, it is not unjust to entrust the power of the whole state to one of them.

In this chapter, lines above 1287a and 25 are written as a side of the debate, advocating the rule of law and slandering the sovereign monarchy, while lines below 25 are written as Aristotle’s own statement, and the purpose of the chapter is still the rule of law.The closing sentence of the chapter generally states that these are the themes of those who oppose the monarchy.Perhaps, for some individual cases, the laws may not be fully stipulated, and it is impossible to make a judgment, but it is not certain whether personal wisdom can definitely make a judgment when encountering these cases.The law teaches the enforcers to interpret and apply all regulations according to the meaning of the law, and let them follow the basic spirit of the law to deal with and judge fairly when there are omissions in the law. The oath before voting for prison sentence: "Those who have the law to follow should vote according to the law; those who are not specified in the law should vote according to the law, do my best, and vote in accordance with justice." The law of Athens advocates "noble and fair".See Herman: "Greek Stories" Volume 25 122; Hicks: "Greek Historical Tablets" No. 134 (page 125), the inscription of the city of Eressus in Lesbo.Aristotle’s sentence and the following sentence 211b1287 are based on this type of political and legal oath (see "New School" Volume 25 "Interpretation" page 273, Volume 294, "Text Notes" page [-]). .The law also allows people to revise or supplement the various existing regulations based on accumulated experience in order to achieve perfection. The progress of the legal system mentioned here is also based on the situation in Athens.

Athens in the era of Pericles had a provision for the revision of the Code: every year, the six younger members of the Consulate formed a "Code Review Committee" (thesmothetai), and the proposed amendments or supplementary regulations were submitted to the Citizens' Assembly.After a resolution by the Citizens' Assembly, the bill goes to a presumptive number of legislators in the courts to draft formal new regulations. .The view that the law should be governed by the law is tantamount to saying that there are only gods and reason. It is the custom of the Greeks to attribute "reason" to "gods"; Schneidewin, Pareom Gr) Vol. 281 [-]: "He who follows reason is connected with the gods.

"can exercise ruling power; as for the view that one person should be allowed to rule, it is equivalent to mixing animal elements into politics. 30 Ordinary people cannot completely eliminate animal desires, and even the most virtuous people will inevitably have something they are passionate about. See Plato : "Utopia" 588C-E. Plato set up a metaphor: a huge monster made up of many kinds of animals, a slightly smaller lion statue, and another smaller human statue, the three are integrated into human nature Therefore, human nature is a mixture of good and evil, which has ([-]) "inferior temperament" belonging to low-level creatures, ([-]) lion nature or "noble temperament" belonging to high-level animals, and ([-]) "human nature including reason". The "enthusiasm" here "(θυμó) refers to the "lion nature" of the second item. It often causes bias when governing. The law is precisely the embodiment of the gods and reason that are free from all lust.

To use a flexible analogy here, see the previous chapter 1286a12-14; and Chapter 111281b40-82a7.Medicine, for example, is not exact.Of course, prescribing prescriptions without authorization according to the medical book is a frivolous act, and patients should still seek help from physicians with medical skills.But after all, doctors are different from politicians. Doctors will not lose their minds because they are partial to patients. They treat different patients and charge a fee for each consultation.Politicians, on the other hand, make many measures which are not free from the influence of love and hate, either by which they frustrate enemies, or favor those who are friendly to them.When the sick man suspects that the physician will benefit him by bribing his enemies, 35 he may consult the medical books for remedies and prescriptions.When doctors themselves suffer from diseases, 40b often ask other doctors for diagnosis and treatment.Physical education teachers often ask other physical education teachers for advice when they are exercising.The reason why they turn to neutral and impartial masters is that they are afraid that they will be affected by emotions and make wrong judgments about their diseases.To make things conform to justice (fairness), there is quite an impartial balance. See "Niron" volume 1287 1132a22. ; The law is precisely such a middle way balance.What we have mentioned above is only the written law, 5 but the "unwritten law" νóμοs ("Nomo") formed by long-standing habits, the root νεμ means "distinguish", and the stem derived from νεμ has derived two series of words.

One is nouns used as regional distinctions, such as pastures and areas where birds and animals live, can be called Nomo.And the areas where human beings live, such as Babylon and the ancient states and counties of Egypt, also have names like "Nomo".The other is used to distinguish between merit and crime, and it becomes a series of nouns in etiquette law."Nomo" in this book is mainly interpreted as "law", and various "systems" are also called "Nomo".Those famous sages who created systems for the city-state or experts who drafted laws are collectively called "Nomoset" (νομοθη, "law maker").The "customs" that have been imitated and passed down by many people for several generations are the "customary law", also known as "unwritten nomo" (γραοι νóμοι), that is, without legislation procedures and laws that have already prevailed in the world.In addition, certain ceremonies of offering sacrifices to the gods of the early people were sometimes spread as etiquettes followed by the society, and the sages of all ethnic groups were restricted by them because of the common sense of the people. "Etiquette" can also be said to be the norms of life in ancient times.These are "nomum" in Greek.In modern highly differentiated characters, there are actually no such broad nouns that can summarize the four contents of "law", "system", "ceremony" and "custom". The name of the four.In fact, it is more authoritative than "statute law", and the matters involved are more important.Therefore, the rule of one person can be inferred as follows: although the wisdom of this person may be more comprehensive than the written law, it may not be more extensive than all the unwritten laws.

Apart from the impossibility of impartiality, there is another difficulty in the rule of one man.In fact, the ruler can't handle everything by himself, he must appoint some officials to help him handle various government affairs. 10 However, since this person will continue to select and appoint these co-governing officials later, why not arrange these officials together with this king at the beginning?We can also revisit some old arguments see the previous chapter 1286b2-13.To support the argument here: If it is just that one man governs because he is better than all, it is still more just that two good men govern together.There are clouds in ancient poems,
"Two people walk together." Homer's "Iliad" x 224, "When two people walk together, one must see the favorable path before the other", which means: two people must be more thorough and quicker than one person .

(End of this chapter)