Politics is about how human beings may live together and contribute to each other’s welfare and chances or each other’s poverty and misery. No one is unaffected by politics. Broadly speaking, politics is all about the way people organize their lives together in a community. The important collective decisions, shaping the very quality of life, concerning wealth, health, education, morality, are all essentially political in their nature.
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, logician, and scientist. Aristotle is generally regarded as one of the most influential ancient thinkers in a number of philosophical fields, including political theory. Aristotle was a man of ethics. Aristotle was born in Stagira in northern Greece, and his father was a court physician to the king of Macedon. As a young man, Aristotle studied in Plato’s academy in Athens. After his death, Aristotle left Athens to conduct philosophical and biological research in Asia Minor and Lesbos. Aristotle returned to Athens as a resident alien. At this time, Aristotle wrote, or at least worked on, some of his major treaties, including the politics.
Aristotle’s life seems to have influenced his political thoughts in various ways: his interests in biology seems to be articulated in the naturalism of his politics, his interests in comparative politics and his considerations for democracy as well as dominion may have been encouraged by his travels and experience of diverse political system. His book “Politics” was aimed to guide rulers and statesmen, reflecting the high political circles in which he moved.
Aristotle word for ‘politics’ is politike, which is a short of politike episteme or ‘political science’. It belongs to one of the three branches of science, which Aristotle distinguishes by their objects: Contemplative science includes physics and metaphysics. It is concerned with truth or knowledge for its own sake: practical science with good actions: and productive science with making useful and beautiful objects.
Politics is a practical science as it is concerned with noble deeds and happiness of the citizens. Aristotle understands politics as normative or prescriptive discipline rather than as a purely or descriptive inquiry. Aristotle frequently compares the politician to a craftsman. The analogy is imprecise because politics, in the strict sense of legislative science, is a practical knowledge. While a craft like architecture is a form of productive knowledge. However, the comparison is valid because the politician produces, operates and maintains a legal system according to universal sciences.
Aristotle considered the city to be a natural community. Moreover, he considered the city to be subsequent in importance to the family which in turn is subsequent to the individual. He also stated that: “man by nature is a political animal”. Aristotle visualized of politics as being like an organism, rather than like a machine, and as collection of parts none of which can exist without each others. Aristotle’s conception of the city is organic, and he considered one of the first to visualize of the city in this manner.
The common modern understanding of a political community as a modern state is quite different to Aristotle’s understandings.