Aristotle

Aristotle proposes that the city naturally results from the physical necessity, as the natural completion of small partnership of household and village. Aristotle points out in his ethics that "man is naturally social" so therefore he is "naturally political." Humans have speech, which can be used to communicate their ideas about what is right or wrong as well as just and unjust. If the nature of man is not revealed then the man itself is an animal without any potential. Speech serves man as a weapon to protect himself from what is just or unjust. A man naturally belongs to the city because that is where he can exercise his sociability and debate with others on his virtue. Definition to use in a term paper: Virtues are habits of the soul by which one acts well. Virtuous actions express correct, high reasoning, which are acquired through practice and habituation. The city is prior to the individual because the individual apart from the city is not self-sufficient and therefore he has to be something else rather than a human being. A man has potential to do good, but if he is not capable to use his virtue and is without any boundaries, he can be worse than any animal. In Aristotle's point of view the city is self-sufficient because it contains all the necessities for humans to lead a good life. The city provides humans with partnership with others, which plays a big role in the sake of basic survival, but it exists for the well being of human kind.

According to Aristotle if a person wants to experience the highest happiness, he needs to lean on others for help, and therefore he is naturally inclined towards the life of partnership. From all the social forms, the city is the best accommodated to rise a human, because humans can be educated and directed towards the way of happiness. If the city would function as Aristotle proposes, then life would be different today. If we compare the function of Aristotle's city to the city today, we will not see much resemblance. In reality, people do not benefit from the state because it does not function as a whole anymore. The idea of well being and community has diminished from the city. People lead solitary lives, which breaks the fundamental values of the community. If Aristotle would have the opportunities to see us, he would call us all beasts. People lead lives according to Darwinism, so therefore only the strongest survive. In Aristotle's perspective, the city is design to help people in need and maintain happiness, but in present time the city does not provide this kind of support. The base of the state is family, private property and slavery, which is natural according to Aristotle. Family is only a unity of a partnership made up from free individuals, who represent the city, but differs from the city with strong unity. A woman unlike slave does have a reason, but it defers for the men. He believes that women are human and that they are not natural slaves and they have full use of reason. The husband rule over the woman in a marriage according to the political rule, which is rule over free and equal individuals and both ruler and ruled are free and equal. Our writers may also highlight in a custom essay that Aristotle saw importance in educating women and children, because they make up half of the population and children become future citizens.