nity, which is the highest of all, which embraces all the rest, aims
at a good in a greater degree that any other, and at the highest
good.”
Man is by nature a political animal, Aristotle claims, because
he is naturally gregarious. “A social instinct is implanted in all
men by nature.” This desire to interact with others is evident in
every level of activity, from the family to the state. Also, no man
can truly live alone; to live alone a man must be “either a beast
or a God.” Man, when separated from law and justice, is, at his
worst, the worst of all animals, and at his best he is the best of all
living things. Only through the state can man be his best;
therefore, the state is necessary. Just as every individual activity
aims at some good, the aim of the state is to make man good. To
Aristotle there is no theoretical problem of the individual versus
the state; the state exists prior to the individual, each man is born
into the state, a part in relation to the whole. Thus, the state is
organic, a natural and integrated whole, of which each man is a
part, working through law and justice towards the good.
His major criticism of Plato’s Republic revolved around
Plato’s communal organization and commitment to unity (mo
nism). The idea of holding property in common was antithetical
to Aristotle’s thinking, and the holding of all things in com
mon—even children and wives— and all the other peculiarities
of the guardians seemed to be against nature. Aristotle believed
that nature implanted a self-love in all of us which requires that
at one time or another we glory in possessing something. “How
much better to be a real cousin of somebody than to be a son after
Plato’s fashion,” said Aristotle. Also, the state, while a unity of
the whole, is a plurality in many respects— male and female,
master and slave, buyer and seller, farmer, businessman, crafts
men, and professionals. Property, then, is a natural right, and if
held and used with the moderation which is the hallmark of his
philosophy, a good thing.
Aristotle deals with the question of who should rule by
observing that there are only three possible types of governmen
tal organization—rule of the one, rule of the few, and rule of the
many. If then, there are only three possible forms, which is best?
Or, is there no best form, just degrees of difference? Aristotle has
a personal preference, but he believed that all three forms can be
good, and similarly, all three forms can be bad. His good forms
142 Political Theory: The Relationship of Man and the State