Comparing Plato and Aristotle on Government and the Concept of Good

Plato is primarily concerned with knowing the good. In the Republic, Plato intends to define justice and describes an elaborate city-state setup with the goal of being a just city. A guardian class of philosophers rules in Plato's city, because these are the only people who can know the good. Everyone else's role in the city is to do their work to support the city so that the guardians are able to philosophize. Aristotle does not follow this concept of knowing the good, but instead advocates doing good. In Aristotle's city, people should do the best they can at their craft so they can flourish and be good. This concept carries over to the politics of the city, as political scientists should do good by making just laws that allow the citizens to do good through just habituation. Because Plato is primarily concerned with knowing the good, while Aristotle is primarily concerned with being good, I will show that they have contrasting political theories, and that Aristotle's political theory is more realistic and obtainable than Plato's political theory.…