Ancient Political Thought

Ancient Political Thought

Throughout the Republic it becomes obvious that Plato believes that the best city-state has the highest level of sharing and unity while in the

Politics, Aristotle believes that too much unity can deunify a city-state. The "unity" argument is a prime example of Plato’s way of thinking about

the nature of a community, and Aristotle’s criticism of this unity gives insight into Aristotle’s way of thinking about his views on the nature of the

community. In order to understand Aristotle’s attack on Plato’s "unity," it must be understood that for Aristotle, unity is synonymous with the level

of sharing in a community. In Politics II 1, Aristotle begins his assessment by stating that, "We must begin, at the natural starting point of this

investigation. For all citizens much share everything, or nothing, or some things but not others" (Pol. 1260b36-39).

There are three possibilities in Aristotle’s argument regarding how much citizens should share in common: Nothing, everything, and some things

but not others. Similar to Plato’s style of forming an argument, Aristotle states the problem and all the possible outcomes. He then proceeds to

disprove two of them, thereby making the last remaining possibility the correct one by means of deduction.

Aristotle argues that it would be "evidently impossible" for a community to have nothing in common (1260b39-40). A community’s citizens all

share the same location, and they are all organized by a common constitution. Therefore, the first possibility can be ruled out. Aristotle attacks

the two remaining possibilities simultaneously. He asks, "is it better for a city-state that is to be well managed to share everything possible? Or

is it better to share some things but not others" (1261a2-4)? Plato would argue that it is best for a city-state to share everything, including women

and children, with all members of a society. In addressing the remaining possibilities, Aristotle questions if Plato was right in the Republic to

assert that "children, women, and property should be communal" in society (1261a6-7), or is having too much unity (sharing) a bad thing.

In the Republic, Socrates explains to Adeimantus the importance of having a communist-like society where everything is shared by the

community. He states that "If a sound education has made [our children] into reasonable men, they will easily see their way through all these

mattes, as well as others which we will pass over for the moment, such as the possession of wives, marriage, and child-bearing, and the

principle that here we should follow, as far as possible, the proverb which says that friends have all things in common" (423e-424a).