Aristotle's Perception of Society

Aristotle believes that money is a form of justice, and not an end in itself. This has been a controversial perception amongst people for many years; some tend to agree while others have a different belief. From my point of view, Aristotle’s belief was not arbitrary. I support this belief because unfortunately our society is continuously being corrupted by many people who possess the money, wealth, and influence in our current days, are using their means to promote injustice. It is also true among modern thinkers that money might also be the only way to justice. Such perspective leads them to believe that a wealthy person might be a fair person and makes no mistakes because they judge with respect and integrity. In my opinion money is a form of justice and it is not an end in itself. When such a belief prevails, aspects of personal values, social discrimination, inequality and exploitation of assets will fade away.

Firstly, Aristotle defines justice as “a kind of state of character which makes people disposed to do what is just and makes them act justly and wish for what is just.”(1) In his Nicomachean Ethics book number V, Aristotle talked about justice and how hard it was for people to exchange goods fairly and with a high level of justice. He mentioned the example of a builder and a shoemaker and how they used to produce things and barter items without taking into consideration the difference in the value of these objects. Aristotle said “if proportionate equality between the products be first established and then reciprocation takes place, the requirement indicated will have been achieved.”(2) What was happening in the example mentioned above is that the value of the product given to one of the parties may be more than the v...

... middle of paper ...

...ear that Aristotle’s perception is inevitability genuine; I believe that “the life of making-money is a constrained kind of life. And clearly wealth is not the Good we are in search of, for it is only good as being useful, a mean to something else. On this score indeed one might conceive the ends before mentioned to have a better claim, for they are approved for their own sake. But even they do not really seem to be the Supreme Good.”(9) But the big questions remain: What if the world reaches a point where every person has to justify where every penny is spent? Will that promote justice?

Works Cited

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. Trans.: H. Rackham (Harvard University Press, London, England), 1934

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. Trans.: W.D. Ross.

Lee, John. Article10370, Aristotle and the Definition of Money. www.marketoracle.co.uk. Apr 30, 2009