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kinds: there is the ordinary practitioner, and there is the physician of the
higher class, and thirdly the intelligent man who has studied the art: in all arts
there is such a class; and we attribute the power of judging to them quite as
much as to professors of the art. Secondly, does not the same principle apply
to elections? For a right election can only be made by those who have
knowledge; those who know geometry, for example, will choose a
geometrician rightly, and those who know how to steer, a pilot; and, even if
there be some occupations and arts in which private persons share in the
ability to choose, they certainly cannot choose better than those who know. So
that, according to this argument, neither the election of magistrates, nor the
calling of them to account, should be entrusted to the many. Yet possibly these
objections are to a great extent met by our old answer, that if the people are
not utterly degraded, although individually they may be worse judges than
those who have special knowledge—as a body they are as good or better.
Moreover, there are some arts whose products are not judged of solely, or
best, by the artists themselves, namely those arts whose products are
recognized even by those who do not possess the art; for example, the
knowledge of the house is not limited to the builder only; the user, or, in other
words, the master, of the house will be even a better judge than the builder,
just as the pilot will judge better of a rudder than the carpenter, and the guest
will judge better of a feast than the cook.
This difficulty seems now to be sufficiently answered, but there is another
akin to it. That inferior persons should have authority in greater matters than
the good would appear to be a strange thing, yet the election and calling to
account of the magistrates is the greatest of all. And these, as I was saying,
are functions which in some states are assigned to the people, for the
assembly is supreme in all such matters. Yet persons of any age, and having
but a small property qualification, sit in the assembly and deliberate and
judge, although for the great officers of state, such as treasurers and generals,
a high qualification is required. This difficulty may be solved in the same
manner as the preceding, and the present practice of democracies may be
really defensible. For the power does not reside in the dicast, or senator, or
ecclesiast, but in the court, and the senate, and the assembly, of which
individual senators, or ecclesiasts, or dicasts, are only parts or members. And
for this reason the many may claim to have a higher authority than the few;
for the people, and the senate, and the courts consist of many persons, and
their property collectively is greater than the property of one or of a few
individuals holding great offices. But enough of this.
The discussion of the first question shows nothing so clearly as that laws,
when good, should be supreme; and that the magistrate or magistrates should
regulate those matters only on which the laws are unable to speak with
1984
back to the
book The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Title
- The Complete Aristotle
- Author
- Aristotle
- Date
- ~322 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 2328
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Table of contents
- Part 1; Logic (Organon) 3
- Categories 4
- On Interpretation 34
- Prior Analytics, Book I 56
- Prior Analytics, Book II 113
- Posterior Analytics, Book I 149
- Posterior Analytics, Book II 193
- Topics, Book I 218
- Topics, Book II 221
- Topics, Book III 237
- Topics, Book IV 248
- Topics, Book V 266
- Topics, Book VI 291
- Topics, Book VII 317
- Topics, Book VIII 326
- On Sophistical Refutations 348
- Part 2; Universal Physics 396
- Physics, Book I 397
- Physics, Book II 415
- Physics, Book III 432
- Physics, Book IV 449
- Physics, Book V 481
- Physics, Book VI 496
- Physics, Book VII 519
- Physics, Book VIII 533
- On the Heavens, Book I 570
- On the Heavens, Book II 599
- On the Heavens, Book III 624
- On the Heavens, Book IV 640
- On Generation and Corruption, Book I 651
- On Generation and Corruption, Book II 685
- Meteorology, Book I 707
- Meteorology, Book II 733
- Meteorology, Book III 760
- Meteorology, Book IV 773
- Part 3; Human Physics 795
- On the Soul, Book I 796
- On the Soul, Book II 815
- On the Soul, Book III 840
- On Sense and the Sensible 861
- On Memory and Reminiscence 889
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness 899
- On Dreams 909
- On Prophesying by Dreams 918
- On Longevity and the Shortness of Life 923
- On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration 929
- Part 4; Animal Physics 952
- The History of Animals, Book I 953
- The History of Animals, Book II translated 977
- The History of Animals, Book III 1000
- The History of Animals, Book IV 1029
- The History of Animals, Book V 1056
- The History of Animals, Book VI 1094
- The History of Animals, Book VII 1135
- The History of Animals, Book VIII 1150
- The History of Animals, Book IX 1186
- On the Parts of Animals, Book I 1234
- On the Parts of Animals, Book II 1249
- On the Parts of Animals, Book III 1281
- On the Parts of Animals, Book IV 1311
- On the Motion of Animals 1351
- On the Gait of Animals 1363
- On the Generation of Animals, Book I 1381
- On the Generation of Animals, Book II 1412
- On the Generation of Animals, Book III 1444
- On the Generation of Animals, Book IV 1469
- On the Generation of Animals, Book V 1496
- Part 5; Metaphysics 1516
- Part 6; Ethics and Politics 1748
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book I 1749
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 1766
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 1779
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV 1799
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book V 1817
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI 1836
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII 1851
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII 1872
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX 1890
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book X 1907
- Politics, Book I 1925
- Politics, Book II 1943
- Politics, Book III 1970
- Politics, Book IV 1997
- Politics, Book V 2023
- Politics, Book VI 2053
- Politics, Book VII 2065
- Politics, Book VIII 2091
- The Athenian Constitution 2102
- Part 7; Aesthetic Writings 2156