Plato, Aristotle, and the Pursuit of Rational Excellence

Plato's Forms of Government and Political Hierarchy

True Forms of Government (Rule for the Whole)

• Kingship
• Aristocracy

False Forms of Government (Rule for Themselves)

• Oligarchy
• Tyranny
• Democracy

Plato's Political Hierarchy and Ruling Elements

Plato outlines a hierarchy of political systems, correlating them with the ruling element of the soul:

1. Kingship / Aristocracy: The best form, ruled by philosopher kings (the rational element).
2. Timocracy: The honor-spirited element is ruling. This form is proposed as the balance between the ultimate best and the ultimate worst.
3. Oligarchy: Ruled by necessary appetites (wealth).
4. Democracy: Ruled by unnecessary appetites (excessive freedom).
5. Tyranny: The worst form, ruled by unlawful and unnecessary appetites; it enslaves everyone.

Philosophy, Rationality, and Human Excellence

The Function of the Human Being

Both Plato and Aristotle argue that philosophy can show us how to live the best human life. They both agree that the excellence of the human being follows from the function of the human. This function is the one thing that makes the human animal unique among all the other animals—rationality.

Schall on the Paradox of Reason

In his Student’s Guide to Liberal Learning, James V. Schall claims:

“The human mind must choose to use itself properly to achieve its primary purpose, which is to find the truth of things. When a human being is functioning normally, when one is using what one is given by nature to be, that person uses the mind. And yet, the mind can talk itself out of using itself. Many great thinkers suspect this choice is what has happened to us. We have talked ourselves out of knowing what we can know, and in particular, what we are.”

Schall agrees with Plato and Aristotle that the function (rationality) of the human being determines human excellence, but he claims that we think we have used our reason, paradoxically, to “talk ourselves out of” the ability to find truth and know ourselves.

Questions for Reflection

Do you agree with Schall that the majority of your peers live with rationalizations for why they shouldn’t have to develop their intellect to find absolute truth and know themselves? Do Plato and Aristotle provide arguments that are powerful enough to challenge the assumption that truth and self-knowledge are hopeless goals for a human life?

The Liberal Arts: Skills for Liberation

The Liberal Arts are called Liberal Arts/Skills because they were meant to liberate the person who learned them.

The Trivium (Arts of Language)

• Grammar
• Logic (Dialectic – the study of arguments)
• Rhetoric

The Quadrivium (Arts of Number)

• Arithmetic
• Music
• Geometry
• Astronomy