St. Thomas Aquinas' Political Philosophy: A Comparison with Aristotle

St. Thomas Aquinas' Political Philosophy

Differences with Aristotle

St. Thomas Aquinas' political philosophy is based on Aristotle's. However, for St. Thomas, man's only natural order is God. Some key differences exist between them:

First Difference: The Perfect Community

For Aristotle, the state is the perfect community, satisfying all human needs and providing happiness. In St. Thomas' time, the concept of the city differed from Aristotle's. St. Thomas distinguished two types of communities:

• The house or family
• The city and the kingdom, understood as a grouping of cities, which St. Thomas considered the perfect community.

Second Difference: The Concept of Peace

Aristotle did not consider peace a necessary condition of a perfect community. He believed that an individual's political life could be peaceful under state law, even during wartime. For St. Thomas, peace is a condition of a perfect community. He outlined three requirements for a society to live properly:

• A society united by peace
• A society led to do good
• A society with enough resources to live properly

Despite these differences, St. Thomas integrated Aristotelian doctrines with those of St. Augustine. He even suggested the possibility of a global political community, drawing on St. Augustine's idea of the City of God.

Third Difference: The End of Man

Aristotle and St. Thomas differed on the ultimate end of man. For Aristotle, happiness in this life is achieved through the state. For St. Thomas, the ultimate end is supernatural and is accomplished in the afterlife.

Forms of Government According to St. Thomas

Following Aristotle, St. Thomas discussed both good and bad forms of government. The bad forms are demagoguery, oligarchy, and tyranny. The good forms are democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy.

St. Thomas believed in a hierarchical order of government, where the lower parts are governed by the superiors. He defended monarchy as the best form of government, if the monarch were the most perfect among men. However, since this is impossible, he considered a mixed government—combining democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy—to be the best.

In this mixed system:

• The monarchy would provide the foundation of unity.
• The aristocracy would be in charge of administration.
• The people would choose judges to represent them.

Thus, St. Thomas was a proponent of limited democracy. The ruler of a democracy should exercise their sovereignty for the good of all people, not for personal gain. Otherwise, they would become a tyrant.

St. Thomas rejected the possibility of assassinating a tyrant, arguing that if the tyrant is not killed, they might become bolder. Conversely, if the tyrant is killed, there is a risk that a worse one might take their place.