LESSON 3.1 & 3.2

• HUMANS

  • have natural desire to live in communities for the sake of preservation, common protection and good life
• Political Society (State)

  • is formed out of the natural evolution of communities not a product of human conventions
• THREE REASONS/ ARGUMENTS ACCORDING TO ARSITOTLE

  • First Argument
  • Second Argument
  • Third Argument
• First Argument

  • men and women have natural desire to propagate their species
  • have natural desire to leave behind themselves
  • Man & Women -> Marriage -> Other Families -> Village -> Single Community -> State
• State

  • self-sufficing community of people existing for the sake of good life
• Second Argument

  • humans have the capacity for speech
  • animals are able to express them through various bodily movements
  • only humans have the capacity to use language to articulate and communicate their thoughts
• Third Arguments

  • state is by nature prior to the existence of the family of the individual
  • organ of a body cannot exist with a body
  • body is the whole of which the organ is a part
  • individual cannot exist without a state
  • state is a whole of which the individual is a part
• • Humans are rational beings
  • They have the capacity to reason out
  • Rationality implies responsibility
  • reason dictates that humans should life together as one society
• Plato's Idea of Human Nature

  • human person has a soul
  • a soul is composed of three parts
  • The Appetitive
  • The Spirited
  • The Rational
• The Appetitive

  • responsible for the person's need for nourishment and reproduction
  • appetite overwhelms the human person and they becomes desirous
• The Spirited

  • responsible for the person's emotion, passion, and will power
  • times that the spirit is dominant, they become competitive and ambitious and courageous
• The Rational

  • responsible for the person's thinking
  • it is the highest and is supposed to govern both appetitive and spirited parts
  • reason should tame the appetite and guide the spirit in order to produce a harmonious personality
• Plato's Ideal Society

  • there are three kinds of people who are individually subject to the chaotic interactions of the 3 parts of the soul
  • the three kinds of people are indispensable in the health of the society
  • no one should be thrown away; everyone should be placed where they fit best
• • the 1st problem is to determine who among the people belong to the desire-driven, power-driven and to wisdom-seekers
  • 2nd problem is to determine the positions of each class
  • third is to determine how they should live as members of the society
  • there is no better way to classify people and determine their social position except through EDUCATION
  • people will occupy their social positions according to their educational qualifications
  • social positions are MERITED not INHERITED