Aristotle On Happiness In Plato’s State

Aristotle

 

The following is a guest post from Toby Coe.

In Book Two of The Politics we witness the exciting clash of two conflicting political ideologies, Aristotle’s politics being primarily based on pragmatic concerns; whilst Plato’s state is founded on more idealised principles. In this essay we shall examine Aristotle’s critique of Plato’s utopia and whether these criticisms are valid, concluding that Aristotle’s criticisms of Plato are broadly successful, because they expose Plato’s conception of happiness as false.

Aristotle has two main complaints concerning Plato’s state:

1) The practice of wives and children being held in common is both impractical and wrong.

2) Communism among the guardians will be inimical to their happiness and bad for the state.

Double Standards On Life and Death, Part 2

Most people have double standards about some things such as sport, the arts or their job- this is unfortunate but such irrational behaviour is a inevitable part of human life. Yet when people exhibit double standards on issues of life and death this is a very serious matter, as we saw in Part 1.

{Unlike my previous foray into applied ethics this is a piece of journalism rather than an academic essay, so it is not intended to be comprehensive. I only hope that what I say is stimulating and perhaps challenging.}

Double Standards On Life and Death, Part 1

Most people have double standards about some things such as sport, the arts or their job- this is unfortunate but such irrational behaviour is a inevitable part of human life. Yet when people exhibit double standards on issues of life and death this is a very serious matter.

{Unlike my previous foray into applied ethics this is a piece of journalism rather than an academic essay, so it is not intended to be comprehensive. I only hope that what I say is stimulating and perhaps challenging.}

Legal Positivism and the Separation Thesis

An Assessment of the Positivist Critique of the Natural Law Claim that Law and Morality are Inseparable

The central claim in the positivist approach to the place of morality is that the law draws its authority from the legitimacy of the law-making body and that this has nothing to do with morality. So long as certain conditions (varying between philosophers) are fulfilled, such as that the laws this body makes are generally respected, that they are made known for citizens to learn if they wish, and that the specific law was passed according to the correct procedures in that system, it qualifies as an authoritative law. Another way of putting this is that it is the form of the law, solely those factors that are extrinsic to that law itself which determine its authority.

Legal Positivism and the Separation Thesis