GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

ARIfTOTLR'f MORALS AND POLITICS 12$
man, are also integral parts of the good life of Aristotle's
leisured sage. But while for the ordinary man they are
ends, for the leisured sage they are only means. The
end itself is for him the exercise of the activity of the
theoretical intellect Thus the good life is in the last resort
the life of the mind in the widest sense of the word, whether
it is devoted to creation in art, to the quest of knowledge
in scientific research, or to that contemplation of the
essential nature of things which some men have called
philosophy, others mysticism.
COMMENT AND CRITICISM
It is not my intention to criticize Aristotle's ethical and
political theories in any detail. One important 'criticism
of the Ethics, that many of its doctrines appear to be
circular, has already been indicated on a preceding page.
The good life of the student and the sage admittedly
breaks through this circle, but this kind of good life is
reserved only for the few.
That its benefits ate reserved only for the few, is an
objection which many would wish to bring against Aristotle's
conception of the State. Aristotle is careful at the outset
to guard himself against the criticism to which Plato's
State is exposed, the criticism, namely, that the welfare
of the individual is too obviously subordinated to that of
the State. That this is, indeed, a fault in a political com*
munity most writers on political theory are agreed. As
Dante says in his work on politics, De Monarchic, "The aim
of such rightful Commonwealths is liberty, to wit that
men may
live for their own sake. For citizens are not for
but
the sake of the Consuls, nor a nation for the King ;
contrariwise the Consuls are for the sake of the citizens,
the King for the sake of the nation."
To embody this ideal in practice was no doubt Aristotle's
intention. Yet it is only in regard to the few that it is
fulfilled. For the great mass of citizens he provides only
" virtues of character 99
, and these, which a*e produced by