Further, the belief that the constitution of a state is only the
outward expression of the common aspirations and beliefs of its
members, explains the paramount political importance which Aristotle
assigns to education. It is the great instrument by which the
legislator can ensure that the future citizens of his state will share
those common beliefs which make the state possible. The Greeks with
their small states had a far clearer apprehension than we can have of
the dependence of a constitution upon the people who have to work it.
Such is in brief the attitude in which Aristotle approaches political
problems, but in working out its application to men and institutions
as they are, Aristotle admits certain compromises which are not really
consistent with it.
1. Aristotle thinks of membership of a state as community in pursuit
of the good. He wishes to confine membership in it to those who are
capable of that pursuit in the highest and most explicit manner. His
citizens, therefore, must be men of leisure, capable of rational
thought upon the end of life. He does not recognise the significance
of that less conscious but deep-seated membership of the state which
finds its expression in loyalty and patriotism. His definition of
citizen includes only a small part of the population of any Greek
city. He is forced to admit that the state is not possible without the
co-operation of men whom he will not admit to membership in it, either
because they are not capable of sufficient rational appreciation of
political ends, like the barbarians whom he thought were natural
slaves, or because the leisure necessary for citizenship can only be
gained by the work of the artisans who by that very work make
themselves incapable of the life which they make possible for others.
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