Aristotle and John Locke on Nature and Purpose of a...

When I think about a political community, I usually associate it with elections, politicians, and advertisements that bad mouth candidates from the different political parties. Politicians try to persuade citizens to vote for them by making promises that they may never fulfill. But a political community is more than that. A comparison of Aristotle and John Locke’s nature and purpose of a political community has given me a new insight. I learned that, even though the political community is responsible to provide security, its main purpose is aimed for the highest good of all its citizens, which is virtue and happiness. While some differences between Aristotle and John Locke’s nature and purpose of a political community are obvious, the similarities are noticeable. According to Aristotle, the nature and purpose of a political community is for the greater or highest good of all its citizens, which according to him, is virtue and happiness. The purpose of the community is to make it possible for the citizens to achieve this virtue and happiness. â€Å"It is constituted out of numerous households for the sake of satisfying the needs of its citizens other the everyday ones† (Aristotle, Politics 1252b -15). For example, if someone in the community wants their roof to be fixed, they can get it done by a carpenter from the community. Likewise, if the carpenter wants a shirt to be mended, he can get it done by a tailor from the community. In this way the community will be best servedShow MoreRelatedThe Constitution Of Government And Selections From Aristotle s Politics1009 Words   |  5 Pagesprinciples of government, which was ever written,† writers Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay sought to articulate and defend the integrity of the new Constitution, and to demonstrate the ways in which it fulfilled the requirements necessary to establish a Republican form of government. 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