What Do We Mean by Liberal Democracy

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What Do We Mean by Liberal Democracy?

• Liberal from liberty free
• Free from what? Free to do what?
• Democracy rule of the demos (the people)

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Liberal Democracy(a provisional definition)

• Liberal democracy the system of government in
  which the people rule themselves, either directly
  or indirectly (through chosen officials) . .
  .subject to constitutional restraints on the
  power of the majority.
• Freedom is made possible by the rule of law.

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Aristotle(some introductory points)

• Men are Political by nature

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• Are humans the only social animals?
• No social insects (bees), social animals
  (dolphins, chimpanzees).
• Whats the common denominator?
• Predictable, regular patterns of behaviour that
  integrate the individual with the group.

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Defining Terms

• Society a human group whose members live by
  common rules of conduct and which has a plausible
  claim to self-sufficiency.
• These rules may be unspoken, and not written
  anywhere, yet they are followed by almost
  everyone in that group.
• E.g. how close we stand to one another.

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• But whats the difference between human and
  animal social groups?
• Humans know the rules of conduct (what they are
  supposed to do), and recognize these rules as
  rules (understand rules as a kind of knowable
  thing).
• This is what Aristotle is getting at.

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Aristotles Politics

• Now the reason why man is more of a political
  animal than bees or any other gregarious animals
  is evident. 1253a15
• man is the only animal whom nature has endowed
  with the gift of speech (logos).
• Mere sound is but an indication of pleasure or
  pain, and is therefore found in other animals
  (for their nature attains to the perception of
  pleasure and pain and the intimation of them to
  one another, and no further),

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Aristotles Politics

• But the power of speech is intended to set forth
  the advantageous and disadvantageous, and
  likewise the just and the unjust.
• And it is a characteristic of man that he alone
  has any sense of good and evil, of just and
  unjust, and the association of living beings who
  have this sense makes a family and a state.

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• Aristotle does not say that man is the only
  political animal. Human beings are the most
  political.
• Human beings are most political because of the
  fact that we alone have speech (Greek, logos)
• Speech differs from mere voice or sound. We dont
  need speech to communicate some things. Dogs have
  voice and can communicate their pleasure,
  displeasure, pain, hunger, fear, etc.
• But without speech (logos/reason) we cannot have
  abstract or general thoughts.

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• Consider Jean-Jacques Rousseau (18th century
  political philosopher)
• General ideas can enter the mind only with the
  help of words, and the understanding grasps them
  only by means of propositions. That is one of the
  reasons why animals could not frame such ideas. .
  .Every general idea is purely intellectual. .
  .Only the definition of a triangle gives you its
  genuine idea.

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• Justice, advantage, disadvantage, good, bad,
  honour, dishonour
• All these are politically relevant
• They may all be abstract terms.
• If so, only the being with logos can perceive
  them with the minds eye.

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• It may be good that wolves work together to hunt
  larger prey.
• But wolves do not reflect on why this is good.
• The particular rule that governs their behaviour
  does not become an object of thought for them.
• Nor do they think about the general concept The
  Good which unites all of the several instances
  of good under a single general Idea.

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• Because we possess logos, we live together in a
  more intimate and profound way than is possible
  for other animals.
• This deeper association comes from mutual
  understanding through speech.
• We can come to agreement on the meaning of life
  (what does it mean to look for a soul-mate in
  life?)

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• Living together for human beings means more
  than sharing things of the body, it means sharing
  thoughts. A human community is a state of mind.
  
• Aristotle the most important thoughts we share
  are thoughts about justice and what is gooda
  shared conception of these makes a political
  community.
• Larry Arnhart, Political Questions Political
  Philosophy from Plato to Rawls, 3rd edition
  (Illinois Waveland Press, Inc., 2003), 45.

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• Another difference with animals
• Because humans are aware of rules as rules,
  humans can choose not to follow the rule (we are
  free).

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Breaking the RulesTwo Perspectives

• The beast cannot deviate from the rule
  prescribed to it by nature even when it would
  be to its advantage to do so, while man often
  deviates from it to his detriment Rousseau, The
  Second Discourse, Part One, par.15.

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• Justice is giving back to someone something you
  borrowed. What if you borrowed a weapon from
  your neighbour he comes back, angry and drunk,
  and asks for it back. Is it right/good to give it
  back?

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• Rousseaus quotation suggests we break rules, and
  it may not be advantageous or good that we do so.
• Socrates suggestion is that we may break a
  normally good rule in light of a higher standard
  of what is truly good.

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• Because of our intelligence, we do not
  automatically obey rules if they are not
  advantageous or right in the circumstances.
• But we are also driven by passion and desire so
  we may break rules to satisfy personal desire at
  the expense of others.

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• Those who have good character (virtue) do what is
  right because it is the right thing to do.
• If virtue can be taught, why not educate everyone
  to be virtuous?then there would be no need of
  laws or police.

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• Aristotle arguments (speeches) alone cannot
  make the many morally good. For the many do not
  by nature obey the sense of shame, but only fear,
  and do not abstain from bad acts because of the
  baseness of these acts but through fear of
  punishment.
• most people obey necessity rather than argument,
  and punishments rather than the sense of what is
  noble and good.
• Nichomachean Ethics, 1179b1-15 1180a4.

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• What role should the government have in educating
  its citizens, then?
• What should be the proper role of laws? Just to
  keep people from doing bad things (through fear),
  or to make them better?
• For to live moderately and hardily is not
  pleasant to most people, especially when they are
  young. For this reason their nurture and
  occupations should be fixed by law Aristotle

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Aristotle, PoliticsThe Beginning of Political
Science

• Politics comes from Greek word polis
• polis is more than just the city. It refers to
  the whole life of the people together.

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Aristotle

• EVERY state is a community of some kind, and
  every community is established with a view to
  some good for mankind always act in order to
  obtain that which they think good. But, if all
  communities aim at some good, the state or
  political community, which is the highest of all,
  and which embraces all the rest, aims, and in a
  greater degree than any other, at the highest
  good.

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• Politics is natural to man
• What are the basic elements of political
  association?
• Male-female (procreation) / Master-slave
  (preservation)

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• The household contains these two associations,
  and one implied by the first (children)
• Man woman (called political rule, among equals)
• Parents children (Royal rule, among unequals)
• Master-slave (despotic rule, among unequals)
• Question Are any of these forms of rule
  appropriate for the political community as a
  whole?

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Slavery

• What characterizes master slave rule?
• The master rules because he has foresight
• The slave is ruled because he lacks foresight
• The principal of natural rule, then, is
  foresight.
• Confirmed when we look at another natural
  association soul/body. The soul rules the body
  despotically, and this is how it should be.

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• So, there is in nature a principal of rule.
• But to be legitimate, this rule must meet all the
  criteria
• Ruler has foresight
• Ruled has none
• Ruler rules NOT in his own advantage but to
  mutual advantage
• E.g. doctor of medicine?

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• Upshot
• There are no human beings (or very, very few) who
  qualify as natural slaves.
• Thus, all existing slavery in Athens is by law
  )or by convention), not by nature.
• All existing institutions of slavery are
  therefore not in accordance with natural rule. So
  Athenian slavery must rest on force, and might
  does not make right.
• Slavery is unjust

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• But what happens to the superior claim of
  knowledge, i.e. foresight?
• Does it disappear from politics? Is it NOT
  legitimate, after all?
• No
• But, one cannot have natural rule (simply) in
  politics. In other words, you cannot argue
  strictly that knowledge is THE basis or ONLY
  basis for political rule.

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Kingly (Royal) rule

• Kingly rule (by parent) for the purpose of
  bringing the children to maturity and adulthood.
• It looks forward to an end which will destroy the
  basis of this Kings rule.
• This cannot be the basis of rule in the polis
  either (see discussion in Book 3). For one thing,
  Kingly rule in the Polis would mean every one
  else has the status of being permanent children.

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• Notice, villages were ruled by kings. But the
  village is not self-sufficient, it gives way to
  the polis.
• The polis comes into existence for the sake of
  living, it exists for the sake of living well.
  its ultimate purpose may be different than it
  origin. 1.2.8 (Jowett, p.28)

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Political Rulebetween husbands and wives

• Political (or constitutional) rule is
  alternating rule between equals (I.12.2).
• Equal with respect to what? Strength? Money?
  Free-birth? No. Equal with respect to
  virtueespecially foresight or prudence the
  pre-eminent political virtue.
• Why foresight? Because it is the natural
  principle of rule (thats what the discussion of
  slavery revealed). See I.13.7-8).
• Political rule may be best for the community. But
  this means citizens must be/become virtuous in
  order to merit this rule.
• Aristotle would seem to say You dont deserve
  equality if you are not in fact equal in the most
  important respect.

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• Later, Aristotle will employ this logic to
  elevate democracys claim to rule
• The democrats say we are free and we are
  equal
• Yet we now know that to be equally free to do as
  you wish is not a solid basis for claiming to
  rule.
• One would have to be equally prudent to merit
  ruling.
• See wisdom of the many (book 3.10-11)
• Well come back to this question later

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• Economics governing the household
• Household needs to acquire the necessary things
  for life (property, food, clothing)
• Acquisition should serve a higher (natural)
  goalproducing virtue in the members
• Two types of acquisition
• Natural (barter system and money)
• Unnatural (money pursued as an end in itself)

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• Unnatural acquisition distorts the natural end
• Hence some persons are led to believe that
  getting wealth is the object of household
  management, and the whole idea of their lives is
  that they ought either to increase their money
  without limit, or at any rate not to lose it. The
  origin of this disposition in men is that they
  are intent upon living only, and not upon living
  well and, as their desires are unlimited they
  also desire that the means of gratifying them
  should be without limit. 1.9.16
• The amount of property which is needed for a
  good life in not unlimited. . .but there is a
  fixed boundary (I.8.14)

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• Nature is a guide. It is teleological and
  strives to bring about certain ends or goals.
• To exceed natures limits is to go wrong and to
  endanger success.
• Politics should try to understand natures
  intention and help it achieve its purpose.
• Mans purpose is to live well and to achieve
  happiness
• Politics must understand human happiness and work
  to bring it about.
• Aristotle Political Science can not be value
  neutral or indifferent to question of the true
  human good that transcend culture.

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Book 2pages 80 82 (Jowett translation)

• Is political science like other arts and sciences
  (e.g. medicine)
• Should it reward any innovator who proposes
  useful changes?
• Aristotle answers yes and no

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• Yes
• What is old is not always goodthe peoples of old
  may have been rustic and ignorant
• Laws are general, not particular, and may need to
  adjust to new circumstances

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• No (laws should not be changed)
• Political laws differ from laws in science.
  Political laws are obeyed out of habit (II.8.24).
• a readiness to change from old to new laws
  enfeebles the power of the law
• Canadas endless Constitutional bickering??
• Who should change the laws? Should they all be
  changed or only some? Who decides that?

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Book 3

• Begins with the citizen, not the family
• Book 1 shows the city arising out of necessity
  (genetic account), and makes choice possible
• A city does not exist merely for the sake of the
  necessary. Friendship is a goal of the community
• Book 3 city is based on choice, but must be
  aware of necessity. Sometimes choices are limited.

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• Regime (state) defined an arrangement of offices
• Citizen best defined as one who participates in
  administration of justice and offices.
• citizen is a function of the type of regime
  in which they live.
• Different regime different type of citizen
• E.g. Democracy (all participate)
• E.g. Oligarchy (rich participate)
• Birth is not sufficient for citizenship (see
  articles on http//web.mala.ca/livingstd )

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• The Definition of citizen can change (a regime
  might go form democracy to oligarchy, for e.g.)
• Yet the definition of a good human being does not
• Conclusion One can be a good citizen yet not
  be a good human being. 3.4.4.

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• Only in the best regime can good citizen and good
  man mean the same thing, and only in the case of
  the ruler.
• Citizen qua Ruler has prudence.
• Citizen qua citizen has good/right opinion
  3.4.17
• Heres the claim of foresight again.
• It is better (for all of us) if the one(s) who
  know what is best rule.

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• Citizens and rulers should learn how to rule and
  be ruled
• One can never be a good ruler if one has never
  learned to obey 3.4.15
• the family is where the young are supposed to
  learn to be ruled
• Not as a slave, under compulsion, but as a free
  citizen, animated by an inner and voluntary
  obedience (see I.13.15). Battle of Thermopylae?
• Freedom is compatible with obediencetrue freedom
  may in fact be obedience to what is right. It may
  be the least random type of behaviour. True
  freedom is not chaotic, unpredictable, etc.

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• If the family breaks down, one might expect
  unruly and violent youth, unaccustomed to being
  ruled (even for their own benefit).
• Note The family is threatened by unlimited
  acquisition
• Those who pursue wealth for its own sake no
  longer take care of the household (concerned with
  living, not living well)
• Taking care of the household means being
  concerned with the virtue of those who make up
  the household(I.13.1).

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Regime Typology

• For the common Good
• One rules Monarchy
• Few rule Aristocracy
• Many rule Polity

• For private advantage
• One rules tyranny
• Few rule oligarchy
• Many rule democracy

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Book Three chps10-11

• Wisdom of the many (demos)
• The partisans of justice speak of a part of
  justice only
• Democrats say if the people willed it, it must
  be rightbecause democracy means rule by the
  (majority of) people.
• Yet, the people sometimes will what is not good
  for the community 3.10.2

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• If the few rule, this dishonours the rest. 3.10.4
• Should law rule instead of men? But the law will
  have the character of its regimeit will be
  democratic or oligarchic or monarchic.
• Should the best rule? This would exclude even
  more people (on the assumption that true virtue
  is rare)

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• But why exclude the people?
• Because they lack virtue?
• But they dont lack it. Altogether they may be
  better than any single individual That is if the
  people are not utterly degraded
• They contribute wealth and power to the state,
  and these are necessary
• The many should be included, but in a limited
  way. Limited by what?
• Limited by law.

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• Thus, Aristotle combines virtue and necessity in
  this account
• All these considerations appear to show that
  none of the principles on which men claim to
  rule, and hold all other men in subjection to
  them, are strictly right. 3.13.9

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• Advantage of Rule of law
• Therefore he who bids the law rule may be deemed
  to bid God and Reason alone rule, but he who bids
  man rule adds an element of the beast for desire
  is a wild beast, and passion perverts the minds
  of rulers, even when they are the best of men.
  The law is reason unaffected by desire. 3.16.5-7
• Foresight/reason again returns as a critical
  element in a good regime. It puts the breaks on
  superior force, esp the force of the majority.

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• Limit of Law
• It speaks to the general case, not the
  particular.
• E.g. Law says any man who wantonly kills another
  innocent man is guilty of murder
• Problem is OJ Simpson guilty of murder?
• One still needs judges, etc. to apply the law to
  particular cases 3.16.11
• Need to blend rule of law and rule of men.