PHIL103: Moral and Political Philosophy

Read this article for an overview of Aristotle's Politics. Aristotle describes how the ethically educated person, who has a proper character has an obligation to participate in their government (city-states in Aristotle's time). The moral health of one's city-state depends on the moral health of all the individuals who live in it and who participate in its political process. Because the city-state has such an interest in the moral health of each citizen, the government does have the right and the obligation to set laws that can be described as "paternalistic", laws that help people to control their own behavior even in private. In this sense Aristotle can be contrasted with modern day libertarian ethics.