"In addition to other things a city will afford us, it allows us to reason with one another about Justice. We will have to collectively decide how we are going to live together."
It seems to me this opportunity / necessity is already at the core of any group life.... of any life...
I think, for Aristotle, Justice would certainly be a concern of any association. We'll see this more clearly with Aristotle in the next essay when we look at his conception of citizenship, but I think Aristotle sees that operating in a qualitatively different way at the level of the city as a 'public' endeavor. I think he would see life in the family and in the village operating fairly informally and interactions largely being governed by custom. At the level of a city he sees us having to come up with more formal laws and that that process will require the citizens to really reason together and weigh and compare different perspectives and interests. Also, ideally, as citizens, we would take our turn at holding office and administering Justice. I think that it's in that move of considering Justice more abstractly that we would come closer to Justice itself for Aristotle (while the laws might legitimately vary between cities, at that level you are approaching a more universal conception in that the city encompasses the full range of human practices and hence to discern and agree upon laws that can cover that is closer to what is Just for humans in general than 'how are we going to operate in this family' or 'here's what we found works in this village'). I think what Aristotle is getting at, and MacIntrye will emphasize this more, is that as the scope of an association we are members of expands so does the conception of Justice and the vision of 'the good life' that that association can foster. For instance, at the level of the city we would need to integrate the goods and interests of plumbers, seafarers, soldiers, horse trainers, laborers, farmers, architects, etc..... Each of those provide a real window into things like goodness, virtue, and Justice, but it is, or Aristotle, at the level of the city that we really need to integrate all of that. So, as a farmer say, I will tend to have a good understanding of the virtues of farming, but, as a citizen, I need to understand how farmers might Justly relate to seafarers, for instance, allowing me the opportunity to broaden my moral horizon.
"In addition to other things a city will afford us, it allows us to reason with one another about Justice. We will have to collectively decide how we are going to live together."
It seems to me this opportunity / necessity is already at the core of any group life.... of any life...
Hi Peter,
I think, for Aristotle, Justice would certainly be a concern of any association. We'll see this more clearly with Aristotle in the next essay when we look at his conception of citizenship, but I think Aristotle sees that operating in a qualitatively different way at the level of the city as a 'public' endeavor. I think he would see life in the family and in the village operating fairly informally and interactions largely being governed by custom. At the level of a city he sees us having to come up with more formal laws and that that process will require the citizens to really reason together and weigh and compare different perspectives and interests. Also, ideally, as citizens, we would take our turn at holding office and administering Justice. I think that it's in that move of considering Justice more abstractly that we would come closer to Justice itself for Aristotle (while the laws might legitimately vary between cities, at that level you are approaching a more universal conception in that the city encompasses the full range of human practices and hence to discern and agree upon laws that can cover that is closer to what is Just for humans in general than 'how are we going to operate in this family' or 'here's what we found works in this village'). I think what Aristotle is getting at, and MacIntrye will emphasize this more, is that as the scope of an association we are members of expands so does the conception of Justice and the vision of 'the good life' that that association can foster. For instance, at the level of the city we would need to integrate the goods and interests of plumbers, seafarers, soldiers, horse trainers, laborers, farmers, architects, etc..... Each of those provide a real window into things like goodness, virtue, and Justice, but it is, or Aristotle, at the level of the city that we really need to integrate all of that. So, as a farmer say, I will tend to have a good understanding of the virtues of farming, but, as a citizen, I need to understand how farmers might Justly relate to seafarers, for instance, allowing me the opportunity to broaden my moral horizon.
Here is a relevant article on the same topic in the philosophy of science:
https://www.generativescience.org/papers/nature/Lamont-Science%20Worldviews%20and%20Education_2009-213-236.pdf
Thank you Tracy. Very helpful.