Aristotle, America, and the Loss of Teleology in Politics: A Reflection

The Enlightenment was a period of rapid scientific and philosophical progress, and many of its greatest works were works of political philosophy. Additionally, it was a period of dramatic political change, characterized by the revolutions in England, America, and France. However, the political thought of this time, and the regimes built upon it, did not entirely continue in the vein of previous political thinkers. Most notably, the Enlightenment political project abandoned an idea of the teleology of the state present in Aristotle. While this is most evident in Hobbes' and Locke's works, it is also present in the American founding documents to a lesser extent.

Aristotle begins his Politics with this passage: "Every state is a community of some kind, and every community is established with a view to some good; for mankind always acts in order to obtain that which they think good. . . . the state or political community, which is the highest of all, and which embraces all the rest, aims at good in a greater degree than any other, and at the highest good."[1] He continues, "[T]he state comes into existence, originating in the bare needs of life, and continuing in existence for the sake of a good life."[2] In other words, the state is not fulfilled in securing life's necessities; it must also promote the good life. Neither Hobbes nor Locke make this point. For Hobbes, the "finall Cause" of government is an escape from the "condition of Warre."[3] For Locke, the state is present primarily to secure property.[4] Aristotle's idea that the state is aimed at the highest good and must facilitate a good life is drawn from his discussion in the Nicomachean Ethics. There, he concludes by calling happiness "the end of human nature," defining it as "activity in accordance with virtue" coupled with some "external prosperity."[5] However, society is necessary both to secure prosperity and to habituate men in virtue.[6] Hence, he transitions into a discussion of politics.           

The American founding documents establish a more complete idea of the teleology of the state than Hobbes and Locke do, but still fail to match Aristotle's concept. They reflect an understanding that government must serve man, but not the idea that man must serve something beyond himself. The Declaration of Independence affirms the unalienable human rights bestowed by the Creator, and says, "to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed." However, Jefferson and the other founders never articulated what comes next. For what purpose are human rights to be protected? They do not say. The right to the "pursuit of happiness" could encompass Aristotle's idea of happiness, or that found in the Catholic tradition especially coupled with the guarantee of religious freedom in the First Amendment, but they never make explicit that the state itself has an end or purpose precisely in the virtue of its people.

This absence leaves human freedom, what the founders and so many others labored to secure, unanchored. Coupled with the individualism also characteristic of Enlightenment philosophy, freedom risks becoming only the pursuit of self-defined self-fulfillment, which can easily become antagonistic to the values of authentic human community. Community requires solidarity, service to one's neighbor, and mutual pursuit of the common good, which includes the individual good but also transcends it. A question remains, however, which I still do not know how to answer. Can you do much more in government than what the American founders did? Their project was much more practical than that of Aristotle; perhaps the best that can be done is to secure freedom and then let the people use it as they may. What expectations of government are appropriate, justified, or even within the realm of realization?

[1] Aristotle, Politics, trans. Benjamin Jowett, in The Basic Works of Aristotle, ed. Richard McKeon (New York: Random House, 1941), 1252a1-6.

[2] Ibid., 1252b28-30.

[3] Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, ed. C. B. Macpherson (Harmondsworth: Pelican Books, 1971), 223.

[4] John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, ed. Peter Laslett (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022), 324.

[5] Aristotle, Politics, trans. W. D. Ross, in The Basic Works of Aristotle, ed. Richard McKeon (New York: Random House, 1941), 1176a32-33; 1177a12; 1178b33.

[6] Ibid., 1180a5-6.