Plato, Artistotle and Thucydides - 1959 Words

PLATO, ARISTOTLE AND THUCYDIDES Thucydides was an Athenian historian, general and political philosopher son of Olorus. He is considered as the father of the school of political realism. This is because he viewed the relations between countries as basing on might instead of right. Thucydides exhibited interest in developing an understanding of the human nature to seek explanations of behavior in crises such as plague, massacres, as in that of the Malians, and civil war (Dover, Thucydides: 105b, 22-31) . Another philosopher was Aristotle. He was born in 384 BCE in Stagirus, northern Greece. His father was Nicomachus who died when Aristotle was still a child. The two men provide good information on democracy and ancient politics (Barker, The political thought of Plato and Aristotle 112a:34-42). In radical democracies, the interests of the poor are paramount; Aristotle, therefore, argues that democracy is not the best form of government. He states that oligarchy and monarchy are also not the best forms of governments. According to him, rule in democracy benefits those people who are named in the government type and it is for the needy. In a democratic state, rule is by the needy and for the needy. Aristocracy is a better type of government because the ruler has the interest of the country at his heart. He says that a nation ought to be ruled by people who have enough time and are willing to pursue virtue. This is different from current leaders who are career politicians whose