Abstract
The object of this chapter is first of all to state as clearly as possible Plato’s and Aristotle’s reasons for believing that the best polity is essentially inegalitarian in its basic structure. Secondly, the perfectionist inegalitarianism of Plato and Aristotle will be contrasted with the emergence, in early modern natural law theory and in particular in John Locke, of a markedly egalitarian structure to political argument. The aim is not to throw new light on Plato, Aristotle, and Locke but to obtain a wider perspective than is usual on the assumptions behind contemporary egalitarianism.
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Notes
F. C. Copleston (1985), A History of Philosophy 1: Greece and Rome (New York: Image Books), 127–263.
J. Annas (1999), Platonic Ethics: Old and New (Ithaca: Cornell University Press)
J. Annas (1993), The Morality of Happiness (Oxford: Oxford University Press) 5–6
Plato (1961), ‘Apology’, tr. Hugh Tredennick, in Plato: The Collected Dialogues (New York: Bollingen Foundation)
T. Irwin (1995), Plato’s Ethics (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 200.
J. Waldron (2002), God, Locke and Equality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 1–15.
J. Locke (1964), Two Treatises of Government (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Of course, in terms of the political arrangements he recommends, Locke is no democrat. Fundamental jurisdictional equality applies only to the constitution of the community that should proceed to bestow its authority on an undemocratic government. See for a careful and clear discussion of Locke on government David Lloyd Thomas (1995), Locke on Government (London: Routledge)
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© 2013 John Charvet
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Charvet, J. (2013). Ancient Ethics and the Transformation of Political Values in Early Modern Natural Law Theory. In: The Nature and Limits of Human Equality. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137329165_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137329165_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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