Explain the link between constitutions and justice in Aristotle's Essay

Explain the link between constitutions and justice in Aristotle's Politics - Essay Example It is through the social construction of justice that a constitution is then created to reflect those traditions, beliefs, and behaviours that define a nation. Swanson and Corbin (2009) suggest that the most important thing to do when discussing Aristotle’s work in political philosophy is to understand the context in which his theories were constructed. Aristotle was not merely observing and reporting on the politics within his world, but was examining the nature of politics through academic and analytical approaches. Swanson and Corbin (2009: 2) boil the discussions that Aristotle made down to a central theory that politics are based upon â€Å"the desire to live well†. This very simple desire from within the human experience has spawned a complicated set of boundaries within which life is structured. As Aristotle discovered, through these structures, the pursuit of a good life has developed, sometimes favoring one social group over another, but always in a struggle to find justice and fairness in an attempt to socially balance life. Swanson and Corbin (2009) combine the effects of both Platonic and Aristotelian philosophies in order to reveal one of the most important developments towards Western politics. ... Aristotle pointed out that justice within personal relationships was based upon the degree of obligation that one has to another person. As an example, to not help a brother is a much more severe violation of human interaction than to fail to help a friend or an acquaintance. Goodman and Talisse (2007: 58) state that â€Å"the core idea of justice for him is political. It involves citizens who live in some kind of relation of equality and is not a natural extension of other kinds of justice†. In approaching justice through reason and intellect, political justice is then achieved through an equality that is defined by citizenship. Goodman and Talisse (2007) compare the philosophies of Aristotle to those of Confucius. Confucius looked at the â€Å"benevolent rule of a sage king† (Goodman and Talisse (2007: 59) and did not explore the idea of a constitution. In these types of regimes, the rule of culture is supported over that of law. Aristotle, on the other hand, though a cknowledging the benefits of an aristocracy, believes that the practical approach is through a â€Å"constitution based on the rule of the middle class† (Goodman and Talisse 2007: 59). Blumenfeld (2003) discusses the nature of the constitution and the use of it in a general polity. The word constitution is defined as both referring to the middle class and to the polity. The middle class is the basis of justice and the foundational social group to a polity with a constitution. There are psychologies that surround each of the social classes within a society. Aristotle considered the rich classes to be violent and beyond the power of rule. Obedience is not in the