Political philosophy

[2.6.7] St Augustine on Two (Plus One) Cities

A. L. Komáromi1 Comment

St Agustine’s (354-430 AD) City of God (De civitate dei) is not a political treatise, however elaborates on some political issues. Here he describes the human community with a methaphor of two cities, which co-exist in the earthly realm, the city of God and the earthly city:

  • The city of God is the eternal community of humans with true love (caritas, love of God). This is not to be equated with the institutional church.
  • The earthly city is the temporary community of the humans with wrong love (cupidity)
  • The two cities co-exist and are intermingled in the frame of the political state, which is a punishment for the fallen man, but also has the role in upholding relative justice.

The OntoUML diagram below presents the main components of Augustine’s view on the earthly city, the city of God and the political state:

Augustine on two (plus one) cities
ClassDescriptionRelations
EarthlyCity The earthly city is a metaphor for the community of the persons with the wrong kind of love (love of self, of power, etc.). This community is temporary.is part of the PoliticalState
CityOfGodThe city of God is a metaphor for the community of the persons with the right love (love of God). This community is eternal.is part of the PoliticalState
PoliticalStateBecause the citizens of the earthly city and of the city of God live intermingled, the two cities are also intermingled, and are the two parts of the political state, which “is a divinely ordained punishment for fallen man, with its armies, its power to command, coerce, punish, and even put to death, as well as its institutions such as slavery and private property. God shapes the ultimate ends of man’s existence through it.  The state simultaneously serves the divine purposes of chastening the wicked and refining the righteous.  Also simultaneously, the state constitutes a sort of remedy for the effects of the Fall, in that it serves to maintain such modicum of peace and order as it is possible for fallen man to enjoy in the present world.”
Justice Justice can be true or relative.
TrueJusticeTrue justice, according to Augustine, “is love serving God only, and therefore ruling well all else.”TrueJustice characterizes CityOfGod
RelativeJustice“No earthly [political] state can claim to possess true justice, but only some relative justice by which one state is more just than another.  Likewise, the legitimacy of any earthly political regime can be understood only in relative terms:  The emperor and the pirate have equally legitimate domains if they are equally just.” (Mattox)RelativeJustice characterizes EarthlyCity
PersonA human person living its earthly or eternal life, who “was brought into existence to endure eternally. Damnation is the just desert of all men because of the Fall of Adam, who, having been created with free will, chose to disrupt the perfectly good order established by God. As the result of Adam’s Fall, all human beings are heirs to the effects of Adam’s original sin, and all are vessels of pride, avarice, greed and self-interest.” (Mattox)
CitizenOfEarthlyCityA Citizen of the Earthly City is characterized by: “wrong love. A person belongs to […] the earthly city or city of the devil if and only if he postpones love of God for self-love, proudly making himself his greatest good (De civitate dei 14.28). (Mendelson)is subkind of Person; member of the EarthlyCity
CitizenOfCityOfGod A Citizen of the City of God is characterized by: “right or […] love. A person belongs to the city of God if and only if he directs his love towards God even at the expense of self-love” (Mendelson). They are “pilgrims and foreigners”.is subkind of Person; member of the CityOfGod
Love “Love is a crucial and overarching notion in Augustine’s ethics. It is closely related to virtue and often used synonymously with will […] or intention (intentio). […] love is a force in our souls that attracts us to the true beauty we find nowhere else but in and above ourselves; it drives us to ascend from the sensible to the intelligible world and to the cognition and contemplation of God […].” (Mendelson)
Caritas“love means the overall direction of our will (positively) toward God or (negatively) toward ourselves or corporeal creature (De civitate dei 14.7; […]). The former is called love in a good sense (caritas), the latter cupidity or concupiscence (cupiditas), i.e., misdirected and sinful love (De doctrina christiana 3.16).”(Mendelson) is Love; characterizes CitizenOfCityOfGod
Cupidity“love means the overall direction of our will (positively) toward God or (negatively) toward ourselves or corporeal creature (De civitate dei 14.7; […]). The former is called love in a good sense (caritas), the latter cupidity or concupiscence (cupiditas), i.e., misdirected and sinful love (De doctrina christiana 3.16).” (Mendelson)is Love; characterizes CitizenOfEarthlyCity

Sources

First published: 23/1/2020

[1.3.16] Aristotle on Best Regimes and Constitutions

A. L. KomáromiLeave a comment

Aristotle (384-322 BC) in his book Politics (see also [1.3.15]) gives a typology of constitutions based on two attributes:

  • the number of people included in the power structures
  • the justice/injustice of the constitution

This way, he identifies six possible constitutional forms (adapted from Plato’s Statesman) – presented in the OntoUML diagram below. He argues that Kingship and Aristocracy are the best regimes, depending on the presence of o person with kingly virtue (who is like a god among man) in the City-State.

Aristotle on constitutions
ClassDescriptionRelations
Constitution“The formal cause of the city-state is its constitution. Aristotle defines the constitution as ‘a certain ordering of the inhabitants of the city-state’… He also speaks of the constitution of a community as ‘the form of the compound’ and argues that whether the community is the same over time depends on whether it has the same constitution. The constitution is not a written document, but an immanent organizing principle, analogous to the soul of an organism. Hence, the constitution is also ‘the way of life’ of the citizens.”
Constitutional
Form		 “Aristotle defines the constitution (politeia) as a way of organizing the offices of the city-state, particularly the sovereign office. The constitution thus defines the governing body, which takes different [constitutional] forms: for example, in a democracy it is the people, and in an oligarchy it is a select few (the wealthy or well born)…” characterizes Constitution
CorrectForm“The conception of universal justice undergirds the distinction between correct [forms] (just) and deviant (unjust) constitutions”subkind of Constitutional
Form
DeviantFormDeviant form of constitution is unjust form of constitution.subkind of Constitutional
Form
Kingship“absolute kingship is a limiting case of aristocracy”, when political power is exercised by one single person. Kingship is the best regime, when a ruler of kingly wirtue is present in the City-State. Aristotle suggests, that when such a person is present, “that in the case of the best regime it would be unjust to expel such men or force them to share ruling with others, so that the natural course is for everyone to accept them gladly as permanent kings.” (Vander Waerdt) subkind of CorrectForm
Aristocracy“the correct conception of justice is aristocratic, assigning political rights to those who make a full contribution to the political community, that is, to those with virtue as well as property and freedom. This is what Aristotle understands by an ‘aristocratic’ constitution: literally, the rule of the aristoi, i.e., best persons.”
Aristotle proposes that the aristocrats should fulfill offices through rotation. 		subkind of CorrectForm
Polity“polity is… a kind of “mixed” constitution typified by rule of the “middle” group of citizens, a moderately wealthy class between the rich and poor.”subkind of CorrectForm
TirannyTyranny is power exercised by one person, who rules according to its own interests, not of his subjects.subkind of DeviantForm
Oligarchy“the dominant class in oligarchy (literally rule of the oligoi, i.e., few) is typically the wealthy… The oligarchs mistakenly think that those who are superior in wealth should also have superior political rights…”
This approach of political justice is mistaken because assumes a false conception of the ultimate end of the city-state, which is not a “business enterprise to maximize wealth (as the oligarchs suppose)”. Instead, Aristotle argues, “the good life is the end of the city-state, that is, a life consisting of noble actions”. 		subkind of DeviantForm
Democracy“in democracy (literally rule of the dêmos, i.e., people) it is the poor, so that these economic classes should be included in the definition of these forms.”
Democracy is a deviant constitutional form because assumes a false conception of the ultimate end of the city-state, which is not an “association to promote liberty and equality (as the democrats maintain) “. Instead, Aristotle argues, “the good life is the end of the city-state, that is, a life consisting of noble actions”. 		subkind of DeviantForm

Sources

  • All citations without explicit reference from: Miller, Fred, “Aristotle’s Political Theory“, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
  • P. A. Vander Waerdt, “Kingship and Philosophy in Aristotle’s Best Regime”, in Ancient Philosophy 5 1985, (1):77-89.

First published: 17/10/2019
Updated: 19/9/2021