The Virtuous Group— Foundations for the ‘Argument from the Wisdom of the Multitude’

Canadian Journal of Philosophy 31 (1):53-84 (2001)
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Abstract

Throughout the Politics, Aristotle discusses claims to the supreme authority in a polis. Some claims are made on qualitative grounds, and here Aristotle mentions freedom, wealth, education, good birth, military power, and virtue. Other claims are made on quantitative grounds, and here Aristotle refers to the superior numbers of the multitude. Since he takes all these claims seriously and since several parties may claim power on different grounds, quarrels are to be expected. As opposed to this, in the ideal polis all claims are made by the same group. Claims on qualitative grounds make us inquire about possible bearers of such qualities. For example, is a claim on account of wealth, a claim on behalf of wealthy individuals, or may it also be an argument on behalf of groups none of whose members qualifies, but which qualifies as a group if its wealth is taken to be the sum over the individual shares? This question is significant because different answers lead to different distributions of power.

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Mathias Risse
Harvard University

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References found in this work

The Wisdom of the Multitude.Jeremy Waldron - 1995 - Political Theory 23 (4):563-584.
The general will before Rousseau.Patrick Riley - 1978 - Political Theory 6 (4):485-516.
The moral status of "the many" in Aristotle.Jan Edward Garrett - 1993 - Journal of the History of Philosophy 31 (2):171-189.

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