ARISTOTLE AS A FATHER OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Aristotle was a Greek Philosopher. A disciple of Plato, Aristotle is famous for his writings on a plethora of subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. He held the distinction of being the creator of Western philosophy, in collaboration with Plato and Socrates. He is regarded as the epitome of humanity. His teachings have influenced the life of the common man, in some way or the other. Many writers are of the view that the chief title of Aristotle to fame as a political philosopher rests on his employment of the comparative method in the study of political phenomena. 

Aristotle’s great contribution to the field of political science comes in the form of his work Politics. In Politics Aristotle champions the role of the good of humanity as the greatest asset in the creation of a good government or ideal. Like Plato, Aristotle believed that virtue was what caused a city to be good and that if all men strive to find the good inherent in themselves people would live well. Aristotle was basically a disciple of Plato who was called as the father of political philosophy. He tries to understand the nature of politics which can be within the experience and observation of human conscience which we call it as an empirical approach i.e. the foundational principle of his political theory.

His contribution to the field of politics is huge enough to call it as the science rather than a philosophy which was widely accepted. A few of his contributions are Theory of state where he quotes that man by nature a political animal which intensifies his convictions towards state and humans), Theory of citizenship, Theory of property, Theory of justice, Theory of equality, Theory of democracy, Theory of revolution, etc.

His approach is scientific rather than metaphysical. His father was a physician and he applied the approach of biology for the classification of types of constitution. He is the first person to use the inductive approach (particular to general).  Thus, he can be rightly called as the father of political science because of his new approach and contributions to the field of politics viewing it as a science.

He was the first Political thinker who gave his theories based on an empirical basis. He studied 158 constitutions of his times and done comparative analysis. Then he classified political system comparatively. He proposed solutions which could be implemented of problems of the political system. Plato is called Father of Political Philosophy but Aristotle is called Father of Political Science because Plato's ideas or philosophy was not possible to implement it was only based on philosophy and idealized, where Aristotle's was based on experience and somehow could be implemented. He gave functional theories on citizenship, slavery, etc. Thus, focusing on practical He focused more on what is than what ought to be.

Aristotle laid the foundation of real political science by his keen and practical political approach and systematic treatment of the subject. His encyclopedic mind encompassed practically all branches of human knowledge. His works reflected the mind of Scientist rather than a Philosopher. He was a great pioneer in Political Science and no discussion is ever complete without a reference to his insights and methods of analyses. Aristotle insisted that political science is a practical science requiring the exercise of practical reason, so he follows various methods of studying the state and its problem. His study was based on facts, measuring the value of facts and respect for tradition. We can say that Aristotle’s method was determined by his empirical or inductive habit of mind, historic temper, respect for traditions and general readiness to accept the verdict of public opinion. So Aristotle was different in methods from his teacher, Plato. Due to his scientific and comparative approach to the study of political science, he is known as Father of political science.