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Aristotle's ideaology of Family, Private Property And Slavery

 Family, Private Property And Slavery

    Aristotle's ideology is different from that of his mentor Plato. His ideology may be summarized as bellow:-

  • Individual Ownership of property 
    • Individual ownership of property gives a sense of security. Thus Aristotle overturns the ideology of Plato, 'Communism of property'.
  • Common use of privately owned property - 
    • Owners should make their properties available for common use. And this generosity can be inculcated by proper education.
  • Men are superior to women
    • Men are fit for command and women for obedience.
    • Women are too weak to live independently, and so their best place is home-life. They should be confined to family matters only.
    • Men are like masters and women are like slaves.    
    • Silence is women's glory.
  • Freemen are superior to slaves
    • 'Freemen' have intellectual capabilities and so are 'masters or lords'.
    • Physical work is inferior to intellectual work.
    • Slaves are 'living tools' or a part of their master's property, and hence are not humans. Just as a poor man kept oxen to do physical labor, in the same way rich men kept slaves for similar work.
    • Slave should be dutiful to his master, and the master should be kind to his slave. 
    • Slave can earn virtue only by obeying their masters.
    • Freemen needs 'leisure' to exercise virtue.
    • 'Slaves' included laborers, merchants, mechanics, financiers, etc. Whosoever was engaged in money-making was included in the category of slaves.
    • Learning the theory of finance is not unworthy for freeman.
  • Greek are superior to barbarians
    • Greeks are masters or freemen as they have ability to do intellectual work, and 'barbarians' (non-Greeks) are slaves as they have unable to do intellectual work.
Because of the above set of thought, Aristotle is said to be a spokesman of 'patriarchal society', 'institution of slavery', and 'supremacy of the Greeks'.
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