Government

I raised the question the other day in class about the role that these philosophers are giving the government. Aristotle wanted lots of control from the government, especially in the upbringing of children and their education. Although he realized how unrealistic Plato's ideas of total control and isolation of the children from the parents were, Aristotle maintained that the government should be in control of their upbringing. Although people can own private property and live in their own families, the idea is that "their upbringing and patterns of behavior [are] ordered by the state" (103). After discussing this, we noted that this more totalitarian system is probably a project for the future, not the present day. We think that Aristotle did not believe that the citizens of his day could maintain this system, but it seems to be the ideal future. I do not believe we are there now, and I do not believe that we will be there for a long time. Especially these days when there are so many issues about who tells who what to do and the "its a free country, I do what I want" attitude, people are not going to be told what to do and cooperate. No matter how obvious the benefits would be for society, people want to be able to choose their own future. Aristotle's attitude of separation of class by mental capacity also worries me in this respect. People will not take kindly to somebody saying "O hey you're dumb, so you can't go to college, we're going to make you a farm worker" (I am not implying that farm workers are dumb, I am just using an example of unskilled labor). I think there is a long time to go before a system like Aristotle's can be employed, if ever.