Since Man has mastered speech, the meta question has been asked: what is philosophy, in general, and political philosophy, in particular? The question of its function follows. Ancient and modern philosophers have devoted a substantial part of their life to an attempt to answer the meta question. Their theoretical framework, i.e. their approaches, have diverged widely. How can we answer the meta question?
In The Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle sets out to discover the good life for man. The resolution of the question of human life’s purpose is a pre-requisite for organizing ourselves collectively since the latter consideration will depend on the answer to the former question. Aristotle sees man as a political animal, a speech animal.4 Reason voiced by speech enables man to perceive – and by application talk about – what is just and unjust, right and wrong.5 Aristotle’s view refers to natural teleology (i.e. the idea of natural right): if we engage in logos and pursue it, we will be led to the discovery of our true nature: happiness or eudaimonia6, which is not a state of feeling but an activity.7 One is fulfilled by the contemplation of such reflections as the rationale for politics, the whole and the political, and one’s relation to the whole. Aristotle’s Ethics is designed to explain what is good8 – and especially the highest good – and how we might set about building societies and institutions that offer the conditions of the contemplative life9, which is the activity in accordance with the excellence of the best part of us – that is, reason.10 Therefore, not only is philosophy in service of politics, but also politics are in service of philosophy: statesmen must set out the conditions of the contemplative life.11