Aristotle and the Master Art

Aristotle contends that politics is the master art. While this sounds like a contentious statement at first, it really is not. Aristotle is merely combining the theories of Mill, Kant and Hobbes to come up with a down-the-middle theory of what “good” is. Mill states that it is greater overall happiness, Kant states that goodness lies in the intent, and Hobbes states that it lies in the social contract. Politics as a whole seems to encompass all of these. I would define politics as the art maintaining and enforcing a social contract with the intent to improve the overall happiness of the people. And thus, it does not seem to ridiculous to me that he is saying this. In fact, it seems like the least contentious of the 4 theories and the most irrefutable.

---