Aristotle's Aristos: The Good Manâ and Uncle Sam
Faculty Sponsor
Christopher Kirby, Eastern Washington University
Research Project Abstract
Under the ideals of American exceptionalism and its relativistic notions of ethical moral conduct, Aristotle’s “good man” (awe-struck by eudaimonia) takes a form only conscious of its own afflictions and not of others. Which above all other attributes, or complexities strained by the never-ending importance of political power, holds an aristocracy above the lesser individuals who support them. A human, or men historically, incapable of avoiding a role in politics that seeks a continual holding of influence; whether by the acquisition knowledge or by force inflicted from its uses. A creature that, when confronted with human political interaction excels rhetorically and uses the modes of natural science to be the most effective citizen. Ultimately, they are creatures of superior birth that are supported by opulent means; whilst given the chance to free themselves from the chains of a perceptual infinity of human progress or production (as the duty of a common man to stand as the cogs for an Aristocracy to flourish). Seen as vessels carrying and distributing the ideas of justice to a collective majority that doesn’t possess the time to individually study the effects of reason and its applicability to all. Thus, the “good man”, or when grouped together an aristocracy, through appealing to their innate teleological interests subjects the common people to political pacification. Justice then is seen as a bridge between ethics and compensation, the ideological underpinning of a partially representative government that holds the disparity of political influence intact. Aristocracy is a mode of existence within the superstructure, in which ethical concepts are used in contractual agreements between individuals, or bodies of people, in hopes to effectively eliminate any antithetical solutions to similar dilemmas. To keep unity within the populous whilst continuing to keep power for a select few. This framework, a perverse creditor/debtor relationship, reflects the current economic, environmental, societal, and ideological exploitation happening within the US. Thus, the “good man” stands as an overseer for a new common wage-slave production class that's enthralled by aesthetics of consumerism and tricked by the illusory ideological benefits from this perceived good aristos, rhetoric from those in power, to continue an idea of infinite human progress.
Session Number
SS8B
Location
Weyerhaeuser 304
Abstract Number
SS8B-k
Aristotle's Aristos: The Good Manâ and Uncle Sam
Weyerhaeuser 304
Under the ideals of American exceptionalism and its relativistic notions of ethical moral conduct, Aristotle’s “good man” (awe-struck by eudaimonia) takes a form only conscious of its own afflictions and not of others. Which above all other attributes, or complexities strained by the never-ending importance of political power, holds an aristocracy above the lesser individuals who support them. A human, or men historically, incapable of avoiding a role in politics that seeks a continual holding of influence; whether by the acquisition knowledge or by force inflicted from its uses. A creature that, when confronted with human political interaction excels rhetorically and uses the modes of natural science to be the most effective citizen. Ultimately, they are creatures of superior birth that are supported by opulent means; whilst given the chance to free themselves from the chains of a perceptual infinity of human progress or production (as the duty of a common man to stand as the cogs for an Aristocracy to flourish). Seen as vessels carrying and distributing the ideas of justice to a collective majority that doesn’t possess the time to individually study the effects of reason and its applicability to all. Thus, the “good man”, or when grouped together an aristocracy, through appealing to their innate teleological interests subjects the common people to political pacification. Justice then is seen as a bridge between ethics and compensation, the ideological underpinning of a partially representative government that holds the disparity of political influence intact. Aristocracy is a mode of existence within the superstructure, in which ethical concepts are used in contractual agreements between individuals, or bodies of people, in hopes to effectively eliminate any antithetical solutions to similar dilemmas. To keep unity within the populous whilst continuing to keep power for a select few. This framework, a perverse creditor/debtor relationship, reflects the current economic, environmental, societal, and ideological exploitation happening within the US. Thus, the “good man” stands as an overseer for a new common wage-slave production class that's enthralled by aesthetics of consumerism and tricked by the illusory ideological benefits from this perceived good aristos, rhetoric from those in power, to continue an idea of infinite human progress.
