Analyzing the Concept of Citizenship and Freedom in Aristotle’s Theory of Constitution

Authors : Duygu KARAGÖL

Pages : 197-202

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Publication Date : 2015-10-01

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :In the article, my purpose is to examine Aristotle’s conception of citizenship and freedom in his Politics. The thesis explores the distinctive role of Aristotle’s conception of citizenship in ancient Greece. Citizenship is a political identity and is the ultimate end of the individuals in city-state. The reason why we work on Aristotle’s concept of citizenship depends on the values he gives to the identity of its citizens. For Aristotle, the political life is the highest form of human life. His model of the active citizen is the way self-realization himself in political life. To participate in political life, people must have freedom so our study makes possible to examine the citizenship in the context of freedom. The issue of citizenship is difficult because there are many concepts interrelated with each other in Aristotle. We have three important aspects which are the concepts of citizenship, freedom and constitution. Given the subject of freedom as the fundamental, we would have the different models of citizen in different forms of constitution. This study was based primarily on Aristotle Politics. This article concludes with the referents of Aristotle conception of freedom and citizenship in his best form of government in his Politics. There are many academic works on Aristotle’s conception of citizenship but this study may open a window to look his approach to the political freedom of a citizen in ancient Greece.
Keywords : ancient Greece, Citizenship, freedom, constitution, best form of constitution