Aristotle's theories of civic friendship and workplace justice

Aristotle was one of the philosophers who spent a great deal of their time in defining and explaining ethics since he believed that ethics was a science whose practicality was crucial to mankind. In this paper, we shall discuss the ideas of Aristotle pertaining to the civic relationships including the virtues, happiness, justice, deliberation and friendship. In the second part of the paper, we shall also discuss how these ideas are being applied to the workplaces that are considered to be among the best ones.

Civic Friendship and Justice -- ideas and arguments of Aristotle

The framework of friendship that was drawn out by Aristotle demonstrates a relationship between personal and civic friendship. Aristotle claimed that in order to have a good life, it is not only important for a person to have intimate relationships at the personal level, but it is also important for that person to have civic friendship (Cooper, 1977). According to Aristotle, there is a need for civic friendships in the society for the maintenance of practicing of law and justice in any country or society. Apart from this, this kind of friendship also plays a role in the cultivation of friendships at personal levels that find their basis on virtue. To make this argument seem more realistic and convincing for people, Aristotle said that personal friendships that are based on virtue play their part as independent checkers of any potential corruption or intrusion in the law of the state (Galston, 1994). On the other hand, when people consider each other as their civic friends, they come together on one platform to discuss the matters of the community so that the issues can be resolved and there can be a better public policy that would benefit all the people of the state and the community.

It should be noted here that throughout the arguments that have been presented by Aristotle, he has made a careful yet clear distinction between the political communities and other kinds of communities (Schwarzenbach, 1996). There are two criteria that have been mentioned by Aristotle for distinguishing the political community. The first criterion is the common system of laws, courts and a common perception of justice. The second criterion is the care that citizens have for their fellow citizens. At this point we need to look at the factors that need to be there in order for the two criteria to be met (Ferguson, 1972). As for the first criterion to be met, it is important for the citizens to be aware of the system of their constitutions, institutions and what the community expects from them as a part of the society and as a citizen of the community. When it comes to fulfillment of the second criterion, there is a need for the citizens to commit that they would uphold the normative attitude that is required for the development of the crucial qualities of character.

According to Aristotle, the connection between the civic and personal friendship is actually very strong. He argues that to the lawmakers, friendship is more important as compared to justice. Aristotle explained this argument by saying that when two men become friends with each other, they do not feel the need for justice (Frede, 1987). On the other hand, many other philosophers do not agree with this statement since they believe that justice forms the basis of any relationship in any society and they put forth the question that how justice could be related to friendship (Rawls, 1971, p3).

Aristotle argues that when friendship becomes deep between two people, they do not find the need for justice. This is because in friendship, people care for their more than they care for themselves. They make sure that their friend is happy and that his well-being is maintained. Therefore, for people who believe in true friendship, they will never think of their own benefit and not about the benefit of their friends. Moreover, at many occasions, these people might also put the interest of their friends before their own interests. Therefore, justice automatically prevails. This is one of the main reasons why Aristotle laid great emphasis of civic relationship so that every citizen of the state could be friends with the others and guard their interests.

When we talk about the advantages of civic friendship, we should take into consideration the fact that civic friendship leads to the establishment of a single platform. On this platform, the citizens of the society come together and discuss what think about the public policy that has already been devised by the lawmakers. In this process, decisions are made by consensus so that peace prevails in the society and everyone benefits from these decisions.

The relationship of Virtue and Happiness

Aristotle believed that all aspects of ethics were interrelated with each other. He implied in his arguments that without the presence of one aspect, the others cannot function properly. One of the ideas that have been explained by Aristotle as a part of the ideas of the civic relationship is virtue. It should be noted here that virtue has a direct relationship between good laws. It is the duty of the lawmakers to make sure that the laws are such that they oblige the people to develop good traits in their personality. When people keep on practicing the good laws, these virtues become a part of their character. Aristotle also argued that without having a good character (sound virtues); a man cannot establish good relationships with other citizens of the state.

Now we shall discuss the relationship of virtue with happiness that has been implied in the arguments of Aristotle. When a person has good virtues and a good character and believes in doing good to the other people, he or she will automatically also attain good in his or her life. It should be noted here that not all the people find happiness in the same kinds of things. However, the state of happiness for everyone is the same. Happiness is considered to be the final destination where a person wants to reach. There is no goal or objective that lies beyond this limit that is termed as happiness, according to Aristotle. Some people find happiness in wealth, some in love while the others want to consider honor to be their happiness.

Relationship between Aristotle's ideas and contemporary notions

The first idea of Aristotle pertaining to the civic relationships, which has been discussed in this paper, is friendship; both personal and civic. As discussed in the previous section of the paper, a friendly relationship among the employees and between the employees and the management is important to the employees as well as the employers or the managers. Aristotle argued that civic friendship is quite important for the benefit of all the community. The community that we are discussing in this paper can be considered to be a company or an organization. When the members of this community enjoy a civic friendship with each other, there is consensus between them. Whenever there is an issue of any sort, all the members come together on a single platform to find a way out for that problem and therefore the results of the consensus are almost always beneficial for everyone in one way or the other. The second argument that was given by Aristotle about friendship and justice was that if friendship exists in a place, there is no need for justice (Garver, 2009). This argument can also be applied to the environment of a company since when the employees become friends with each other, they do not snub each other and that results in minimal office politics and conflicts. As far as justice is concerned, when all the employees are friends with each other and the well-wishers of each other, injustice does not exist in such an organization.

The second idea of Aristotle that has been discussed is that of virtue and happiness. When comparing it to the contemporary notions of the best workplaces, virtue can be compared with good policies of the company. It has been explained in the above text that only good laws result in the development of good virtues and character. When the management of the company decides to make policies such that these policies result in the development of trust between the management and the employees, the employees will work at their best. Moreover, the policies of the organization should make the environment of the company so friendly that all the employees work together as a family.

Happiness is another idea that is related to the ethics explained by Aristotle. When employees start liking the place where they are working and that place becomes the best workplace for them, they really want to payback the company by performing well. Therefore, in the setting of an organization, happiness is the attainment of the goals that have been set by the company. When the management of the company as well as the employees come together and work as a family with trust, the objectives are not very hard to achieve. Once these objectives are achieved, happiness is experienced by the employees and the managers.

Bibliography:

Cooper, J (1977). "Aristotle on the Forms of Friendship." Review of Metaphysics.

Ferguson, John (1972). Aristotle. New York: Twayne Publishers.

Frede, Michael. (1987). Essays in Ancient Philosophy.

Galston, Miriam (1994). "Taking Aristotle Seriously: Republican-Oriented Legal Theory and the Moral Foundation of Deliberative Democracy." California Law Review.

Garver, Eugene (2009). "Aristotle on the Kinds of Rhetoric." International Society for the History of Rhetoric27 (1): 1 -- 18.

Rawls, J. (1971), A Theory of Justice. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Schwarzenbach, S. (1996),'On Civic Friendship'.Ethics, 107,97-128.