Aristotle's Discovery of the Human

The modern separation between church and state sought to protect civil peace from sectarian conflict and to protect religious liberty and freedom of thought from political interference. If successful, a secular politics would serve both civil life and religion and philosophy. This liberal solution nevertheless left humanity’s spiritual life, moral aspirations, and devotion to truth without any authoritative support, as individuals are allowed and even encouraged to pursue happiness as they see fit. Such permissiveness, which accepts no imposition of order or rank of goods, encourages a moral relativism that asserts that ways of life are equal, that the good is whatever we desire, and that moral distinctions are arbitrary. Liberalism has been criticized almost from its inception for the quality of life that emerges under its auspices such as Rousseau’s criticism of the bourgeois or Nietzsche’s of the “last man.” It has also come under attack more recently by theocratic regimes for its secularism and moral decadence. Aristotle offers an alternative to both liberalism and its critics, or rather support for liberal politics against the criticisms to which liberal theory leaves it open. Whether we live a good life and govern ourselves well may be “up to us,” but our very freedom for Aristotle makes us responsible for living lives consistent with that freedom. We pursue happiness as we see fit, but we must see what is fit for human beings, what distinguishes us from other beings, and therewith what sort of activity will make us happy.

For Aristotle, the challenges of political life can summon the moral and intellectual excellence of which human beings are capable, without leading to the dogmatism and even fanaticism that liberal theorists sought to avert. On one hand, a pious awareness of the distance between ourselves and the divine supports a humble toleration of different religious communities. Not the diminution of the impact of religion on civil life but reverence itself begets toleration, while holding pious citizens back from any attempt to assimilate politics to religion. On the other hand, politics, including liberal politics, cannot be traced to a godless assertion of human power over nature if the achievements of our reason are made possible, as Aristotle says, by “what is most divine in us.” For these reasons, liberal politics need not be understood as merely secular, but could be supported by a kind of piety, indeed one in which theocratic regimes that claim divine sanction are deficient. Politics, as Aristotle understands it, especially a politics that protects and encourages the pursuit of happiness, challenges us to develop and exercise our highest human capacities. Along these lines, liberalism has a high and demanding work to do, but also a defense against its critics.