Theories of the State

The concept of ‘State’ is one of the most deep-rooted answers that western (originally European) social

and political thought has ever offered to the question of how to organise the social body, how to

transform a mass of individuals on a certain land in an ordered polity.

Within ancient Greek thought, the State is typically conceptualised as a political representation of the

highest expression of human nature. In Plato’s ideal polity, social classes assume political roles based

upon their natural ethical constitution (political naturalism). To enable each class to be in a position

consistent with their virtue would mean to create a ‘just’ State. Aristotle brings Plato’s political

naturalism from a normative to a descriptive level, while he critically distances himself from the

platonic ideal State. He argues in fact that the city-state and political rule are ‘natural’ because human

beings are by nature political animals. However, what follows is not the envisioning of an ideal polity,

but an inductive analysis of historical constitutions in order to discern the best way of organising those

who inhabit the city-state.