Working out Aristotle’s analogies in the Politics IV

Preceding the elucidating of analogies, it is necessary to unpack Aristotle’s first claim. Aristotle seems to proffer that some crafts and sciences are only concerned with ‘a part of things’ [1288b: 10-11] and some that deal completely with ‘some one type of thing’ [1288b: 11]. He also seems to assert that there is ‘a single one to study what is for each type [1288b: 13]. Just based on these three premises, I deduce that ‘a part’ is the most basic and specific unit of thing or the specifics of crafts. ‘Types’ are broader categories of crafts like ‘medicine’ ‘shipbuilding’ and clothing manufacture’ [1228b: 19] and there is ‘a single one’ being statesmanship that is supposed to study what is appropriate for each of these broader categories of types [1288b: 13].

The afore makes sense with the 2 analogies Aristotle appeals to. The most preliminary analogy is physical training [1288b: 14]. Physical training is a ‘type’ of craft and science that is supposed to encompass the study of specific ‘parts’ like what sorts of training is beneficial for what sort of body [1288b: 14] and what is appropriate for most bodies en generale [1288b: 15]. He also claims that these broader categorical ‘types of crafts’ like physical training, medicine, ship building clothing are each led by an expert like how physical training is led by coaches and physical trainers [1288b: 18].

Hence, like how there must be a science and expertise to study in an all-encompassing way, specific elements and parts of a craft. Aristotle advocates that the science of statesmanship is a science to study the architecture of all parts of a city-state [1288b: 21]. He states that good legislators and true statesman must study various specific parts of what composes a city-state [1288b: 27]. These include elements such as what is the best constitution for the city-state [1288b: 21]; what constitution is most appropriate for which city-states [1288b: 24]; what constitution is best given preexisting conditions or given certain assumptions [1288b: 28].

Lastly, it seems that Aristotle is making a more succinct claim that experts like the statesman or the physical trainer must know how to attain what is best for their specific domains. For instance, the statesman must not only know the above, he must also know how many kinds of constitutions there are [1289a: 8-9]; how they can be combined; which laws are best and most appropriate for each constitution [1289a: 13]. Similarly, coaches and physical trainers must not only of knowledge for competitive training but also noncompetitive training too [1288b: 18]