“Who is the citizen, and what is the meaning of the term? For here again there may be a difference of opinion. He who is a citizen in a democracy will often not be a citizen in an oligarchy. Leaving out of consideration those who have been made citizens, or who have obtained the name of citizen any other accidental manner, we may say, first, that a citizen is not a citizen because he lives in a certain place, for resident aliens and slaves share in the place; nor is he a citizen who has no legal right except that of suing and being sued...Nay, resident aliens in many places do not possess even such rights completely...”, argued Aristotle (Aristotle book III).
Rarely often when people get to ask about who a citizen is, their answer comes along the line of someone who lives in a country and has the right to vote. A citizen, he says, is marked by “his participation in giving judgment and in holding office.” He qualifies this by saying that being a part of the general assembly or a juryman counts. Citizenship, according to Aristotle, is primarily based on political participation. One must not only engage in deliberation with his/her citizens that discusses effects of laws, what’s just and unjust, but be of service in the military; hence, he does not consider women as citizens because during that period they could not perform military duties which were pivotal as a citizen. In the quote written above, Aristotle believes, just because a person lives in a country does not make them citizens. If a citizen is a person who lives in a country and has the right to vote, then slaves and foreigners will be citizens because they live in a state or country. Aristotle’s state citizenship can be defined differently depending on the type of government one is governed by. As he aforementioned, a democratic citizen is completely different from a citizen in an oligarchy, reason being that in a democratic society the citizens are much more involved in political participation; a citizen of an oligarchy is ruled by the 1% of the population (big corporations, businesses, affluent upperclassmen), therefore, their participation in the government are limited and discouraged. Most of us who are called “citizens” today would not be considered to be citizens by Aristotle.
I chose to write about this quote because although citizenship is very broad, it touched on the main points of citizenship: Aristotle’s definition, his criteria for a citizen to be considered a “real” citizen and the different types of citizens. Aristotle made it clear that women could not be citizens; he believed women were inferior to men. He was expressing his views on citizenship from a period of male dominance and female inferiority. Many of his ideas do seem to be relevant, however, as time progressed, women have no only been able to hold office but participate in the military. I wonder, if Aristotle was part of our time now, would he have been so biased and mediative in defining what a real citizen is.
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