Aristotelian Teleology, Public Morality, and Statecraft: An Examination of Ethics and Politics in Classical Philosophy and the Development of Post-Colonial Nigeria

Abstract

This inquiry investigated the structural and philosophical intersections between Aristotle's treatises on moral philosophy and statecraft, specifically the Nicomachean Ethics and the Politics and maps their diagnostic and prescriptive utility onto the socio-political evolution of Nigeria. Operating on the central Aristotelian premise that politics is an extension of ethics directed toward the realization of the highest human good (eudaimonia), this paper evaluated the systemic failures of post-colonial Nigerian governance. Based on the qualitative methods of data collection and analysis, the study argued that contemporary Nigerian politics suffers from an existential crisis driven by the deliberate severance of public action from moral accountability, institutionalized prebendalism, and the erosion of civic friendship (philia). Through an examination of historical trajectories, socio-cultural matrices (such as the ọmọlúwàbí ethos), and structural governance deficits, the study concluded that sustainable political development in Nigeria requires a teleological realignment of state power with virtue ethics, institutional coercion for moral habituation, and the conscious cultivation of practical wisdom (phronesis) among leadership cadres. The study thus recommended that for Nigeria to transcend its current structural crises, its political culture must undergo an ethical renaissance. By embedding practical wisdom in leadership, reinforcing coercive institutional accountability, revitalizing civic friendship across ethnic fault lines, and anchoring public policy in virtue ethics