Aristotle's Politics Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

The second Book of the Politics has been object of multiple considerations, but it has called the attention of the scholars mainly because of its detailed criticism of Plato's political projects, especially the Republic. In fact Aristotle devotes 6 of the 12 chapters of Book II to examine Plato's proposals. Most of the scholarly contributions are focused on the criticism of Plato trying either to demonstrate the justice of Aristotle's reproaches or to invalidate his chapters on the basis of a supposed inexactness of his words.

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- Political Philosophy, Classics, History of Ideas, Political Theory

Le zoonosi contemporanee ci costringono a porci una domanda che già gli antichi pensatori si erano posti più o meno esplicitamente. Le risposte sono spiazzanti e per molti versi attuali: mangiamo gli animali perché non siamo dèi (e quindi perché non siamo mai stati – o non siamo più – puri) o perché, semplicemente, siamo onnivori. Per Aristotele, nello specifico, mangiamo gli animali perché le tecniche a nostra disposizione ce lo permettono, anche se in ciò che ci viene permesso – secondo lui – dovrebbe sempre esserci una misura.

- by Pietro Li Causi
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- Philosophy, Classics, Human-Animal Relations, Aristotle

In this essay, I undertake a critical phenomenological exposition of the conditions of ethical community as they present themselves in light of the anthropocene. I begin by approaching the present human condition by following Arendt in her considerations of what more recently has been termed the Anthropocene. I will take her notion of the process character of action as a lodestar in a so-called anarcheological reading of Aristotle that opens for a thinking of unbounded possibility and unbounded affinity, and that shows how Aristotle's ethics, like so many other ethical and moral theories, is really a project of metaphysical closure in the face of the poignantly sensed, but theoretically marginalized, anarchic apertures of communitary life. In order to prepare for an ethics capable of perpetually affirming, rather than closing off, these anarchic apertures of the human condition, I bring the insights won in the anarcheological reading of Aristotle into conversation with accounts of the ethical responses presented by the Native American nation of the Crow toward the end of the 19 th century, when they-in a sense not-dissimilar to what we now experience in the anthropocene-faced the end of the world. I conclude by extracting form this some elements for a thinking of ethics at the end of worlds that affirms the unbounded apertures of human community.

- by Rasmus Dyring
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- Critical Social Theory, Phenomenology, Social Ontology, Hannah Arendt

Suppose you are preacher who wants to speak a word to a polarized situation. Words take on meaning within a context and unfortunately yours is a situation divided between " right " and " left " (here meant very generally to signify the two poles of a divided society) with the result that your word will inevitably be subsumed into the narrative of one context or the other. This is unfortunate because the meaning of what you want to say is distorted when taken up into an alien context: if you speak you are bound to be misunderstood, whatever you say. Call this the preacher's dilemma. As a matter of fact, a third option is silence, but this too may be misunderstood, so it's probably more accurate to speak of a trilemma. However, this phrase is not so snappy and does not convey the tragic note that " dilemma " does, so I have decided to sacrifice pedantic accuracy in this instance. Perhaps I am caught up in the very dilemma about which I am writing. The preacher's dilemma was in my mind last week as I followed the papal visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh. Pope Francis had to decide whether or not to say the word Rohingya. He had previously shown solidarity with the Rohingya nine months ago in February calling them by their name, making clear that the Rohingya are " good people, " peaceful, and that they are unjustly persecuted. However, that word is taboo in Myanmar. The Muslims in Rakhine state are recognised neither by Myanmar nor Bangladesh, and so to refer to the stateless group is to wade into an ongoing political struggle, something that the Pope would wish to avoid. Moreover, local Catholic bishops advised him against antagonising the majority Buddhist society for fear of backlash, and the Pope would obviously regret that outcome, not only because of the harm done, but because he would aspire to work collegially, heeding local advice. On the other hand, not to use the word would upset Rohingya activists, and probably the Rohingya as a whole. In view of the attention of the world media the Pope possessed a megaphone like few others, so his words were at this moment were at a premium. Surely he should seize the opportunity for justice. What to do? If the Pope failed to speak truth to power (with the thundering volume of a Guardian editorial) that would appear an understandable betrayal. The author of the Politics once wrote that most men will what is noble but do what is expedient, and perhaps this was how western, liberal journalists framed the situation. No wonder, then, that Catholic commentators did not anticipate the visit with relish. It was planned when the de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi carried the hopes of a peaceful resolution, before the military crackdown had expelled 600,000 Rohingya. But now the situation had become notorious and the UN had spoken in terms of ethnic cleansing. So, the pope's dilemma was compared with that of Pius XII who was criticised for not speaking out strongly against the Nazis (albeit to protect the innocent). Still, Francis had tweeted that he had looked forward to the visit: there was no going back. What happened was that the Pope met the leaders of Myanmar, first the military (in a rescheduled visit on Monday) and later the Nobel Laureate. On the Tuesday he spoke up publically for the rights of all, and the need for decisive action, but to the dismay of activists, refrained from mentioning Rohingya or ethnic cleansing. Then he travelled to Bangladesh and on the Friday in Dhaka at an inter-faith gathering met twelve Rohingya including a twelve year old girl whose entire family had been murdered by the military. Unscripted, and in the midst of tears, Francis finally pronounced the word: the presence of God today is also

- by Chris S Friel
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- Journalism, Plato, Aristotle, War Studies

Aristotle's Politics provides an analysis of the kinds of political community that existed in his time and shows where and how these cities fall short of the ideal community of virtuous citizens. A polis is literally a " city " or in ancient Greek time it is the " city-state ". However, it can also mean citizenship and body of citizens. And that is what Aristotle's Politics focuses on-the things concerning the Polis or city.

- by Terry Joie Alexis Juntoria
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- Aristotle's Politics, Critical Analysis

THOMAS NAGEL, DER BLICK VON NIRGENDWO
Translated by MICHAEL GEBAUER
Suhrkamp Verlag
stw 2035

- by Elisabetta Poddighe
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- Plato, Aristotle, Local History, Athenian Democracy
- by Dr. Peter J . Moons
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- Philosophy, Ethics, Philosophy of Technology, Technology

A navegação consulta e descarregamento dos títulos inseridos nas Bibliotecas Digitais UC Digitalis, UC Pombalina e UC Impactum, pressupõem a aceitação plena e sem reservas dos Termos e Condições de Uso destas Bibliotecas Digitais, disponíveis em https://digitalis.uc.pt/pt-pt/termos. Conforme exposto nos referidos Termos e Condições de Uso, o descarregamento de títulos de acesso restrito requer uma licença válida de autorização devendo o utilizador aceder ao(s) documento(s) a partir de um endereço de IP da instituição detentora da supramencionada licença. Ao utilizador é apenas permitido o descarregamento para uso pessoal, pelo que o emprego do(s) título(s) descarregado(s) para outro fim, designadamente comercial, carece de autorização do respetivo autor ou editor da obra.

There is a long-standing debate over which constitution Aristotle regards as best in Politics. I attempt to clarify his view by reconstructing four principles he uses to assess constitutions, in both ideal and more ordinary circumstances: (i) the supremacy-of-virtue principle, (ii) the more-virtuous-citizens-are-better-than-fewer principle, (iii) the equality principle, and (iv) the stability principle. I apply these principles to defend a rank-ordering of constitutions, which situates the ideal aristocracy of Books VII and VIII at the top, and tyranny, along with unmixed forms of democracy and oligarchy, at the bottom.

- by Ross Mittiga
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- Political Theory, Aristotle, History of Political Thought, Ancient Greek Politics

Grote identifies in the power entrusted to an elite that would justify its powers on the basis of possession of an alleged virtue as the common matrix of the reflection about the system of government both in Aristotle and in Plato. This should ideally be based only on the men who have received education, thus creating a 'perfect' oligarchy; but the same political history of classical Greece, and also that of Victorian England, shows the utopia in the Aristotelian proposals.

relembra a certa altura (p. 39) o conto de Borges sobre Averróis tentando adivinhar o que Aristóteles entendia por tragédia e comédia. Vez por outra os estudiosos do Comentador devem se sentir, como Averróis, como Borges, como este resenhista... Diante de uma obra que se deixa ler através de traduções e traduções de traduções não há como não concordar que se trata do "caso de um homem que se propõe um fim que não está vedado a outros, mas sim a ele". O livro de Rosalie Pereira contém duas partes: uma introdutória, falando de Averróis e seus escritos, e outra, indicada pelo subtítulo, a arte de governar. A primeira parte recolhe as informações sobre o que se conhece da pessoa de Averróis e seu contexto na corte almôada em Córdova. Retoma também as diferentes facetas daquele que ficou conhecido no Ocidente latino sobretudo como o comentador por excelência de Aristóteles: filósofo, jurista, médico e até mesmo teólogo. A segunda parte começa também por evocar o contexto da obra de que tratará especificamente, O Comentário da República, dentro da filosofia (falsafa)

- by Elisabetta Poddighe and +1
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- Social Change, Aristotle, Athenian Democracy, Thucydides
- by Dr. Peter J . Moons
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- International Relations, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Humanities

Studying Aristotle’s Politics in the 15th century. Summaries and anthologies in the Greek manuscripts, in S. FARRINGTON (ed.), Enthousiasmos. Essays in Ancient Philosophy, History, and Literature. Festschrift for Eckart Schütrumpf on his... more

- by Michele Curnis
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- Medieval Philosophy, Medieval History, Aristotle, Medieval Studies

Il pensiero politico antico, caratterizzato da una forte componente etica e ricostruibile a partire da una grande varietà di fonti, molte delle quali frammentarie, è sempre strettamente legato alle condizioni storiche, istituzionali e sociali del mondo greco-romano che lo ha prodotto e si concentra in particolare su temi quali l'individuazione della miglior forma di governo, la natura e le qualità del politico o del princeps, il rapporto tra governanti e sottoposti, l'utilità della vita comunitaria per raggiungere la virtù e/o la felicità.

- by Arturo Sanchez Sanz
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- Religion, History, Ancient History, Military History

This study, first published by the Academy of Athens in 1998, subsequently formed a chapter in the book: Exopolitics (Nova, N.Y. 1999).
The excerpt here focuses on the effects of the classical theories of Plato and Aristotle relating to war and peace. The Greek philosophers searched for the root causes of war and the conditions of peace, including power politics, natural law, and world order. Thus, we shall describe and explain their conclusions about the causes for large scale organized violence, as well as their proposals of the way to establish a more lasting peace.
Although they only know their microcosm twenty-five centuries ago, their philosophic ideas are so fundamental as to be still pertinent and may help us resolve or attenuate these perennial problems in our global world.

This paper examines Aristotle's view that there are natural slaves, able-bodied people who lack the capacity to deliberate about the good and bad in life, who are ideally suited to be 'tools of action' for practically intelligent masters. After reconstructing Aristotle's reasoning for the view that there are natural slaves in Politics I, and proposing a philosophical motivation for his interest in natural slavery, the paper reflects on what this case suggests about scholarly engagement with the political views of ancient philosophers when these are so contrary to our own. Keywords Aristotle – natural slavery – political rule – deliberation – natural teleology

- by Rachana Kamtekar
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- Aristotle's Politics

Aristotele dedica l'ottavo e ultimo libro della Politica all'educazione del cittadino. Sebbene abbia l'apparenza di un'appendice o di una trattazione minore (tra gli otto è il libro più breve), costituisce una parte fondamentale nel progetto aristotelico di studio della politica. È qui che Aristotele sviluppa e completa i riferimenti all'educazione disseminati nei libri precedenti.

- by M. M.
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- Music Education, Education, Aristotle, Education for Citizenship

, electronic, mechonical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, withoUl prior written pennissionfrom rhe publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are... more

- by Francisco L. Lisi
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- History of Ideas, Aristotle, Philosophy Of Law, History of Political Thought

Dear readers, I teach a course in Ancient Philosophy--primarily Plato and Aristotle--and have a fairly sturdy set of notes compiled over many years. I'm more than happy to share these with other instructors and scholars.

- by Wendy Lynne Lee
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- Ethics, Plato, Aristotle, Virtue Ethics

In the article, I try to refute an old and widespread superstition according to which the new political philosophy created by Niccolo Machiavelli breaks with classical political philosophy by taking a novel position toward the political; that is, that classics were idle "idealists" while Machiavelli is a cold-blooded "realist". To do that, I compare the most explicit part of The Prince (chapters XIV-XIX) with the end of the fifth book of Aristotle's Politics and attempt to show that in the most pivotal chapters of his most famous work, the Florentine, in fact, often borrows Aristotle's advice on how to preserve a tyrannical rule.

- by Aleksandr Mishurin
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- Political Philosophy, Aristotle, Classical Political Philosophy, Machiavelli

Perhaps still a needed corrective.

- by Kinch Hoekstra
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- 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, Democratic Theory, Sovereignty, Hobbes
- by Yiannis Panidis
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- History, Ancient History, Cultural History, Philosophy

Some recent commentators have thought that if updated with the findings of modern embryology Aristotle’s views on abortion would yield a pro-‐life conclusion. On the basis of a careful reading of the relevant passage from Politics VII, I argue that the matter is more complicated than simply replacing his defective empirical embryological claims with our more accurate ones. Since Aristotle’s view on abortion was shaped not only by a defective embryology, but also an acceptance of the classical Greek practice of exposure / infanticide, substituting a more accurate embryology will not straightforwardly generate a strongly pro-‐life conclusion. In the end, this reveals much about how different Aristotle’s ethical thought on this matter really is from the contemporary discussion of abortion.

- by M. T. Lu
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- Aristotle, Virtue Ethics, Abortion, Aristotle's Politics
- by C. D. C. Reeve
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- Ethics, Aristotle, Virtue Ethics, Aristotle's Ethics
- by Cassidy Little
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- Political Philosophy, Political Theory, Aristotle, Aristotle's Ethics
- by Barbaros YANIK
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- Aristotle, Ancient Philosophy, Aristotle's Ethics, Aristotle's Politics

La crítica de Platón a la retórica y a la democracia tienen un punto en común: la idea de que los ciudadanos carecen de competencia y de virtud para participar en las deliberaciones públicas y en los procesos judiciales. La retórica es para Platón sofística pura, es decir, arte del engaño que permite la manipulación de un auditorio ignorante. Un orador persuade con éxito porque está frente a personas que no saben qué es lo justo, lo conveniente o lo bello. Y mucho menos, diferenciar las opiniones verdaderas de las falsas. Sin embargo, Aristóteles, además de reivindicar el arte de la retórica, plantea una teoría del discurso persuasivo cuyo centro es la figura del auditorio y su posibilidad o facultad para juzgar (κρίνειν). Esta conferencia tiene como fin exponer la repuesta de Aristóteles a estos problemas. Palabras clave: retórica, auditorio, teoría de la argumentación, dialéctica, oratoria. La siguiente ponencia se encuentra dividida en tres partes: en la primera parte hablaré de la opinión que tiene Platón sobre la naturaleza poco virtuosa de los ciudadanos y la consecuencia de poner en estos las responsabilidades del Estado. En la segunda parte, mencionaré los aspectos más importantes de la teoría retórica de Aristóteles relacionados con el auditorio y finalmente expondré unas conclusiones. I La crítica de Platón a la retórica y a la democracia tienen un punto en común: la idea de que los oyentes o ciudadanos carecen de competencia y de virtud (ἀρετή) para participar en las deliberaciones y en los juicios. Las nefastas consecuencias de un gobierno democrático son expuestas por Platón en un pasaje del Gorgias: Se me ocurre lo mismo que le decía a Polo, que seré juzgado como lo sería, ante un tribunal de niños un médico a quien acusara un cocinero. Piensa en efecto, de qué modo podía defenderse el

- by Heiner Mercado Percia
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- Rhetoric, Aristotle, Plato and Platonism, Aristotle's Rhetoric and Poetics

Intellectual slavery is the condition bound to philosophical bondage by somebody controlling the information generally dependent on scholastic pursuit. Intellectual slavery is focused on the scholarly world generally in underdeveloped nations. Intellectual slavery is unique about the slavery endured by our predecessors hundreds of years prior in the name of financial or government decisions. It is riskier because it transforms us, citizens, into self-repeating robots making more slaves without anyone else. Intellectual slavery didn't start today. It has its foundations in the old provincial outlook. It will probably absolutely control what is comprehensible by an individual or a gathering of individuals using power dimensions. It is quite clear that no one sees it. Intellectual Slavery was encoded in the pilgrim model of schooling to restrict what the citizens can know, and how to know it. Western instruction was made to inculcate the personalities of colonized citizens to think with a certain goal in mind. This paper discusses some of the nuances of intellectual slavery in the modern context.

- by Preeti Oza
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- Aristotle's Politics, Intellectual Slavery

Aug. 23, 1995. But handwritten comments were added later.

- by Paul Bullen
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- Political Theory, Aristotle, Ancient Philosophy, Ancient Greek Philosophy

Since music affects emotions and dispositions,
it plays a fundamental role in
the political philosophy of both Plato
and Aristotle. This paper discusses
how education utilizes various keys
and modes, in particular how the works
Laws and Republic praise the doric
mode, while banishing representative
of the cult of Dionysos, unlike to
Aristotle’s Politics. This difference
corresponds to a peculiar production
of political order, resulting from the
control of emotional disorder. Therefore
the aim of this paper is not only
to indicate the laws of music, but to
understand music’s systematic role in
politics through an analysis of various
therapies of emotions.
Politics 7-8 displays a homeopatic
therapy according to the tragic catharsis
in Poetics: sounds and instruments
provoking enthusiasm purge one’s soul
of disorderly movements. In this way,
Aristotle frees music from merely educational
and political determination. On
the other hand, Plato chooses at first in
Republic an allopathic therapy, but accepts
later in Laws a homeopathic one
as well. Since music (and dance) is the
medium that support these therapies,
it possesses a fundamental function in
Plato’s ontological-political system.
The viewpoint of this system is the divine
Idea of the Good or nous basileus
and demands a peculiar music, which
Plato would define ‘divine’.

- by Giovanni Panno
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- Music, Political Philosophy, Greek Tragedy, Plato

Recent scholars (e.g., Bodéüs 1993; Mara 2000; Smith 2001; Tessitore 1996) have fruitfully proposed that we must strive to understand Aristotle’s distinctive didactic strategy as a writer. By attending more to the interrelationship between the Ethics and the Politics, and to the contrast with modern liberal theorizing on the issue of educative strategy, I show how Aristotle’s rhetorical strategy is at once a reaction to, and thereby a revelation of, his most profound reflections on the fraught relation between theorizing and its political context. The upshot is threefold: a new, more satisfactory comprehension of Aristotle’s manifold educational aims in writing for his diverse intended audience; a deeper insight into Aristotle’s conception of the relation between theory and practice (including publication)—in profound contrast to our Enlightenment liberal conception; and a new guide for how Aristotle’s political treatises ought to be studied and appreciated.

È dunque chiaro che la città è per natura ed è anteriore all'individuo; se, infatti, l'individuo, preso da sé, non è autosufficiente, sarà rispetto al tutto nella stessa relazione in cui lo sono le altre parti. Perciò chi non può far parte di una comunità o chi non ha bisogno di nulla, bastando a se stesso, non è parte di una città, sicché o è una belva o è un dio.

- by R. Loredana Cardullo
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- Aristotle, Aristotle's Politics

Wann immer über historische Vorbilder des Kommunitarismus gesprochen wird, fällt der Name des Aristoteles. Oft wird der Kommunitarismus auch direkt als ‚Aristotelische' oder ‚Neo-Aristotelische' Denkrichtung etikettiert. Diese Assoziierung von Aristoteles und Kommunitarismus geht teils auf den Inhalt der kommunitaristischen Thesen selbst, teils auf den expliziten Aristoteles-Bezug einiger prominenter Vertreter des Kommunitarismus zurück; vor allem ist es Alasdair MacIntyre, der in seinem Buch After Virtue (zuerst erschienen 1981; in der deutschen Übersetzung: Der Verlust der Tugend, 1995) eine, wie er sagt, Aristotelische Tugendtheorie zu erneuern versucht. In der Tat besteht eine augenfällige Familienähnlichkeit zwischen verschiedenen Aspekten der praktischen Philosophie des Aristoteles auf der einen und einigen Kernthesen des Kommunitarismus auf der anderen Seite. Der folgende Überblicksartikel soll untersuchen, ob diese Ähnlichkeiten nur an der Oberfläche bestehen oder ob sie auch einer näheren Überprüfung standhalten. Vermutlich dürften bei der häufig behaupteten Verbindung von Aristoteles und Kommunitarismus vor allem die vier folgenden Aspekte eine Rolle spielen: 1. Aristoteles als Inbegriff der vormodernen Ethik, 2. Die Nähe der griechischen Polis zum kommunitaristischen Ideal, 3. Die prominente Rolle der Konzeption des Guten -sowohl bei Aristoteles als auch bei den Kommunitaristen, 4. Die Vorbildrolle des Aristoteles für Alasdair MacIntyres Tugendethik.

- by Christof Rapp
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- Political Philosophy, Aristotle, Communitarianism, Ancient Philosophy

Art has the capacity to host, to entertain and to distribute the weak political power that is in effect within collective ways of going on to do things for the pleasure of getting better regardless of how good anyone is. If art can have a liberating effect today, it is by virtue of a strategic weakness. Rehearsing collectivity on the occasion of art exhibitions, performances, interventions, we will become in time familiar with the fact that
the effectiveness of organising collectively does not follow energy equations: weak powers can be responsible for some of the strongest collective effects.

- by Kai van Eikels
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- Sociology, Cultural Studies, Political Sociology, Social Movements

What is the relationship between friendship and human flourishing? This is a central topic in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and one to which Maimonides also returned throughout his career. Despite the relative neglect of this topic in recent scholarship, I argue that friendship (philia) was an important link between moral and intellectual perfection for Maimonides. He identified Aristotle’s virtue friendship with the love between students and teachers and also interpreted many of the divine commandments as efforts to promote both family and virtue friendship among the Jewish people. Friendship was aligned thematically in Maimonides’ writings with topics like kinship and sexuality, circumcision, and the ethics of speech, all of which point in different ways to the unresolved tension between rational and sensual aspects of our human condition. This article therefore contributes to the investigation of the relationship between Maimonides’ legal and philosophical writing on social themes. While Aristotle clearly influenced his reading of biblical and rabbinic texts for example, I will also argue that Maimonides’ religious and communal commitments helped to push his reading of Aristotle in a broadly inclusive direction— both with respect to the range of different goods that are appropriate to an ideal human life as well as the potential accessibility of those goods to different classes of persons. I offer this article as a corrective to the exaggerated focus on seclusion and solitary contemplation that has characterized academic scholarship on Maimonides.

- by Don Seeman
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- Religion, Abrahamic Religions, Comparative Religion, Jewish Law

This paper discusses Aristotle's definition of the state and of the several constitutions in his Politics I and III. It is argued (1) that the definition of the state must be extracted from two passages of the beginning of the treatise, that (2) the state is defined by its peculiar purpose and (3) that important political theorems in Politics III use this initial definition of the state as a premise. The ultimate purpose of this paper is to contribute to the assessment of the role of definitions within the method of Aristotle's moral and political philosophy.

- by Christof Rapp
- •
- Aristotle, Ancient Philosophy, Ancient Greek Philosophy, Aristotle's Politics

Aristotle believes that wisdom and not merely philosophy is available. This seems to me to be the difference between Plato and Aristotle…that Aristotle believes that biology, as a mediation between knowledge of the inanimate and knowledge... more

- by Peter D. Thomas
- •
- Aesthetics, Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle

Aristotle's concept of common good is not synonymous with the good life, as has often been thought; it is a standard for evaluating political justice in light of what the city " actually is. " He argues from a sociological analysis of the reality of all cities, querying first the essential constituents and purposes of a city, and then asking, what distribution of benefits and burdens could be just, and so render its common action a common good? The life of virtue is only one answer to this question. As a conceptual tool, common good requires neither the political goal of virtue nor an ancient Greek setting, so theorists today can faithfully apply Aristotle's notion of common good without being bound to his conclusions. Aristotle's original use of common good is worth retrieving for the way it combines empirical and normative concerns in an analysis of political membership. " The political good is the just, and this is the common advantage. " Aristotle, Politics 1282b17-18 1 Does politics need an overarching substantive goal? The typical liberal answer is negative— protecting rights or some procedural standard is enough. In the opposing corner, one will often find Aristotle named as the paradigmatic defender of substantive political goals, because of his well-known doctrine that politics is to be judged by the standard of the common good. 2 Aristotle is indeed the father of discourse about the common good, but I will argue that the substantive nature of his doctrine has been greatly exaggerated. The common good is a memorable but shadowy figure, not only in the political thought of Aristotle himself, but also in the work of influential Aristotelians such as Thomas Aquinas. Though used at important moments, the term is rarely defined. In the Politics the common good is the normative hinge of the general account 1 References to Aristotle's main political works will be incorporated into the text with the standard Bekker pagination. The main texts and translations used are

- by Mark Hoipkemier
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- Aristotle, Aristotle's Politics, Common Good

In this paper, I concentrate on some of the more peculiar, perhaps even polemical, features of Aristotle’s discussions of Plato’s Republic in the second book of the Politics. These features include Aristotle’s several rather sharp or ironic remarks about Socrates and his project in the Republic, his use of rhetorical questions, or his tendency to bring out the most extreme consequences of Socrates’s theory (such as that it will destroy the polis and that it will lead to incestuous relationships). As I argue, some of these polemical features result from the special character of Socrates’ theory that Aristotle criticizes whereas others are consciously aimed at countering the attractive force of Socrates’s image of the ideal city, which can and does appeal to readers over and above its theoretical, purely rational credentials.

- by Jozef Müller
- •
- Plato, Aristotle, Rhetorical Criticism, Aristotle's Politics