According to Aristotle, man's essential sociality implies a distinctive conception of politics, one in which all political associations exist for the sake of the moral perfection of human beings. This stands in sharp contrast with the modern view of politics that man is not "by nature" political; rather, man chooses to create political associations for the sake of securing the protection of his life and property. Many political theorists have begun to express doubts about this modern view, calling for a return to Aristotle's vision of a politics that is deeply moral. In Aristotle's Politics Today, distinguished political philosophers representing a diversity of approaches examine the meaning, relevance, and implications of Aristotle's political thought for contemporary social and political theory. The contributors engage a broad range of topics, including Aristotle's views on constitutionalism, the extension of Aristotelian ideas to issues in international relations, the place of Aristotelian virtue in modern democratic politics, and Aristotle's conception of justice.

Books V and VI of Aristotle's Politics constitute a manual on practical politics. In the fifth book Aristotle examines the causes of faction and constitutional change and suggests remedies for political instability. In the sixth book he offers practical advice to the statesman who wishes to establish, preserve, or reform a democracy or an oligarchy. He discusses many political issues, theoretical and practical, which are still widely debated today - revolution and reform, democracy and tyranny, freedom and equality. David Keyt presents a clear and accurate new translation of these books, together with a commentary which, though primarily philosophical, also supplies a key to Aristotle's many historical references. It is intended to guide readers toward a proper understanding of this classic text in the history of political thought, and is well suited to the needs of students, including those with no knowledge of Greek and little knowledge of Greek institutions and history.

Despite the separation between classical and modern theories of government, contributors to Aristotle and Modern Politics find Aristotle a useful interlocutor for assessing both possibilities and limitations in contemporary politics. In this collection, noted political scientists, theologians, and philosophers discuss the magnitude of Aristotle's presence in contemporary debate and demonstrate some of the ways in which Aristotle sheds new light on contemporary problems. This engaging book also exhibits the persistence of political philosophy at a time when the pervasive influence of "ideology" and "historicism" lead many to deny its possibility. Although the authors of these essays differ on the nature of Aristotle's contribution, all are united by the conviction that he has something important to teach citizens of modern political societies. If the fundamental principles of modern politics were drawn from critical reflections of reason over and against the imposition of authority under its various guises, modern politics can best sustain itself by nurturing the critical attitude that initially brought it into being. Paradoxically, serious engagement with the "preliberal" thought of Aristotle can render contemporary debate more fruitful by bringing to light subtle limitations in the political discourse of any era, including our own. If the modern understanding of freedom is primarily freedom to speak and think for oneself, the essays in Aristotle and Modern Politics exhibit the persistence of political philosophy by thinking beyond limits often constricting contemporary paradigms.

Aristotle's Politics is a key document in Western political thought. In these first two books Aristotle shows his complete mastery of political theory and practice, and raises many crucial issues still with us today. In Book I he argues vigorously for a political theory based on 'nature'. By nature, man is a 'political animal', one naturally fitted for life in a polis or state. Some people, however, are natural slaves; and women are by nature subordinate to men. Acquisition and exchange are natural, but not trading for profit. In Book II he launches a sharp attack on Plato's two 'utopias', the Republic and the Laws, and also criticizes three historical states reputed to be well governed: Sparta, Crete, and Carthage. This volume contains a close translation of these two books, together with a philosophical commentary. It is well suited to the requirements of readers who do not know Greek.

"Lord's translation is clearly the best available."--"Claremont Review Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

This clear and accurate exposition of Greek political thought offers a comprehensive exploration of the works of Plato and Aristotle. Students of political science and the history of Western philosophy will appreciate its insights into the sources of state power, the nature of political organization, the aims of the state, citizenship, justice, law, and related concepts. In addition to point-by-point discussions of Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Politics, this survey presents critical examinations of several of Plato's other dialogues along with Aristotle's Ethics. Further, it considers the origin of these ideas in the Greek political experience and in the contributions of other Greek theorists, including Heraclitus, Pythagoras, the Cyrenaics, and the Encyclopaedists. This classic of scholarship also includes epilogues that discuss the influence of Greek political ideas on such thinkers as Aquinas, Marsilio of Padua, Machiavelli, Spinoza, Hobbes, Rousseau, and Hegel.

Johnson argues that Aristotle's Politics needs to be understood as a 'two-layered' treatise - the first being Aristotle's political theory, and the second as a set of questions for statesmen and politicians. Employing this model, the book sets about to provide a reconceptualization of Politics as a multi-layered, canonical work.

Available for the first time in paperback, this classic study of the relationship between paternal and political authority identifies patriachalism as a leitmotif of western social and political thought since the time of Plato and Aristotle. Gordon Schochet shows that patriarchal doctrines can be found in the writings of all major political theorists form Plato to Bodin and that almost every significant political thinker in the seventeenth century England acknowledged and addressed patriarchalism. In the Stuart period, patriarchalism was the primary alternative to social contract and populist justifications of political authority. Moreover, patriarchal power was a major presupposition of those very doctrines that were offered in opposition to it. The author demonstrates that the ideological, social structural, and philosophic roots of the patriarchal tradition are deeply embedded in the political consciousness and practices of Western Europe. In earlier political thought, familial doctrines provided anthropological accounts of the origins of political order, whereas in the Stuart period, patriarchalism was primarily a justification of political obligation. Analyzing these essential differences, Professor Schochet offers a number of sociological, and virtual disappearance of patriarchal conceptions of obligations during the seventeenth century. Untangling the patriarchal theory, he shows that it comported well with the implicit ideology and everyday life of the masses and was fully consistent with the level of historical awareness of the early modern period. The final chapter traces the ultimate demise of patriarchalism in the eighteenth century and its transformation back into a theory of political origins. In addition, the author discusses a number of important questions about the nature of political theory, how its historical documents may be analyzed, and the resort to symbols in political discourse.