Aristotle Politics - Newconsensus
Research Centre, Canberra. His main interest was in Greek philosophy, especially political, social and legal theory, on which he publishednumerous works, including two Penguin Classics: a translation ofPlato's Laws and a revision and re-representation of T. A Sinclair'stranslation of Aristode's Politics. He was also a contributing editor ofPlato, EarlY Socratic Dialogues, in the same series. In 1991 he publishedPlato's Penal Cnde, a study of the penology of the Laws in its historicalcontext, and in 1995 he published a translation of Politics: &oks I and IIfor Clarendon Press. His recreations included'railway history and thecinema.ARISTOTLETHE POLITICS TRANSLATED BY T. A. SINCLAIR.REVISED AND RE-PRESENTED BYTREVORJ.SAUNDERSPENGUIN BOOKS
PENGUIN BOOKSPublished by the Penguin GroupPenguin Boob Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, EnglandPenguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York. New York 10014, USAPenguin Boob Australia Ltd, 250 Camherwell Road, CamherweU, Victoria 3124, AustraliaPenguin Boob Canada LId, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2Penguin Books India (P) Ltd, II Community Centre, Pancbsbeel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, IndiaPenguin Books (NZ) Ltd, Cnr Rosedale and Airborne Roads, Albany, Auckland, New ZealandPenguin Books (South Africa) (pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank 21%. South AfricaPenguin Boob Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand. London WC2R ORL, Englandwww.penguin.comThis translation by T. A. Sindair first published 1962Revised edition 1981Reprinted with revised bibliography 199236The 1962 translation copyright C the Estate ofT. A. Sindair, 1962Revised translation copyrisht CTrevor 1. Saunders, 1981All rights reservedPrinted in England by Clays Ltd, St Ives picSet in Linotype BaskervilleBlu:ept in the United States of America, this book is sold subjectto the condition that it sba1l not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,re-sold, bired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher'sprior consent in any form of binding or cover o than that inwhich it is published and without a similar condition including thiscondition being iJnposed on the subsequent purchaserISBN-13: 978-{)-14-00421-6TO THE MEMORY OFT. A. SINCLAIR
ARISTOTLE:THE POLITICSwhen applied analogously, to discovering the functionand aim of the state; in short" he sees some sort of functional parallel between .a living thing and polis (see I iiand IV iv" second sectaon). Both assumpttons are largeand disputable; but to Aristotle's synoptic mind they areirresistibly attracti-oe.I252aI Observation tells us that every state is an association. and that every association is formed w,ith aview to some good purpose. I say 'good'. because m. alltheir actions all men do in fact aim at what they thmkgood. Clearly ·then. as all associations aim at some good,that association which is the most sovereign among themall and embraces all others wiII aim highest, i.e. at themost sovereign of all goods. This is the association whichwe call the state, the association which is ·political'.1I252a7 It is an error to suppose. as some do, that theroles of a statesman,lI of a king, of a household-managerand of a master of slaves are the same, on the groundthat they differ not in kind but only in point of numbersof persons - that a master of slaves, for example. has todo with a few people, a household-manager with more,and a statesman or king with more still. as if there wereno differences between a large household and a small state.They also reckon that when one person is in personalcontrol over the rest he has the role of a king, whereaswhen he takes his tum at ruling and at being ruledaccording to the principles of the science concerned, heis a statesman.- But these assertions are false.I252aI7 This will be quite evident if we examine theI, He koinOnia politike.: 'the association that takes the form of apolis (state),.J. PolWkos, 'statesman'. in the sense explained in the introduction to this chapter.3. The formulation is adequate as far it goes; bu Ari totle'spoint is that a king and a statesman differ sharply I? Ir.in ! aking is set apart !n some funda1D;ental resP.f!ct fro hu subjects,while a statesman IS the equal of his; d. I Vll and Xli.54I imatter according to our established method." We haveto analyse other composite things till they can be subdivided no further. because we have reached the smallestparts of the wholes; so let us in the same way examine thecomponent parts of the state and we shall see better howthese too differ from each other, and whether we canacquire any systematicS knowledge about the several rolesmentioned.6Iii(I252a24-I253a39)THE STATE EXISTS BY NATUREThis long chapter is an admirable illustration of Aristotle's analytical and genetic method, and contains manyrich and suggesti'oe ideas. By imaginative reconstruct,onrather than by factual history (cf. Plato, Laws Ill) hetraces the formation (a) of the 'pairs' of husband/wifeand masler/slave, (b) of the household from the 'pairs',(c) of the village from a coalescence of households, and(d) of the state fr m a .coales ence of llil ages. The ·n t!lre·of a thing, he clatms. 's not Its first but Its final cond,ttOn;just as an inditlidual man is the natural end of theprocess of human coming-to-be, so too the state is thenatural end and culmination of the other and earlierassociations" which were themselves natural; the statetherefore exists by nature. It provides all men's needs(material, social, religious, etc.), and offers them the fulfilment not only of tilling but of litling 'well', in accordance with those lJirtues that- are peculiarly human. Thestate is thus 'all-providing', which is 'best', which ischaracteristic of nitlural ends. (Aristotle's discussion and4. The analytical method described in the introduction to this.chapter.5. Technikos.6. Of statesman, household-manager. etc.55
ARISTOTLE: THE POLITICSdefinition of 'nature' in Physics II i would be useful back·ground reading.)The repealed emphasis Aristotle places on the state'sbeing 'natural' suggests that the chapter has also thepolemical purpose of refuting those who believe that thestate was an 'artificial' or a 'com.lentional' creatIOn. Suchargument was a special form of the general controversy ofthe fifth and fourth centuries about the relative statusand merits of nomos, law, and phusis, nature (see New:man's discussion, I 24 D.). Aristotle does not name huopponents, and it is doubtful whether he has any particular persons in mind.Two further points are worth noting: (a) Aristo.tleregards human society as inevitably and natu ally. '7r archical; he assumes as self-evident that the male saba/dIesare superior to the female'S, and the master's to the slave's(not that slave and female are on that account to betreated alike: see n. 4), and that Greeks are superior tonon-Greeks. 'Who rules whom?' and 'With what justIfication?' are questions at the centre of his political theory,and his defence of slavery in su.bsequent chapters is all ofa piece with this general approach. (b) Like most Greekwriters, he delights in appealing to the poets, and to thepopular ideas they express, in order to justify his position. He believes ·that in subjects such as political andethical theory, in which precise demonstration is impossible, one should welcome support from the experience0/ mankind.I iinatural urge, which exists in the other animals too andin plants, to propagate one's kind.! Equally essential is(b) the combination of the natural ruler and ruled, forthe purpose of preservation. For the element that can useits intelligence to look ahead is by nature ruler and bynature master, while that which has the bodily strengthto do the actual work is by nature a slave, one of thosewho are ruled. Thus there is a common interest unitingmaster and slave.Formation of the HouseholdI252a:;4 Nature, then, has distinguished betweenfemale and slave: she recognizes different functions andlavishly provides different tools, not an all-purpose toollike the Delphic knife;2 for every instrument will be madebest if it serves not many purposes but one. But nonGreeks assign to female and slave exactly the same status This is because they have nothing which is by naturefitted to rule; their associationS consists of a male slaveand a female slave.· So, as the poets say, 'It is proper thatGreeks should rule non-Greeks',' the implication beingthat non-Greek and slave are by nature identical.I25:zb9 Thus it was out of the association formed byI2pa24 We shall, I think, in this as in other subjects,get the best view of the matter if we look at the naturalgrowth of things from the beginning. The first point isthat those which are incapable of existing without eachother must be united as a pair. For example, (a) theunion of male and female is essential for reproduction;and this is not a matter of choice. but is due to the1. Male and female are 'incapable of existing without each other'not as individuals but as members of a species. over a period ofmany generations. Note the contrast between instinctive nature(Phusis) and rational and purposive choice (prohairesis); on thelatter, see Nicomachean Ethics III ii . 2. Evidently a knife capable of more than one mode of cutting,and not perfectly adapted to anyone of them.3. I.e of marriage.,)4. Somewhat confusingly. Aristotle uses 'slave' both in a literaland in a metaphoricalSlsense. In non-Greek SC?Cieties a woman and aslave are 'in the same position' in that their de facto rulers (husband and master respectively) have not the wisdom and therationality nature demands in a 'natural' ruler: authority is exercised by persons who are in point of fitness for rule no better thanslaves. The 'slave' husband makes a 'slave' of his wife.5. Euripides. Iphigeneia in Aulis 1400.5657The TwotPairs
ARISTOTLE: THE POLITICSmen with. these two. women and slaves. that a householdwas first formed; and the poet Hesiod was right when he'Wrote. "Get first a house and a wife and an ox to drawthe plough." (The ox is the poor man's slave.) This association of persons, established according to nature forthe satisfaction of daily needs. is the household, the members of which Charondas calls 'bread-fellows'. and Epimen ides the Cretan 'stable-companions'!FOTmationof the VillageI252h15 The next stage is the village. the first association of a number of houses for the satisfaction of something mOTt' than daily needs. It comes into being throughthe processes of nature in the fullest sense. as offshoots'of a household are set up by sons and grandsons. Themembers of such a village are therefore called by some'homogalactic' " This is why states were at first ruled bykings, as are foreign nations to this day: they wereformed from constituents which were themselves underkingly rule. For every household is ruled by its seniormember. as by a king. and the offshoots too. because oftheir blood relationship. are ruled in the same way. Thi!ikind of rule is mentioned in Homer: 11 'Each man haspower of lawll over children and wives.' He is referring toscattered settlements. which were common in primitivetimes. For this reason the gods too are said to be governedby a king - namelv because men themselves were originally ruled by kings and some are so still. Just as men6. Works i11Ul Days 4 5,7. Charondas wall a lawgiver 01' ('.afana. In Sidly, probably of thelixth century: Ari"fotle refers fO him leVeral times. Epimenidawas a Cretan seer and wonder-worker of about 600.8. AlJoi/ritJ: 'settlement'. 'colony'. 'extension',9. I.e. 'lIudtlings of the same milk',10.Od,ut!"j IX. 114-!).II. Tht'midl'wi, 'Iaf!' down Ihnnu' ('ordinance', "customary law'. term in early Greet lOCial and legal thought).58I iiimagine gods in human shape, so they imagine their wayof life to be like that of men.Formation of the StateI252b27 The final association, formed of severa1 villages, is the state. For all practical purposes the processis now complete; self-sufficiency12 has been reached, andwhile the state came about as a means of securing lifeitself, it continues in ·being to secure the good life. Therefore every state exists by nature, as the earlier associationstoo were natural. This association is the end of thoseothers. and nature is itself an end; for whatever is theend-product of the coming into existence of any obJect,that is what we call its nature - of a man, for instance,or a horse or a household. Moreover the aim and the endis perfection; and self-sufficiency is both end and perfection. uThe State and the IndividualIt follows that the state belongs to the dass ofobjects which exist by nature, and that man is by naturea political animaJ.1' Anyone who by his nature and notsimply by ill-luck has no state is either too bad or toogood, either subhuman or superhuman - he is like thewar-mad man condemned in Homer's words1s as 'having12naIIli!. Autarkeia, 'political and/or economic independence'. Aristotle's use of the word here is however som('what wider than this,and embraces opportunities to IJve the 'good' life according to thehuman virtues.13. AristoLle makes luc.-cinct use of his teleological technicalities:the 'aim' (,that-for-ttle-sake-of-whkh', to huu heneka) is the 'finalcause'. the 'end' or purpo!;e toward!; which a proces.'l of development is directed and in which it culminates.14. Politikon %oon, 'who lives whose nature is to live, in a polis(state)'; d. Nicomachean E.thics, I vii ad fin,15. Iliad IX, 63.59
ARISTOTLE: THE POLITICSno family, no law,l' no home'; for he who is suchu bynature is mad on war: he is a non ooperator like anisolated piece in a game of draughts.I253a7 But obviously man is. a political animaP' in asense in which a bee is not, or any other gregariousanimaJ.18 Nature, as we say, does nothing without some purpose; and she has endowed man alone among the ani-'mals with the power of speech. Speech is something different from voice, which is possessed by other animalsalso .and used by them to express pain or pleasure; fortheir nature does indeed enable them not only to feelltpleasure and pain but to {:ommunicate these feelings toeach other. Speech. on the other hand serves to indicatewhat is useful and what is harmful, and so also what isjust and what is unjust. For the real difference betweenman and other animals is that humans alone have perceptionlt of good and evil, just and unjust, etc. It is thesharing of a common view in these matters that makesa household and a state.1253a18 Furthermore, the state has a natural priorityover the household and over any individual among us. Forthe whole must be prior to the part. Separate hand or footfrom the whole body, and they will no longer be handor foot except in name, as one might speak of a 'hand'or 'foot' sculptured in stone. That will be the conditionof the spoilt:lO hand, which no longer has the capacity andthe function which define it. So, though we may say theyhave the same names, we cannot say that they are, in16. A themistos: see n. 11.17. I.e. without a state . It is such a person's pugnacity thatAristotle seems to regard as marking him out as in some sensenon-human; d. Nicomachean Ethics 1177bg.18. A slightly comic sentence; but obviously it is tbe notion ofthe state as an association that Aristotle has in mind. On thissentence see R. G. Mulgan, 'Aristotle's doctrine that man is apolitical animal', Hermes, 102 (1974), pp. 438-45, and d. Aristotle,History 0/ Animals 487b33-488aI3.19. Aisthesis.20. Literally 'destroyed', 'ruined' (by the dismemberment apparently envisaged in the preceding sentence).60Iiithat condition,21 the same things. It is dear then that thestate is both natural and prior to the individual. For ifan individual is not fully self-sufficient after separation,he will stand in the same relationship to the whole as theparts in the other case do. 22 Whatever is incapable ofparticipatin in the association which we call the state,a dumb ammal for example, and equally whatever isperfectly self-sufficient and has no need to (e.g. a god),is not a. part of the state at all.I25 'J a2 9 Among all men, then, there is a natural impulse towards this .kind of association; and the first manto construct a state deserves credit for conferring verygreat benefits. For as man is the best of all animals whenhe has reached his full development. so he is worst of allwhen divorced from law and justice. Injustice armed ishardest to deal with; and though man is born withweapons which he can use in the service of practical wisdom and virtue, it is all too easy for him to use them forthe opposite purposes. Hence man without virtue.is themost savage, the most unrighteous, and the worst in regardto sexual licence and gluttony. The virtue of justice is afeature of a state; for justice is the arrangement of thepolitical association.23 and a sense of justice decides whatis just.u. Of not having a function and a capacity.E.g. limbs (individuals: state :: limb'! : body).13. P litikes koinonias taxis, 'the framework or organization ofthe association that takes the form of a polis (state),.24. In this paragraph dikaiosune. the 'virtue' or 'sense' of justice,seems to he distinguished from dike, 'justice', the concrete expression' or embodiment of that virtue or sense in a legal and administrative system. 'What is just' (dikaion) evidently means particularand individual just relationshiPfi arrived at or (in courts) reestablished by the application of dikaiosune through the medium ofthe system of justice, OJ just system, dike.lit.61
I iiiI HiTHE HOUSEHOLD AND ITS SLAVESAristotle now focuses attention on the household and itseconomic arrangements, and turns first to consider sla-ues.Slavery was an integral part of the economy of ancientGreece; and since Aristotle thinks of life in the Gr.eekstate as being the 'natural' and 'best' life for man, he isimmediately faced with the crucial task of showing thatat least some slavery is 'natural'. Although for the mostpart slavery was simply taken for granted, there was, as e candidly .admits, some opposition from those who heldat to be against nature, because based on force (cf. I vi).Again, it is not clear that Aristotle has identifiable opponents in mind. Certainly there seems to hal1e been somecontroversy about slavery, of which echoes may be foundalso in Plato, Laws 776 D.; Newman I I19 ff. discussesthe evidence. In this short chapter, then, Aristotle girdshis loins for a defence of slavery as a 'natural' institution.I2nbINow that I have explained what the componentparts of a state are, and since every state consists of households, it is essential to begin with household-management.This topic can be subdivided so as to correspond to theparts of-which a complete household is made up. namely,the free and the slaves; but our method} requires us toexamine everything when it has been reduced to itssmallest parts, and the first and smallest division of a household into parts gives three pairs - master and slave, husband and wife, father and children. And so we must askourselves what each one of these three relationships is, andwhat sort of thing it ought to be. The word 'mastership'is used to describe the first, and we may use 'matrimonial'(in the case of the union of man and woman) and 'pater1.See I i.nar to describe the other two, as there is no more specificterm for either.' We may accept these three; but we findthat there is a fourth element. which some people regardas covering the whole of household-management. othersas its most important part; and our task is to considerits position. I refer to what is called 'the acquisition ofwealth'.I2;:JbI4 First let us discuss master and slave, in orderto see (a) how they bear on the provision of essentialservices, (b) whether we can find a better way towardsunderstanding this topic than if we started from thesuppositions usually made. For example, some peoplesuppose that being a master requires a certain kind ofknowledge. and that this is the same knowledge as isrequired to manage a household or to be a statesmanor a king - an error which we discussed at the beginning.!Others say that it is contrary to nature to rule as masterover slave. because the distinction between slave and freeis one of convention onlv. and in nature there is nodifference. so that this form of rule is based on force andis therefore not just.I iv(I25Jb2J-I254aI7)THE SLAVE AS A TOOL-In this notorious chapteT Aristotle describes, from hisown teleological standpoint, the position of the slave inII. Despotike ('of a master'). with some sUl'h noun as arche('rule') to be supplied here and (y. the plural, archa,) afler 'three'in the nexi sentence. In the callC' of 'matrimonial' (gamike. 'todo with marriages'), apd 'paternal' (leklluptJIetike, 'pr Kreative'),Aristotle gropt.'5 for words. He la('k5 an adjel'tive for a husband'sauthority over his wife and for all their relationships in general,including the sexual. and for the relafionship (mainly of authority)of both parents 10 their children, nOI only of the fa.ther (for whichhe could ha"e used patrilr.e); d. I xii. For once, a Greek did nol'have a word for it',
ARISTOTLE: THE POLITICShis day. According to him, the slave is a 'live tool' wedby the master for purposes of 'life'. and 'aCtion', not ofproduction. He is of course thinking of the household,which is not primarily productive; but even so it looksa if is bias in favour of a 'gentlemanly' life has temptedh,m anto .thinking of a slave as invariably in personal ttendance on his master. In fact, many s{aves were usedan productive labour in factories and mines and on farms.In the third paragraph of the chapter, the argumentseems to be: (a) a piece of property is described in thesame terms as a part; (b) a part 'belongs to anothertout court' (i.e. to the whole); (c) slaves are pieces ofprope ty; so (d) slaves 'belong to others tout court' (i.e.to the,r masters) - whereas masters, not being pieces ofproperty, are master 'of their slaves but do not 'belongto them tout court'.Is Aristotle suggesting that the slave 'belongs toutc urt' to his master in· the. 'Sense of being dependent on 'm. as a member of a 'paIr', or perhaps in the wayanandlvidual is 'part' of the state (1 ii)1 If so, the naturalnessof the 'belonging' is in a sense established. But the implications of the argument are none too lucid, and evidently it is in Chapters v-vii that the main argumentsfor the naturalness of slavery are presented.1253b23 Now property is part of a household, and theacquisition of property part of household-management;for neither life·itself nor the good. life is possible withouta certain minimum supply of the necessities. Again, inany special skill the availability of the proper tools willbe essential for the performance of the task; and thehousehold-manager must have his likewise. Tools may beanimate as well as inanimate; for instance. a ship'scaptain uses a lifeless rudder, but a living man forwatch; for a servan.t is. from the point of view of his craft,.categorized as one of its tools. So any piece of propertycan be regarded 'as a tool enabling a man to live, and hisproperty is an assemblage of such -tools; a slave is a sort6.I ivof living piece of property; and like any other servantis a tool in charge of other tools. For suppose that everytool we had could perform its task, either at our biddingor itself perceiving the need, and if - like the statues madeby Daedalus or the tripods of Hephaestus. of which thepoet says that 'self-moved they enter the assembly of thegods'l shuttles in a loom could fiy to and fro and aplucker2 play a lyre of their own accord, then mastercraftsmen would have no need of servants nor masters ofslaves.12Ha1 Tools in the ordina y sense are pro uct3ive tools,whereas a piece of prope ty IS meant fo action. Imea.n.for example. a ·shuttle produces somethmg other thaI? Itsown use, a bed or a garment does not. Moreover. smceproduction and action differ in kind and both requiretools the difference between their tools too must be ofthe ;ame kind. Now life is action and not production;therefore the slave, a servant, is one of the tools. thatminister to action.12 H a 9 A piece of property is spoken of in the sa e wayas a part is; for a part is not only part of so ethmg butbelongs to it tout court; and so too does a piece of property. So a slave is not .only his maste 's sl.ave bu belongsto him tout court, whIle the master IS hiS slave s masterbut does not belong to him. These considerations willhave shown what the nature and functions of the slaveare: any human being that by nature belongs not tohimself but to another is by nature a slave; and a humanbeing belongs to another wh never, in spi e of being· aman, he is a piece of property. I.e. a tool havmg a separateexistence' and meant for action.1. Homer. Iliad XVIII. 376: H phaestu. · statues were filled withwheels. Daedalus' stat es were 50 lifelike that they were thought tomove.I. A 'plucker' was the io!;trumeot with which the .tnogs or thelyre were plaved h" the performer.,!J. PTo.ktilwn, 'with w lch to do !;Ome hlOg ."4. I.e. !leparatt" from Itll pOIl.ell'lOr. (unhkl" the hand 10 1 11, "himloses its power when severed from Its owner).
I vI"(I251aI7-I255aJ)SLAVERY AS PART OF A UNIVERSAL NATURALPATTERNThe purpose of this chapter is t argue that at least someslavery must be natural, because the relationship ofm ter and. slave conforms to a broad pattern foundunzversally In nature in the widest sense: better/worse,male / female, man / beast, mind / body, rational/ iTTational,ruler /ruled. Such a pattern makes obvious sense to A.ristotle, who jus ifies it teleologically by its beneficial results:to be T't!led IS to the slave's advantage, and is to thatexte"!t Just. In the final paragraph some admitted exc ptaons. tf! the pattern do not make him doubt its essenhal val,dlty: presumably he finds it sufficient for thepurposes of hIS argument that nature achilmes her endsonly for the most part' (as he often concedes in othercontexts).Aristotle's view that slaTlery is expedient both for masteran for S aTJe has attracted a great deal of criticism. much f !t obVIous and justified. Is there anything to be saidIn ,ts falJour'! It clearly relies on the assumption that mostmasters are rational and most slaves are not; or rather,that men fall readily into two classes rational and irrational, and that the former should ruie the latter. Withlarge qualifications, it is at least arguable that such ruleought to be enforced. and is in fact enforced, in societyr.;t '!lrg . One does not have to defend the particular,nstatuhonal form Of such rule that A.ristotle seeks tojustify (!lncient slaTlery). If (and it is a big if) we grant hisasumptzons, the. master/slalle relationship does indeedseem analogous In some re.fpects to certain other relation. ships which are presumably desirable (e.g. mind OlJerbody, man over beast). But this is of course to defend .not slavery as such, but only in so far as it embodies the66rule of rational over irrational. In so far as it does not,even Aristotle would hesitate to defend it, as his nextchapter makes clear. .I conclude with two points that are forgotten easilyand often: (a) The fact that slavery is a dirty word nowadays should.not trick us into believing that ancient Greehslavery was invariably harsh and therefore not 'expedient'for slaves: much depended on the masters' attitudes,which in the nature of the case varied widely. (b) Thedistinction between slave and free was much sharper inpoint of legal and political status than in social life andeconomics, where there was some overlap between thepoorer free men and the better-of! slaves.I251aI7 But whether anyone does in fact by natureanswer to this description, and whether or not it is a justand a better thing for one man to be a slave to another, .orwhether all slavery is contrary to nature - these are thequestiQns which must be considered next. Neither theoretical discussion nor empirical observation presents anydifficulty. That .one should command and another obey.is both necessary and expedient. Indeed some things areso divided right from birth. some to rule, some to beruled. There are many different forms of this ruler-ruledrelationship, and the quality of the rule depends primarily on the quality of the subjects, rule .over man beingbetter than rule over animals; for that which is producedby better men is a better piece of wQrk; and the rulerruled relationship is itself a product created by the men.involved in it.I251a28 For wherever there is a combination of elements. continuous or discQlltinuous,l and a commonunity is the result, in all such cases the ruler-ruled relationship appears . .tIt appears notably in living creaturesas a consequence of their whole nature (and it can exist1. E.g. mind and body form a continuous combInation (anindividual' living being); master and slave form a discontinuouscombination.
ARISTOTLE:THE POLITICSalso where there is no life, as dominance in a musicalscale.- but that is hardly relevant here). The livingcreature consists in the first place of mind and body. andof these the former is ruler by nature, the latter ruled.Now we must always look for nature's own norm inthings whose condition is according to nature, and notbase our observations on degenerate forms. We musttherefore in this connexion consider the man who is ingood condition mentally and physically, one in whomthe rule of mind over body is conspicuous - because thebad and unnatural condition of a permanently or temporarily depraved person will often give the impressionthat his body is ruling over his soul.I254b:z However that may be, it is, as I say, withinliving creatures that we first find it possible to see boththe rule of a master and that of a statesman.3 The ruleof soul over body is like a master's rule, while the ruleof intelligence over desire is like a statesman's or aking's.' In these relationships it is dear that it is bothnatural and expedient for the body to be rule
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PUBLICATIONS OF JOHN CORCORAN ON ARISTOTLE Indeed, one of the great strides forward in the modern study of Aristotle’s syllogistic was the realization that it is a system of natural deduction. —Kevin Flannery, SJ [2001, 219]. Corcoran [ ] has convincingly shown that the best formalization of Aristotle’s reductio ad impossibile is by
ARISTOTLE BIBLIOGRAPHY Poetics Aristotle Poetics: Introduction, Commentary, and Appendixes by D. W. Lucas, Oxford, 1968 (this, the most recent commentary, itself contains a useful brief bibliography). H. House, Aristotle's Poetics, London, 1956. The translation
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