Aristotle’s Politics: Living Well and Living Together

Description

“Man is a political animal,” Aristotle asserts near the beginning of the Politics. In this novel reading of one of the foundational texts of political philosophy, Eugene Garver traces the surprising implications of Aristotle’s claim and explores the treatise’s relevance to ongoing political concerns. Often dismissed as overly grounded in Aristotle’s specific moment in time, in fact the Politics challenges contemporary understandings of human action and allows us to better see ourselves today. Close examination of Aristotle’s treatise, Garver finds, reveals a significant, practical role for philosophy to play in politics. Philosophers present arguments about issues—such as the right and the good, justice and modes of governance, the relation between the good person and the good citizen, and the character of a good life—that politicians must then make appealing to their fellow citizens. Completing Garver’s trilogy on Aristotle’s unique vision, Aristotle’s Politics yields new ways of thinking about ethics and politics, ancient and modern. Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Abbreviations of Aristotle’s Works......Page 12 Introduction: Aristotle’s Politics: Living Well and Living Together......Page 14 1. Book I: Slavery and the Will to Power......Page 30 2. Book II: Aristotle’s State as a Work of Art......Page 55 3. The Justice of Book III and the Incompleteness of the Normative......Page 79 4. Practical Knowledge and the Four Orientations to the Best......Page 120 5. Factions and the Paradox of Aristotelian Practical Science......Page 145 6. The Best Life and the Common Life......Page 185 Conclusion: People as Political Animals......Page 227 Notes......Page 244 Works Cited......Page 296 Index of Names......Page 306 Index of Passages in Aristotle’s Works......Page 308