The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle’s Politics
One of the most influential works in the history of political theory, Aristotle's 'Politics' is a treatise in practical philosophy, intended to inform legislators and to create the conditions for virtuous and self-sufficient lives for the citizens of a state. In this 'Companion', distinguished scholars offer new perspectives on the work and its themes. After an opening exploration of the relation between Aristotle's ethics and his politics, the central chapters follow the sequence of the eight books of the 'Politics', taking up questions such as the role of reason in legitimizing rule, the common good, justice, slavery, private property, citizenship, democracy and deliberation, unity, conflict, law and authority, and education. The closing chapters discuss the interaction between Aristotle's political thought and contemporary democratic theory. The volume will provide a valuable resource for those studying ancient philosophy, classics, and the history of political thought.
Not Talking but Thinking and Voting: Democratic Deliberation in Classical Athens
Classical Athenian democracy is often described as “deliberative,” suggesting that political decisions were reached following group discussion. Yet of the three Greek verbs associated with “deliberation” in English, only two, “dēmēgoreō” and “symbouleuō,” actually indicate speaking. The third, “bouleuō,” could suggest speaking when used in the active voice, but was most commonly used in the middle voice (“bouleuomai”) to signify internal reflection. This is the voice invariably used to describe the activity of the Athenian assembly, and careful examination suggests that it also indicated internal reflection in this context. This has profound implications for our conception of classical Athenian politics. Athenian assemblygoers did not speak with each other: rather, they were spoken to by a small number of self-selected rhētores, “politicians” or “advisors,” who by the very act of speaking marked their distinctness from ordinary citizens, whose tasks were to listen, judge and vote
Evolutionary Biology and Political Theory
The traditional emphasis on human nature as the foundation of politics needs to be reexamined from the perspective of contemporary biology. Because biological processes operate independently on the individual, the social group, and the species, an evolutionary approach to both observational research and cost-benefit analysis does not entail reductionism. Selfishness and altruism, participation in social groups, languages and cultures, and the rise and fall of centralized states can all be illuminated by empirical evidence and theories in the life sciences. For political philosophy, a new “naturalism” points to a return to the Aristotelian view that values or standards of judgment have rationally intelligible foundations, thereby challenging the relativist or nihilistic orientation that has characterized most contemporary thought.