The Political Thought of Plato and Aristotle

The Political Thought of Plato and Aristotle
Author: E. Barker
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 594
Release: 2012-03-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0486121399

Cogent exposition of Greek political thought offers a comprehensive exploration of the works of Plato and Aristotle and examines state power, nature of political organization, citizenship, justice, and related concepts.

Plato, Aristotle, and the Purpose of Politics

Plato, Aristotle, and the Purpose of Politics
Author: Kevin M. Cherry
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2012-04-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1107379873

In this book, Kevin M. Cherry compares the views of Plato and Aristotle about the practice, study and, above all, the purpose of politics. The first scholar to place Aristotle's Politics in sustained dialogue with Plato's Statesman, Cherry argues that Aristotle rejects the view of politics advanced by Plato's Eleatic Stranger, contrasting them on topics such as the proper categorization of regimes, the usefulness and limitations of the rule of law, and the proper understanding of phronēsis. The various differences between their respective political philosophies, however, reflect a more fundamental difference in how they view the relationship of human beings to the natural world around them. Reading the Politics in light of the Statesman sheds new light on Aristotle's political theory and provides a better understanding of Aristotle's criticism of Socrates. Most importantly, it highlights an enduring and important question: should politics have as its primary purpose the preservation of life, or should it pursue the higher good of living well?

The Political Thought of Plato and Aristotle

The Political Thought of Plato and Aristotle
Author: Sir Ernest Barker
Publisher: Theclassics.Us
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2013-09
Genre: Political science
ISBN: 9781230217680

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 edition. Excerpt: ... In conclusion, it may be suggested that the history of Plato's influence on political and social thought is to be seen, not only in the history of his writings, but also in the history of the writings of Aristotle. The pupil exercised a far greater influence than his master, but the master had set his mark deeply on the pupil, and the influence of the pupil was also that of the master. If men for centuries applied the doctrine of Final Causes to politics--if they conceived of the State as a moral institution--if they distinguished selfish governments from governments that were unselfish, and taught that every shepherd should seek the "common weal " of his flock--were they not following Plato, who had first taught all these things? We have spoken of Hegel under the rubric of the influence of the Politics; it would have been wiser, perhaps, to detect in Hegel the fulfilment of the influence of the Republic.1 education. "He looks forward to a new mode of education, which is to be a study of nature, and not of Aristotle." A peculiarity of his system is his belief in the efficacy of allegorical paintings, with which the seven circuits of the walls of his city are to be decorated. Another feature is a system of confession to the authorities, by which they are kept informed of all that the citizens are thinking and doing. This reminds one of a casual suggestion of Plato in the Laws (supra, p. 204). 1 Similarly, Rousseau may be regarded as indebted to Plato--the Plato of the -Laics--in his Contrat Uncial. His attitude towards the influence of the sea, his conception of the size of the proper State, his belief in a legislator --all these find their parallels, if not their origins, in the Laics. (Gf. Morley, Life of Rousseau, p. 313.) A INDEX...

Conflict in Aristotle's Political Philosophy

Conflict in Aristotle's Political Philosophy
Author: Steven Skultety
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2019-10-03
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1438476590

Do only modern thinkers like Machiavelli and Hobbes accept that conflict plays a significant role in the origin and maintenance of political community? In this book, Steven Skultety argues that Aristotle not only took conflict to be an inevitable aspect of political life, but further recognized ways in which conflict promotes the common good. While many scholars treat Aristotelian conflict as an absence of substantive communal ideals, Skultety argues that Aristotle articulated a view of politics that theorizes profoundly different kinds of conflict. Aristotle comprehended the subtle factors that can lead otherwise peaceful citizens to contemplate outright civil war, grasped the unique conditions that create hopelessly implacable partisans, and systematized tactics rulers could use to control regrettable, but still manageable, levels of civic distrust. Moreover, Aristotle conceived of debate, enduring disagreement, social rivalries, and competitions for leadership as an indispensable part of how human beings live well together in successful political life. By exploring the ways in which citizens can be at odds with one another, Conflict in Aristotle's Political Philosophy presents a dimension of ancient Greek thought that is startlingly relevant to contemporary concerns about social divisions, constitutional crises, and the range of acceptable conflict in healthy democracies.

Arendt on the Political

Arendt on the Political
Author: David Arndt
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2019-10-24
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1108498310

Shows how Hannah Arendt opened up new ways of thinking about politics and a new approach to interpreting political history.

Aristotle

Aristotle
Author: Richard Kraut
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 540
Release: 2002
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780198782001

This book presents a wide-ranging overview of Aristotle's political thought that makes him come alive as a philosopher who can speak to our own times. Beginning with a critique of subjectivist accounts of well-being, Kraut goes on to assess Aristotle's objective and universalistic account ofeudaimonia and excellent activity. He offers a detailed interpretation of Aristotle's conception of justice in the Nicomachean Ethics, and then turns to the major themes of the Politics: the political nature of human beings, the city's priority over the individual, the justification of slavery, thedefence of the family and property, the pluralistic nature of cities and the need for their unification, the distinction between good citizenship and full virtue, the value and limits of popular control over elites, the corrosive effects of poverty and wealth, the critique of democratic conceptionsof freedom and equality, and the radically egalitarian institutions of the ideal society. Aristotle's political philosophy, as Kraut reads it, provides a model of the way in which a rich understanding of human well-being can guide the amelioration of a world in which agreement about the human goodis rarely, if ever, achieved.