Aristotle's Politics and the Nature of the Social Animal

Aristotle's Political Philosophy

Commentary on Aristotle
(Terms: animal civic, word, community participation)

The author is Aristotle, and this text belongs to his mature work, Politics. Aristotle, along with his teacher Plato, is one of the greatest writers of classical philosophy, displaying it at its best. He developed a system of thought based on the theoretical development of scientific and practical disciplines. His philosophical reflection addresses the shortcomings in the Platonic theory of ideas without sacrificing the pursuit of truth and happiness through virtue.

Core Themes and Human Nature

The theme is political, social, and human, as it tries to solve the problem expressed in the question: What differentiates man and his life in society from that of other animals?

The central ideas of the text are:

• The nature of man defined as a social animal.
• Man's character is defined by a social rational capacity (he possesses logos, unlike other animals).
• Man's rational nature allows him to develop a morality, which is the basis of the state.

Structure of the Text

The text presents the thesis that Aristotle defines in the first line. Once manifested, he uses a series of arguments or ideas to explain and argue that assertion.

Thesis

Man is an animal that develops in society.

Justifying Statements

1. Man has a rational capacity, unlike other animals.
2. Rational capacity allows humans to question the morality of their actions, the existence of justice or injustice, and what characterizes the social lifestyle of man. This is reflected in different human communities, especially in the city (polis).

Explanation of Ideas

In the text, Aristotle introduces the notion of the State as a reflection or consequence of the participation of men in social life. He shows the state as the rational and moral fulfillment of man according to his nature; the text implicitly poses how man exists within the state.

Aristotle gives priority to the polis over the individual, since no man would be truly human if he were not developed in society. This thinking reflects his social organicism; he argues that while the state comes after the individual, family, and tribe in chronological time, it is ontologically prior to the other parts that comprise it. Man is a political animal. Solitary living is something unnatural; if a man lived alone, he could not refine all the skills with which he is endowed.

The state is superior to the individual because only within the state can one achieve the greatest happiness. It is not merely that the state allows people to survive, but that the state enables them to develop their human faculties in a moral sense.

Political Forms and the Happy City

Aristotle, moving away from the utopian theory of Plato's "philosopher ruler," provides an analysis of political forms existing at the time. He defines the characteristics of a happy city and notes which government systems are most appropriate for the happiness of the state and the men who dwell therein.