Politics

by Aristotle, Ernest Barker, R. F. Stalley

Overview

Intellectually stimulating work describes the ideal state and ponders how it can bring about the most desirable life for its citizens. Both heavily influenced by and critical of Plato's Republic and Laws, Politics is the distillation of a lifetime of thought and observation. The great Benjamin Jowett translation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199538737
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/15/2009
Series:	Oxford World's Classics Series
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	117,190
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Richard Kraut is Professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University, Illinois. He was previously Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Read an Excerpt

Book I

Chapter 1. Since we see that every city is some kind of association, and every association is organized for the sake of some good (since everything everyone does is for the sake of something seeming to be good), it is clear that all associations aim at something good, and that the one that is most sovereign and encompasses all the others aims at the most sovereign of all goods. And this is the one called the city, the political association.

Now those who assume that the same person is skilled at political rule as at kingship, household management, and mastery of slaves do not speak beautifully. (For they regard each of these as differentiated with respect to manyness or fewness but not in form—a master being over few, a household manager over more, and a political ruler or a king over still more, as if a large household were no different from a small city; as for the political ruler and the king, when one has control himself, they regard him as a king, but as a political ruler when he rules and is ruled by turns in accordance with the propositions of this sort of knowledge. These things, though, are not true.) What is being said will be clear to those who investigate it along the usual path, for just as it is necessary in other cases to divide a compound thing up into uncompounded ones (since these are the smallest parts of the whole), so too with a city, it is by examining what it is composed of that we shall also see more about these rulers, both in what respect they differ from one another and whether it is possible to get hold of anything involving art applicable to each of the things mentioned.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations. Translation. Commentary. Textual Note. Bibliography. Glossary. Indexes.

Interviews

Joe Sachs’s new translation of Aristotle’s Politics is for students of philosophy, classics, political philosophy, political science, and/or great books at the college level.

Editorial Reviews

"The translation is very clear; good for the undergraduate classroom. The footnotes are excellent—helpful without being overwhelming."—Karen Adkins, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

"Still the best [translation]; I haven't found any better."—Christopher Rocco, University of Connecticut

"Excellent notes and summaries—very helpful."—Leslie Collins Edwards, University of California, San Diego

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