Citizens, Slaves, and Foreigners

Aristotle on Human Nature

Bibliographic Data

ID3448552
AuthorsJill Frank (University of South Carolina, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume98
Issue1
Pages91-104
Publication date2004-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0003055404001029
OpenAlexW2144567391
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited40

To most readers, Aristotle's many references to nature throughout the first book of thePoliticsimply a foundational role for nature outside and prior to politics. Aristotle, they claim, pairs nature with necessity and, thus, sets nature as a standard that fixes the boundaries of inclusion and exclusion in political life. Through readings of Aristotle on the nature of citizens, slaves, and foreigners in thePolitics, this essay argues, in contrast, that, to Aristotle, nature, especially human nature, is changeable and shaped by politics. Through an analysis of Aristotle's philosophical and scientific treatments of nature in theMetaphysicsandPhysics, this essay demonstrates that in order to preserve what he takes to be characteristic and also constitutive of a distinctively human way of living-prohaireticactivity-Aristotle is especially keen to guard against any assimilation of nature to necessity

Epistemology · Guard (computer science · Inclusion–exclusion principle · Metaphysics · Order (exchange · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought

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