Politics Aristotle Book 1

8/12/2019 Politics Aristotle Book 1

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Politics

By AristotleCommentary:Quite a few comments hae !een posted a!out "olitics#

Download:A te$t-only ersion is aaila!le for download#

Politics

By Aristotle

%ritten &'( B#C#)

*ranslated !y Ben+amin ,owett

*a!le of Contents

Book One

Part I

)ery state is a community of some kind and eery community is esta!lished with

a iew to some .ood/ for mankind always act in order to o!tain that which theythink .ood# But if all communities aim at some .ood the state or political

community which is the hi.hest of all and which em!races all the rest aims at.ood in a .reater de.ree than any other and at the hi.hest .ood#

Some people think that the 0ualifications of a statesman kin. householder and

master are the same and that they differ not in kind !ut only in the num!er oftheir su!+ects# 1or e$ample the ruler oer a few is called a master/ oer more the

mana.er of a household/ oer a still lar.er num!er a statesman or kin. as if therewere no difference !etween a .reat household and a small state# *he distinction

which is made !etween the kin. and the statesman is as follows2 %hen the.oernment is personal the ruler is a kin./ when accordin. to the rules of the

political science the citi3ens rule and are ruled in turn then he is called

a statesman#

But all this is a mistake/ for .oernments differ in kind as will !e eident to any

one who considers the matter accordin. to the method which has hitherto .uidedus# As in other departments of science so in politics the compound should always
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!e resoled into the simple elements or least parts of the whole# %e must therefore

look at the elements of which the state is composed in order that we may see inwhat the different kinds of rule differ from one another and whether any scientific

result can !e attained a!out each one of them#

Part II

He who thus considers thin.s in their first .rowth and ori.in whether a state oranythin. else will o!tain the clearest iew of them# 4n the first place there must !e

a union of those who cannot e$ist without each other/ namely of male and female

that the race may continue 5and this is a union which is formed not of deli!erate

purpose !ut !ecause in common with other animals and with plants mankind hae

a natural desire to leae !ehind them an ima.e of themseles6 and of natural ruler

and su!+ect that !oth may !e presered# 1or that which can foresee !y the e$ercise

of mind is !y nature intended to !e lord and master and that which can with its!ody .ie effect to such foresi.ht is a su!+ect and !y nature a slae/ hence masterand slae hae the same interest# 7ow nature has distin.uished !etween the female

and the slae# 1or she is not ni..ardly like the smith who fashions the Delphian

knife for many uses/ she makes each thin. for a sin.le use and eery instrument is

!est made when intended for one and not for many uses# But amon. !ar!arians no

distinction is made !etween women and slaes !ecause there is no natural ruler

amon. them2 they are a community of slaes male and female# %herefore thepoets say

84t is meet that Hellenes should rule oer !ar!arians/ 8

as if they thou.ht that the !ar!arian and the slae were !y nature one#

Out of these two relationships !etween man and woman master and slae the first

thin. to arise is the family and Hesiod is ri.ht when he says

81irst house and wife and an o$ for the plou.h 8

for the o$ is the poor man9s slae# *he family is the association esta!lished !ynature for the supply of men9s eeryday wants and the mem!ers of it are called !y

Charondas 9companions of the cup!oard9 and !y )pimenides the Cretan

9companions of the man.er#9 But when seeral families are united and the

association aims at somethin. more than the supply of daily needs the first societyto !e formed is the illa.e# And the most natural form of the illa.e appears to !e

that of a colony from the family composed of the children and .randchildren who

are said to !e suckled 9with the same milk#9 And this is the reason why Hellenic

states were ori.inally .oerned !y kin.s/ !ecause the Hellenes were under royal

rule !efore they came to.ether as the !ar!arians still are# )ery family is ruled !y

the eldest and therefore in the colonies of the family the kin.ly formof .oernment preailed !ecause they were of the same !lood# As Homer says2


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8)ach one .ies law to his children and to his wies# 8

1or they lied dispersedly as was the manner in ancient times# %herefore men say

that the :ods hae a kin. !ecause they themseles either are or were in ancienttimes under the rule of a kin.# 1or they ima.ine not only the forms of the :ods

!ut their ways of life to !e like their own#

%hen seeral illa.es are united in a sin.le complete community lar.e enou.h to

!e nearly or 0uite self-sufficin. the state comes into e$istence ori.inatin. in the

!are needs of life and continuin. in e$istence for the sake of a .ood life# And

therefore if the earlier forms of society are natural so is the state for it is the end

of them and the nature of a thin. is its end# 1or what each thin. is when fully

deeloped we call its nature whether we are speakin. of a man a horse or a

family# Besides the final cause and end of a thin. is the !est and to !e self-sufficin. is the end and the !est#

Hence it is eident that the state is a creation of nature and that man is !y nature a

political animal# And he who !y nature and not !y mere accident is without a state

is either a !ad man or a!oe humanity/ he is like the

8*ri!eless lawless hearthless one 8

whom Homer denounces- the natural outcast is forthwith a loer of war/ he may !ecompared to an isolated piece at drau.hts#

7ow that man is more of a political animal than !ees or any other .re.arious

animals is eident# 7ature as we often say makes nothin. in ain and man is the

only animal whom she has endowed with the .ift of speech# And whereas mere

oice is !ut an indication of pleasure or pain and is therefore found in otheranimals 5for their nature attains to the perception of pleasure and pain and the

intimation of them to one another and no further6 the power of speech is intendedto set forth the e$pedient and ine$pedient and therefore likewise the +ust and the

un+ust# And it is a characteristic of man that he alone has any sense of .ood andeil of +ust and un+ust and the like and the association of liin. !ein.s who hae

this sense makes a family and a state#

1urther the state is !y nature clearly prior to the family and to the indiidual sincethe whole is of necessity prior to the part/ for e$ample if the whole !ody !e

destroyed there will !e no foot or hand e$cept in an e0uiocal sense as we mi.ht

speak of a stone hand/ for when destroyed the hand will !e no !etter than that# But

thin.s are defined !y their workin. and power/ and we ou.ht not to say that they

are the same when they no lon.er hae their proper 0uality !ut only that they

hae the same name# *he proof that the state is a creation of nature and prior to theindiidual is that the indiidual when isolated is not self-sufficin./ and therefore


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he is like a part in relation to the whole# But he who is una!le to lie in society or

who has no need !ecause he is sufficient for himself must !e either a !east or a.od2 he is no part of a state# A social instinct is implanted in all men !y nature and

yet he who first founded the state was the .reatest of !enefactors# 1or man when

perfected is the !est of animals !ut when separated from law and +ustice he is theworst of all/ since armed in+ustice is the more dan.erous and he is e0uipped at

!irth with arms meant to !e used !y intelli.ence and irtue which he may use for

the worst ends# %herefore if he hae not irtue he is the most unholy and the mostsaa.e of animals and the most full of lust and .luttony# But +ustice is the !ond of

men in states for the administration of +ustice which is the determination of what

is +ust is the principle of order in political society#

Part III

Seein. then that the state is made up of households !efore speakin. of the state wemust speak of the mana.ement of the household# *he parts of householdmana.ement correspond to the persons who compose the household and a

complete household consists of slaes and freemen# 7ow we should !e.in !y

e$aminin. eerythin. in its fewest possi!le elements/ and the first and fewest

possi!le parts of a family are master and slae hus!and and wife father and

children# %e hae therefore to consider what each of these three relations is and

ou.ht to !e2 4 mean the relation of master and serant the marria.e relation 5thecon+unction of man and wife has no name of its own6 and thirdly the procreatie

relation 5this also has no proper name6# And there is another element of ahousehold the so-called art of .ettin. wealth which accordin. to some is

identical with household mana.ement accordin. to others a principal part of it/ the

nature of this art will also hae to !e considered !y us#

;et us first speak of master and slae lookin. to the needs of practical life and also

seekin. to attain some !etter theory of their relation than e$ists at present# 1or someare of opinion that the rule of a master is a science and that the mana.ement of a

household and the mastership of slaes and the political and royal rule as 4 wassayin. at the outset are all the same# Others affirm that the rule of a master oer

slaes is contrary to nature and that the distinction !etween slae andfreeman e$ists !y law only and not !y nature/ and !ein. an interference with

nature is therefore un+ust#

Part IV

"roperty is a part of the household and the art of ac0uirin. property is a part of the

art of mana.in. the household/ for no man can lie well or indeed lie at all

unless he !e proided with necessaries# And as in the arts which hae a definite

sphere the workers must hae their own proper instruments for the accomplishment

of their work so it is in the mana.ement of a household# 7ow instruments are ofarious sorts/ some are liin. others lifeless/ in the rudder the pilot of a ship has a


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lifeless in the look-out man a liin. instrument/ for in the arts the serant is a kind

of instrument# *hus too a possession is an instrument for maintainin. life# And soin the arran.ement of the family a slae is a liin. possession and property a

num!er of such instruments/ and the serant is himself an instrument which takes

precedence of all other instruments# 1or if eery instrument could accomplish itsown work o!eyin. or anticipatin. the will of others like the statues of Daedalus

or the tripods of Hephaestus which says the poet

8of their own accord entered the assem!ly of the :ods/ 8

if in like manner the shuttle would weae and the plectrum touch the lyre without

a hand to .uide them chief workmen would not want serants nor masters slaes#

Here howeer another distinction must !e drawn/ the instruments commonly so

called are instruments of production whilst a possession is an instrument of action#

*he shuttle5transport6 for e$ample is not only of use/ !ut somethin. else is made!y it whereas of a .arment or of a !ed there is only the use# 1urther as productionand action are different in kind and !oth re0uire instruments the instruments

which they employ must likewise differ in kind# But life is action and not

production and therefore the slae is the minister of action# A.ain a possession is

spoken of as a part is spoken of/ for the part is not only a part of somethin. else

!ut wholly !elon.s to it/ and this is also true of a possession# *he master is only the

master of the slae/ he does not !elon. to him whereas the slae is not only theslae of his master !ut wholly !elon.s to him# Hence we see what is the nature and

office of a slae/ he who is !y nature not his own !ut another9s man is !y nature aslae/ and he may !e said to !e another9s man who !ein. a human !ein. is also a

possession# And a possession may !e defined as an instrument of action separa!le

from the possessor#

Part V

But is there any one thus intended !y nature to !e a slae and for whom such a

condition is e$pedient and ri.ht or rather is not all slaery a iolation of nature

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Politics Aristotle Book 1