Politics PDF
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OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS POLITICS ARISTOTLE (384-32 2 BC), with Plato one o f the tw o greates t philosophers of antiquity, and in the view of many the greates t philosopher of all time, lived and taught in Athens for most of his career. He began as a student in Plato's Academy and may for some time have acted as tutor to Alexander the Great. He left writ- ings on a prodigious variety of subjects, covering the whole field of knowledge from biology and astronomy to rhetoric and literary criticism, from politica l theory to the most abstract reaches of philosophy. The Politics was probably written towards the end of his career when he was head of the Lyceum and draws on Aristotle's own extensive research into the constitutional affairs of the Greek cities. It is possibly the most influential book on political theory ever to be written. Sir ERNEST BARKER (1874-1960) held fellowships at several Oxford colleges before becoming Principal of Kings College London i n 1920 and Professo r o f Political Science a t Cambridge in 1928 . He retired in 1939. He was one of the most distinguished scholars of his day and had a lifelong love for Aristotle's Politics. His many publications included The Political Thought of Plato and Aristotle (London, 1906). His translation of the Politics was first published in 1946. R. F. STALLEY studied Classics and Philosophy at Oxford and spent a year at Harvard as Frank Knox Memorial Fellow. He subsequently taught philosophy at the University of Glasgow. His main interest has been in the political philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Hi s publications in this field include An Introduction to Plato's Lao's (Oxford, 1983). OXFORD WORL D S CLASSICS For over loo years Oxford World's Classics have brought readers closer to the world's great literature. Now with over 700 titles—-from the 4, ooo-y ear-old myths of Mesopotamia to the twentieth century 's greatest novels—the series makes available lesser-known as well as celebrated writing. The pocket-sized hardbacks of the early years contained introductions by Virginia Woolf T. S. Eliot, Graham Greene, and other literary figures which enriched the experience of reading. Today the series is recognized for its fine scholarship and reliability in texts that span world literature, drama and poetry, religion, philosophy and politics. Each edition includes perceptive commentary and essential background information to meet the changing needs of readers. OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS ARISTOTLE Politics Translated by ERNEST BARKER Revised with an Introduction and Notes by R. F. STALLEY OXTORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 0x2 6op Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogotá Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chcnnai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico Gty Mumbai Nairobi Paris Sào Paulo Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw with associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United Stares by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Oxford University Press 1995 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published as a World's Classics paperback 1995 Reissued as an Oxford World's Classics paperback 1998 All rights reserved. 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Reading, Berkshire CONTENTS Introduction vi i Note on the Text xxxi x Select Bibliography xl i Chronological Table: Aristotle and Greek Politics 510-322 xl v THE POLITICS i Explanatory Notes 31 8 Map: Th e World of the Politics 41 0 Index 413 This page intentionally left blank INTRODUCTION ARISTOTLE'S Politics raises more clearly than any other text some of the most fundamental issues which confront anyone who attempt s to thin k seriousl y abou t the ways in which human societies are organized and governed. These issues are as pressing now as they were in the fourth century BC when the Politics was first written. But although the Politics can still speak to us with a powerful voice there are a number of ways in which it is unlike any modern text and in which it can appear puzzling to the modern reader. First, it is not the work of a narrow specialist but is part of what is probably the most comprehensive system of thought ever devised. We need there- fore to relate the Politics to the general principles and methods of Aristotle's philosophy. Secondly, the world in which Aris- totle lived was very different from our own. So, although the fundamental issues may be the same as those which concern us, the context in which Aristotle raises them may seem very unfamiliar. We have therefore to study the Politics against the background o f th e Gree k worl d a s i t wa s i n th e fourt h century BC— a worl d i n whic h th e basi c uni t o f politica l organization was not the nation state but the small independ- ent city-state or polis. Thirdly, there are, as one might expect, difficulties in the style, organization, and vocabulary of Aris- totle's writing which have to be addressed if we are to read it with any understanding. Aristotle on the Nature of Society Aristotle was not only a great philosopher but also what we would now call a scientist. In particular he wrote extensively on biological topics and his study of biology clearly exercised a powerful influence on his thought in other areas. It makes sense therefore to begin a study of the Politics by thinking about Aristotle's conception o f nature (phusis) i n its bearing on political matters. During the fifth century the Greeks had evidently become Vlll INTRODUCTIO N particularly consciou s that law s and custom s varie d fro m people to people and from plac e to place. According to a story told by Herodotus (in. 8), the Greeks were shocked to hear that som e Indian peoples ate their dead. The Indians were equally shocked to hear that the Greeks burned theirs. Thus wha t seeme d righ t t o on e peopl e seeme d wron g to another. To understand such phenomena many Greek think- ers used the tw o contrasting term s phusis or 'nature ' an d nomos, which is commonly translated a s 'law', 'custom', or 'convention'. Examples like the burial practices described by Herodotus demonstrate that nomos, convention, varies from place to place. But nature, phusis, is the same everywhere. We must therefore distinguish between what holds by phusis and what holds by nomos. This distinction between phusis and nomos could be used in different ways. One could, on the one hand, argue that there are some beliefs about right and wrong which are universally accepted and which may thus be attrib- uted t o phusis, even though many particula r practice s ar e based simply on a nomos accepted by a particular community. But, on the other hand, one could also use the distinction in more radical ways. In particular i t could be argued that all beliefs about right and wrong are a matter of nomos and thus depend purely on human convention. Thus in Plato's Republic (358e-359b), Glaucon refer s to the view that w e would all really lik e the freedo m t o d o whateve r har m w e want t o others but do not, of course, want others to have the same freedom t o harm us . We therefore make 'laws and mutual agreements'. In other words we forgo the freedom to harm other people in return for a guarantee that we will not suffe r harm from them. On this view, morality and law have their basis in human convention and the state too is an artificial creation constructed by human beings to protect themselves from one another. In the Republic, Plato opposes this conventionalist view by arguing that there are what he calls Forms, which cannot be perceived throug h th e sense s but ca n b e graspe d b y th e reason. One function of the Forms is to serve as ideal stand- ards. The views of the ordinary man about right and wrong embody a dim recollection of the Form of justice, but a true INTRODUCTION I X philosopher would be able to grasp the Form in full clarity. Thus only a society ruled by philosophers could be perfectly just. In his later work, the Laws, Plato says nothing of the Forms but offers instead a picture of law as the deliverance of reason—the same divine reason which governs the universe as a whole and whose operations are beautifully displayed in the movements of the heavens. Thus Plato seeks to answer those who se e morality a s an artificia l creation b y appealing t o eternal standard s which are outside th e changing world of ordinary experience, and are grasped by reason rathe r than by observation. Aristotle share s Plato's antipathy t o th e conventionalis t view and the conception of nature and society which he offers has much more in common with Plato's than is often supposed, but the route by which he gets there is very different. Rather than turning away from the world of perception, Aristotle' s method is to start with the data of experience—what he calls the phenomena. In a natural science, like biology, this means that one must study the various facts of observation in order to achieve a grasp of the underlying principles. Observation of different animals may, for example, enable one to grasp the underlying general truths about their nature. In the case of ethics and politics the phenomena include laws and customs of different communities, but they also include the differen t opinions of men at large and in particular of those deemed to be wise. The fact that Aristotle starts from this kind of data does not mean that he is committed to seeing all institutions as equally valuable or to accepting as true every opinion that has popular support. What it does mean is that he examines and sift s these data in order to discover the truths that lie within. I t is characteristic o f him not t o reject an opinio n outright but to see it as involving a partial truth—that is as being true in one way but not in another. The concept of form may be as important for the under- standing of Aristotle's political philosophy as it is for Plato's, but to explain its significance requires a digression. We can begin by thinking about artefacts, such as a statue or a house. A sculptor who creates a statue imposes a form on a certain quantity of matter. He may, for example, impose on a lump
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