Aristotle's Criticism of Plato's RepublicThe first five chapters of the second book of Aristotle's Politics contain a series of criticisms levelled against Plato's Republic. Despite the abundance of studies that have been done on Aristotle's Politics, these chapters have for the most part been neglected; there has been no book-length study of them this century. In this important new book, Robert Mayhew fills this unfortunate gap in Aristotelian scholarship, analyzing these chapters in order to discover what they tell us about Aristotle's political philosophy. Mayhew demonstrates that in Politics II 1-5, Aristotle is presenting his views on an extremely fundamental issue: the unity of the city. Indeed, he states, almost all of Aristotle's criticisms of the Republic center on this important subject in one way or another. Only by understanding Aristotle's views on the proper unity of the city, Mayhew explains, can we adequately discover his views on the proper relationship between the individual and the city. Students and scholars of classical political philosophy will be greatly interested in this innovative book. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The Unity of the City | 13 |
Unity and SelfSufficiency | 37 |
Unity and Affection | 59 |
Unity and Property | 95 |
Conclusion | 123 |
Aristotle on the Extent of Platonic Communism | 129 |
Bibliography | 139 |
| 145 | |
| 149 | |
| 151 | |
About the Author | |
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Common terms and phrases
according to Aristotle Adeimantus affection alliance Aris Aristophanes Aristotle believes Aristotle says Aristotle writes Aristotle's criticism Aristotle's Politics Aristotle's view Arkadian Athenaeus Auseans best city Bornemann 1923 chapter character friend character friendship civic friendship claims common meals communism of property communism of women concerning concord criticisms of Plato's discussion Dosiadas erastes eromenos eudaimonia example farmers father feel fellow citizens friendship of utility function generosity Glaucon Greek guardians household managers human important individual iron and bronze justice Kallipolis kind land laws least leisure lower class Lycurgus nature necessary Newman Nicomachean Ethics Nussbaum Oedipus the King offices one's Oxford parents passage philosophy phronêsis Plato Plato's Republic political science pollution possess possible private property reciprocal equality relationship rule rulers sake self-sufficiency sense sexual intercourse share simply slave Socrates Sparta Stalley Susemihl and Hicks Theophrastus things tion totle women and children Xenophon