Aristotle's Criticism of Plato's Republic

by Robert Mayhew

Overview

The 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742584020
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	08/28/1997
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
File size:	419 KB

About the Author

Robert Mayhew is assistant professor of political science at Seton Hall University. His articles have appeared in Review of Metaphysics, Ancient Philosophy, Classical Philology, and History of Political Thought.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Preface
Chapter 2 List of Abbreviations
Chapter 3 Introduction
Chapter 4 The Unity of the City
Chapter 5 Unity and Self-Sufficiency
Chapter 6 Unity and Affection
Chapter 7 Unity and Property
Chapter 8 Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

This book is a wonderful success.
— John E. Sisko, College of William and Mary

Classical Review

Interesting... attractive arguments...
— David Keyt

Ancient Philosophy

This is a splendid volume. It will be a revelation to most readers to discover how many ' amendments ' were made to the text of even the most 'official' works of Soviet literature right up to the 1980's.

Slavonica, Vol.4 1998/99 Number 2 - Martin Dewhirst

This book is a wonderful success.

The Classical Review - John E. Sisko

The book is thoughtful, clearly written, and lucldly argued.

The Heythrop Journal, Vol. 40, No. 2, April 1999 - Robin Waterfield

Interesting... attractive arguments...

Ancient Philosophy - David Keyt

Robert Mayhew offers a penetrating examination of Aristotle's critique of Plato's utopian constitution. He casts valuable new light on the major issues: in what way and to what extent should the state be one? what is the proper relation of the individual to the state? is communism preferable, or should property and families remain private? Professor Mayhew's analysis reveals the power and continuing relevance of Aristotle's thought.

Fred D. Miller