The Politics

by Aristotle, T. A. Sinclair (Translator), Trevor J. Saunders (Revised by)

Overview

What is the relationship of the individual to the state? What is the ideal state, and how can it bring about the most desirable life for its citizens? What sort of education should it provide? What is the purpose of amassing wealth? These are some of the questions Aristotle attempts to answer in one of the most intellectually stimulating works. Both heavily influenced by and critical of Plato's Republic and Laws, Politics represents the distillation of a lifetime of thought and observation. "Encyclopaedic knowledge has never, before or since, gone hand in hand with a logic so masculine or with speculation so profound," says H. W. C. Davis in his introduction. Students, teachers, and scholars will welcome this inexpensive new edition of the Benjamin Jowett translation, as will all readers interested in Greek thought, political theory, and depictions of the ideal state.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780140444216
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/28/1981
Series:	Penguin Classics Series
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	512
Sales rank:	100,766
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Aristotle was born at Stageira, in the dominion of the kings of Macedonia, in 384 BC. For twenty years he studied at Athens in the Academy of Plato, on whose death in 347 he left, and, some time later, became tutor of the young Alexander the Great. When Alexander succeeded to the throne of Macedonia in 335, Aristotle returned to Athens and established his school and research institute, the Lyceum, to which his great erudition attracted a large number of scholars. After Alexander's death in 323, anti-Macedonian feeling drove Aristotle out of Athens, and he fled to Chalcis in Euboea, where he died in 322. His writings, which were of extraordinary range, profoundly affected the whole course of ancient and medieval philosophy, and they are still eagerly studied and debated by philosophers today. Very many of them have survived and among the most famous are the Ethics and the Politics.

Trevor J. Saunders has translated many volumes of Plato for the Penguin Classics.

Read an Excerpt

Book I

Chapter 1. <1252a> Since we see that every city is some kind of association, and every association is organized for the sake of some good (since everything everyone does is for the sake of something seeming to be good), it is clear that all associations aim at something good, and that the one that is most sovereign and encompasses all the others aims at the most sovereign of all goods. And this is the one called the city, the political association.

Now those who assume that the same person is skilled at political rule as at kingship, household management, and mastery of slaves do not speak beautifully. (For they regard each of these <10> as differentiated with respect to manyness or fewness but not in form—a master being over few, a household manager over more, and a political ruler or a king over still more, as if a large household were no different from a small city; as for the political ruler and the king, when one has control himself, they regard him as a king, but as a political ruler when he rules and is ruled by turns in accordance with the propositions of this sort of knowledge. These things, though, are not true.) What is being said will be clear to those who investigate it along the usual path, for just as it is necessary in other cases to divide a compound thing up into uncompounded ones (since these are <20> the smallest parts of the whole), so too with a city, it is by examining what it is composed of that we shall also see more about these rulers, both in what respect they differ from one another and whether it is possible to get hold of anything involving art applicable to each of the things mentioned.

Table of Contents

The PoliticsTranslator's Introduction by T. A. Sinclair
Aristotle's Life and Works
Aristotle's Politics in the Past
Aristotle's Politics Today
Notes by the Reviser

Reviser's Introduction, by T. J. Saunders
A Modern Report on the Politics
Teaching and Research in the Lyceum
The Contents and Structure of the Politics
Aristotle's Philosophical Assumption
Why Read the Politics?
The Revised Translation
Principles of Revision
Translation of Key Terms
Refractory Terms
Italicized Prefaces to Chapters
Numerical References
Footnotes
Bibliographies
Table of Contents and Index of Names
Acknowledgments

THE POLITICS

Book I
Preface to Book I
i. The State as an Association ii. The State Exists by Nature
The Two "Pairs"
Formation of the Household
Formation of the Village
Formation of the State
The State and the Individual iii. The Household and Its Slaves iv. The Slave as a Tool v. Slavery as Part of a Universal Natural Pattern vi. The Relation between Legal and Natural Slavery vii. The Nature of Rule over Slaves viii. The Natural Method of Acquiring Goods ix. Natural and Unnatural Methods of Acquiring Goods x. The Proper Limits of Household-Management; The Unnaturalness of Money-lending xi. Some Practical Considerations, Especially on the Creation of Monopoly xii. Brief Analysis of the Authority of Husband and Father xiii. Morality and Efficiency in the Household

Book II
i. Introduction to Ideal States: How Far Should Sharing Go?
ii. Extreme Unity in Plato's Republic
iii. Extreme Unity is Impracticable iv. Further Objections to Community of Wives and Children v. The Ownership of Property vi. Criticisms of Plato's Laws
vii. The Constitution of Phaleas viii. The Constitution of Hippodamus ix. Criticism of the Spartan Constitution
The Helots
Spartan Women
Property
The Ephors
The Board of Elders
The Kings
Some Common Meals
Some Further Criticisms x. Criticism of the Cretan Constitution xi. Criticism of the Carthaginian Constitution xii. Solon and Some Other Lawgivers

Book III
i. How Should We Define "Citizen"?
ii. A Pragmatic Definition of "Citizen"
iii. Continuity of Identity of the State iv. How Far Should the Good Man and the Good Citizen Be Distinguished?
v. Ought Workers to Be Citizens?
vi. Correct and Deviated Constitutions Distinguished vii. Classification of Correct and Deviated Constitutions viii. An Economic Classification of Constitutions ix. The Just Distribution of Political Power x. Justice and Sovereignty xi. The Wisdom of Collective Judgments xii. Justice and Equality xiii. The Sole Proper Claim to Political Power xiv. Five Types of Kingship xv. The Relation of Kingship and Law (1)
xvi. The Relation of Kingship and Law (2)
xvii. The Highest Form of Kingship xviii. The Education of the Ideal King

Book IV
i. The Tasks of Political Theory ii. Consitutions Placed in Order of Merit iii. Why There are Several Constitutions iv. The Parts of the State and the Classification of Democracies
Definitions of Democracy and Oligarchy
The Parts of the State, and Resulting Variety among Constitutions (1)
Plato on the Parts of the State
The Parts of the State, and Resulting Variety among Constitutions (2)
Varieties of Democracy v. The Classification of Oligarchies vi. Four Types of Democracy and Four of Oligarchy vii. Varieties of Aristocracy viii. Polity Distinguished from Aristocracy ix. Polity as a Mixture of Oligarchy and Democracy x. Three Forms of Tyranny xi. The Merits of the Middle Constitution xii. Why Democrats and Oligarchs Should Cultivate the Middle Ground xiii. Right and Wrong Strategems to Ensure a Majority for the Constitution xiv. The Deliberative Element in the Constitution xv. The Executive Element in the Constitution xvi. The Judicial Element in the Constitution

Book V
i. Equality, Justice, and Constitutional Change ii. Sources of Constitutional Change (1)
iii. Sources of Constitutional Change (2)
iv. The Immediate Occasions of Constitutional Change v. Why Democracies Are Overthrown vi. Why Oligarchies Are Overthrown vii. The Causes of Factions in Aristocracies viii. How Constitutions May Be Preserved (1)
ix. How Constitutions May Be Preserved (2)
x. The Origins and Downfall of Monarchy xi. Methods of Preserving Monarchies, with Particular Reference to Tyranny xii. The Impermanence of Tyrannies; Plato on Constitutional Change

Book VI
i. How Do Constitutions Function Best?
ii. Principles and Practices of Democracies iii. Ways of Achieving Equality iv. The Best Democracy v. How Democracies May be Preserved vi. The Preservation of Oligarchies (1)
vii. The Preservation of Oligarchies (2)
viii. A Comprehensive Review of Officialdom

Book VII
i. The Relation between Virtue and Prosperity ii. The Active Life and the Philosophic Life (1)
iii. The Active Life and the Philosophic Life (2)
iv. The Size of the Ideal State v. The Territory of the Ideal State vi. The Importance of the Sea vii. The Influence of Climate viii. Membership and Essential Functions of the State ix. Citizenship and Age-Groups x. The Food-Supply and the Division of the Territory xi. The Siting and Defence of the City xii. The Siting of Markets, Temples and Communal Refectories xiii. Happiness as the Aim of the Constitution xiv. Education for Citizenship xv. The Proper Education for Cultured Leisure xvi. Sex, Marriage and Eugenics xvii. The Main Periods of Education; Censorship

Book VIII
i. Education as a Public Concern ii. Controversy about the Aims of Education iii. Leisure Distinguished from Play; Education in Music (1)
iv. The Limits of Physical Training v. Education in Music (2)
vi. Gentlemen versus Players vii. Melodies and Modes in Education

Select Bibliographies
Glossaries:
Greek-English
English-Greek
Index of Names

Interviews

Joe Sachs’s new translation of Aristotle’s Politics is for students of philosophy, classics, political philosophy, political science, and/or great books at the college level.

Editorial Reviews

“I have seen in my own classroom how much students have been helped by the Sachs translations. I’m frequently approached by students and asked why there isn’t a Sachs translation for Aristotle’s Politics. This translation will undoubtedly be welcome news to many students and scholars of Aristotle.”
—Lijun Gu, St. John's College

“I used to encourage students not to be put off from the brilliance of Aristotle's ideas by the density of his imposing prose, until I came across the rigorous and readable set of translations by Joe Sachs. What strikes me most in this welcome new translation of Aristotle's Politics is the sense of Aristotle as a man thinking carefully how to speak about political realities he studied and witnessed, rather than a treatise-builder expounding political doctrines.”
—Nathan Andersen, Eckerd College

“Joe Sachs’ masterful translation of Aristotle’s Politics is the latest in a series encompassing Aristotle’s Physics, (1995), Metaphysics (1999), On the Soul and On Memory and Recollection (2001), Nicomachean Ethics (2002), Poetics (2006) and Rhetoric (2009). This fact alone sets him apart from all other recent translators of the Politics: He is the only one who is not a specialist in one area of Aristotelian philosophy and his holistic command of the corpus allows him to deliver the most nuanced and precise translations available in English. In addition, he set himself the goal of avoiding in them the use of the traditional scholastic terminology which obstructs so much the interpretation of Aristotle’s thought. The Politics poses a unique challenge for the translator because it is a work of political philosophy, hence it necessarily has two kinds of readers in view and its language is both logically precise and rhetorically powerful. Joe Sachs’ translation renders both aspects with unmatched elegance and precision.”
—Antonio Marino López, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

“Sachs’ erudite, yet accessible, extremely careful, and obviously thoughtful translation of Aristotle's Politics is impressive beyond measure. This translation is a must, both for scholars working on or otherwise interested in Aristotle's Politics as well as for students and others who might be reading this text for the first time. Indeed, Sachs’ text offers an understandable translation of one of the most important Aristotelian texts, while remaining extremely faithful to the original Greek. In addition, the supplementary features of Sachs’ translation, which include notes that help provide further understanding and context for certain claims, as well as the Glossary and the Summary of Contents, which appear at the end of the text, provide wonderful aids for those who are invested in understanding Aristotle's Politics.”
—Corinne Painter, Washtenaw Community College

“Joe Sachs has an extraordinary ability to render ancient Greek into English sentences that are so clear and direct that they help readers to look past Aristotle’s technical terminology and reflect on the philosophical issues in the text. For beginning students Sachs’s translations are an ideal vehicle through which to engage Aristotle’s philosophy. For those of us who are more advanced, they are sufficiently different from the traditional translations to open fresh ways of thinking about the texts. Sachs does a fine job with the Politics. The translation is very readable and accurate, and the notes and glossary are insightful. The introductory essay by Lijun Gu valuably emphasizes the importance of book IV.”
—Edward Halper, University of Georgia

From the Publisher