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This Hauptseminar on Aristotle’s Politics is offered as part of the English-language curriculum at the Humboldt-Universität (and hence in English). The eight books of Aristotle’s Politics contain a theory of political organization which differs from most modern, post-secular political theories in at least three major respects. 1. Assuming that human communities are organic or naturally occuring instead of contractual, Aristotle bases his theory of them upon a theory of the household (Book 1), from which he thinks political communities arise. 2. The ancient Greek concept of a »constitution« (politeia) contains more than the workings of government; it is meant to describe also social norms and institutions. Thus his critique of other theories of best constitution and his own observations concerning constitutions existing during his time (Books 2–4) contain more than we would expect from a contemporary theory of political constitutions. 3. His political theory comes with an accompanying theory of the good life which provides a normative, ethical basis for the evaluation and even planning of political communities (as evidenced in Books 5–8, on the pathology and proper creation of political communities). – With regard to selected parts from each of these theoretical aspects we shall seek to understand Aristotle’s theory against the background of historical facts concerning e.g. ancient economy, slavery, democracy and oligarchy. |
