Ethics and Politics

Aristotle

Human being political animal

“Hence every city-state exists by nature, inasmuch as the first partnerships so exist; for the
city-state is the end of the other partnerships, and nature is an end, since that which each
thing is when its growth is completed we speak of as being the nature of each thing, for
instance of a man, a horse, a household. Again, the object for which a thing exists, its end, is
its chief good; and self-sufficiency is an end, and a chief good. From these things therefore it
is clear that the city-state is a natural growth, and that man is by nature a political animal,
and a man that is by nature and not merely by fortune citiless is either low in the scale of
humanity or above it [...].
And why man is a political animal in a greater measure than any bee or any gregarious
animal is clear. For nature, as we declare, does nothing without purpose; and man alone of
the animals possesses speech. The mere voice, it is true, can indicate pain and pleasure, and
therefore is possessed by the other animals as well （for their nature has been developed so
far as to have sensations of what is painful and pleasant and to indicate those sensations to
one another）, but speech is designed to indicate the advantageous and the harmful, and
therefore also the right and the wrong; for it is the special property of man in distinction
from the other animals that he alone has perception of good and bad and right and wrong
and the other moral qualities, and it is partnership in these things that makes a household
and a city-state. [...]
It is clear therefore that the state is also prior by nature to the individual; for if each
individual when separate is not self-sufficient, he must be related to the whole state as other
parts are to their whole, while a man who is incapable of entering into partnership, or who is
so self-sufficing that he has no need to do so, is no part of a state, so that he must be either a
lower animal or a god.

Therefore the impulse to form a partnership of this kind is present in all men by nature; but
the man who first united people in such a partnership was the greatest of benefactors. For as
man is the best of the animals when perfected, so he is the worst of all when sundered from
law and justice. For unrighteousness is most pernicious when possessed of weapons, and
man is born possessing weapons for the use of wisdom and virtue, which it is possible to
employ entirely for the opposite ends. Hence when devoid of virtue man is the most unholy
and savage of animals, and the worst in regard to sexual indulgence and gluttony. Justice on
the other hand is an element of the state; for judicial procedure, which means the decision of
what is just, is the regulation of the political partnership.”
Aristotle, ​Politics. ​1552b-1553a

Task (set up group of three)

Members of the group:

1. Name and surname:

2. Name and surname:
3. Name and surname:

Relation between Ethics and Politics (Antiquity)

With this task we learn about how Ethics and Politics used to be related to each other
on the purpose of the common good. They were thought to be the most important means to
achieve the excellence of humankind.

Rules of the task:

- Create a group of 2 or 3 people.

- Read the text and understand them.
- Discuss between the members of the group the best answer of the questions.
- Each question will be answered by a different member of the group.
- You cannot search the information in Internet.
- Once the class finishes, you give this sheet with your answers to the teacher.

Questions

1. According to Aristotle, why human beings are “by nature a political animal”?
2. Do you think that a person could achieve their complete humanity without society?
Why? What Aristotle says about that?
3. As you know bees are animal which live in beehive, never alone, but “why Aristotle
says that Human beings are political animals in greater measure than any other
gregarious one?
4. What are the differences between animals and humans in the use of language?
Explain it and made up an example.
5. From Aristotle’s point of view, why justice is so important?º