Page - 1981 - in The Complete Aristotle
Image of the Page - 1981 -
Text of the Page - 1981 -
will do no wrong to one another, and written articles of alliance. But there are
no magistrates common to the contracting parties who will enforce their
engagements; different states have each their own magistracies. Nor does one
state take care that the citizens of the other are such as they ought to be, nor
see that those who come under the terms of the treaty do no wrong or
wickedness at an, but only that they do no injustice to one another. Whereas,
those who care for good government take into consideration virtue and vice in
states. Whence it may be further inferred that virtue must be the care of a state
which is truly so called, and not merely enjoys the name: for without this end
the community becomes a mere alliance which differs only in place from
alliances of which the members live apart; and law is only a convention, ‘a
surety to one another of justice,’ as the sophist Lycophron says, and has no
real power to make the citizens
This is obvious; for suppose distinct places, such as Corinth and Megara, to
be brought together so that their walls touched, still they would not be one
city, not even if the citizens had the right to intermarry, which is one of the
rights peculiarly characteristic of states. Again, if men dwelt at a distance
from one another, but not so far off as to have no intercourse, and there were
laws among them that they should not wrong each other in their exchanges,
neither would this be a state. Let us suppose that one man is a carpenter,
another a husbandman, another a shoemaker, and so on, and that their number
is ten thousand: nevertheless, if they have nothing in common but exchange,
alliance, and the like, that would not constitute a state. Why is this? Surely not
because they are at a distance from one another: for even supposing that such
a community were to meet in one place, but that each man had a house of his
own, which was in a manner his state, and that they made alliance with one
another, but only against evil-doers; still an accurate thinker would not deem
this to be a state, if their intercourse with one another was of the same
character after as before their union. It is clear then that a state is not a mere
society, having a common place, established for the prevention of mutual
crime and for the sake of exchange. These are conditions without which a
state cannot exist; but all of them together do not constitute a state, which is a
community of families and aggregations of families in well-being, for the
sake of a perfect and self-sufficing life. Such a community can only be
established among those who live in the same place and intermarry. Hence
arise in cities family connections, brotherhoods, common sacrifices,
amusements which draw men together. But these are created by friendship,
for the will to live together is friendship. The end of the state is the good life,
and these are the means towards it. And the state is the union of families and
villages in a perfect and self-sufficing life, by which we mean a happy and
honorable life.
1981
back to the
book The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Title
- The Complete Aristotle
- Author
- Aristotle
- Date
- ~322 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 2328
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Table of contents
- Part 1; Logic (Organon) 3
- Categories 4
- On Interpretation 34
- Prior Analytics, Book I 56
- Prior Analytics, Book II 113
- Posterior Analytics, Book I 149
- Posterior Analytics, Book II 193
- Topics, Book I 218
- Topics, Book II 221
- Topics, Book III 237
- Topics, Book IV 248
- Topics, Book V 266
- Topics, Book VI 291
- Topics, Book VII 317
- Topics, Book VIII 326
- On Sophistical Refutations 348
- Part 2; Universal Physics 396
- Physics, Book I 397
- Physics, Book II 415
- Physics, Book III 432
- Physics, Book IV 449
- Physics, Book V 481
- Physics, Book VI 496
- Physics, Book VII 519
- Physics, Book VIII 533
- On the Heavens, Book I 570
- On the Heavens, Book II 599
- On the Heavens, Book III 624
- On the Heavens, Book IV 640
- On Generation and Corruption, Book I 651
- On Generation and Corruption, Book II 685
- Meteorology, Book I 707
- Meteorology, Book II 733
- Meteorology, Book III 760
- Meteorology, Book IV 773
- Part 3; Human Physics 795
- On the Soul, Book I 796
- On the Soul, Book II 815
- On the Soul, Book III 840
- On Sense and the Sensible 861
- On Memory and Reminiscence 889
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness 899
- On Dreams 909
- On Prophesying by Dreams 918
- On Longevity and the Shortness of Life 923
- On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration 929
- Part 4; Animal Physics 952
- The History of Animals, Book I 953
- The History of Animals, Book II translated 977
- The History of Animals, Book III 1000
- The History of Animals, Book IV 1029
- The History of Animals, Book V 1056
- The History of Animals, Book VI 1094
- The History of Animals, Book VII 1135
- The History of Animals, Book VIII 1150
- The History of Animals, Book IX 1186
- On the Parts of Animals, Book I 1234
- On the Parts of Animals, Book II 1249
- On the Parts of Animals, Book III 1281
- On the Parts of Animals, Book IV 1311
- On the Motion of Animals 1351
- On the Gait of Animals 1363
- On the Generation of Animals, Book I 1381
- On the Generation of Animals, Book II 1412
- On the Generation of Animals, Book III 1444
- On the Generation of Animals, Book IV 1469
- On the Generation of Animals, Book V 1496
- Part 5; Metaphysics 1516
- Part 6; Ethics and Politics 1748
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book I 1749
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 1766
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 1779
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV 1799
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book V 1817
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI 1836
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII 1851
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII 1872
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX 1890
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book X 1907
- Politics, Book I 1925
- Politics, Book II 1943
- Politics, Book III 1970
- Politics, Book IV 1997
- Politics, Book V 2023
- Politics, Book VI 2053
- Politics, Book VII 2065
- Politics, Book VIII 2091
- The Athenian Constitution 2102
- Part 7; Aesthetic Writings 2156