Politics VII.1-3 enacts a contest that concludes that ‘whether for a whole city-state in common or for an individual, the best way of life would be a practical one’. Scholarship on VII.1-3 has focused on the best way of life for an individual to the neglect and even misunderstanding of the best way of life for a polis. The best way of life for a polis is, I argue, a specification of the foreign policy (...) or ‘inter-polis’ relations for the best constitution. Such a foreign policy appears to include the possibilities of both isolationism and regional hegemony, although Politics VII-VIII more broadly suggests that such latitude is constrained by the teleology of life, which shows that war should be pursued only for the sake of peace. (shrink)

It is often emphasized that the Athenians viewed philosophy as essentially apolitical or anti-political. Placed in this context, Aristotle’s Politics 7.1–7.3 deserves special attention because here Aristotle presents his argument on the best life for ‘each human being and commonly for cities and human beings ’, which culminates in his conclusion that ‘the same life ’ is the best for them. This paper attempts to show that ‘the same life’ does not mean a life consisting of activity of (...) the same content but rather of the same type or kind, and that Aristotle semantically differentiates between ἑκάστῳ τε τῶν ἀνθρώπων and τοῖς ἀνθρώποις and assigns a sphere of philosophy to the former and a sphere of politics to the latter, which helps him mitigate the tension between the philosophical life and the political life. (shrink)

This article examines the significance of the image of the Chimera which Socrates invites Glaucon to mould in Book IX of Republic. It argues that the image, when explicitly intended to represent the just and rationally autonomous individual soul, must also, in keeping with Socrates’ methodological procedure in the dialogue, correspond to a political structure. We argue that, as it cannot correspond to or represent the structure of the Kallipolis, the city this soul would correspond to would be the approximately (...) just polis from which the Kallipolis could emerge. The question thus arises as to what kind of individual or which class of persons each part of the tripartite soul can be assigned in a political context. We conclude that the answer supplied and best supported by the dialogue is a rule of the philosopher over a demos or tyrant through the intermediary aid of a rhetorician. (shrink)

After defining the essential elements of Aristotelian citizenship, the article proposes to apply these criteria in its search for the equivalent of a citizen within the corporate polis. It argues that shareholding managers are the best positioned among a firm's constituents or stakeholders in fulfilling the role of corporate citizens. Greater participation by management not only in the control but also in the ownership of firms brings about benefits for the firm as a whole and for the managers (...) themselves, as organizational citizenship behavior literature, among others, suggests. (shrink)

The paper aims to sketch Kant’s response to the mind-body problem in his first work, Thoughts on the true estimation of living forces (1747). This is accomplished by first examining the origins of the problem in Descartes, then exploring the traditional responses to the problem, occasionalism, pre-established harmony, and physical influx. Finally, the paper positions Kant as a proponent of physical influx and highlights the unique features and challenges of his perspective.

Most modern readers of Aristotle's "Politics" assume that the regime "according to prayer" (kat' euchên) in Book 7 is the culmination of the work as a whole, a utopia designed to guide political reform. I say no. This polis is not an ideal to be applied to practice, but one aspiration among several to be seriously examined and consulted by political people as they deliberate about what to do in particular situations. The prayer presented in chapters 4-12 is not (...) meant to be understood as Aristotle's own, but as coming from one imagined voice among the several presented in the "Nicomachean Ethics" and "Politics." Would Aristotle pray for this regime? No. It is instead the prayer of a "real man" (an anêr) fully committed to political life, someone who, unlike Aristotle, can imagine nothing more beautiful than a beautiful polis. Aristotle's subtlety here has important implications for understanding the philosophy/politics relationship. (shrink)