Race in the Ancient Mediterranean, Sec.

2, Fall 2013
David M. Ratzan

Oct. 2, 2013

Artistotle on Citizens, Slaves, and Politics

Assignment:
READ: Nichomachean Ethics I.7, 13; Politics I.1-13; III.1-5; VII.1-4, 7, 9-10, 13-17; VIII.1-6.
POST: Answers to 2 questions online, one from A-C and one from D, e.g., A1 and D4 or B2 and
D3, etc.
DUE: Midnight, Tues. Oct. 1, 2013
A. Nichomachean Ethics, Book 1
1. What does A. mean when he talks of virtue (arte)? Read the lyre-player analogy in
1.7 carefully When A. says Plato is a good person, what does he mean? Does he
seem to mean the same thing you mean when you call someone a good person? One
of the big problems with reading A. is translation. I would suggest that virtue is a
terrible translation for what A. meansit is just too Christian a word at this point. Can
you think of a word to translation arte that capture what A. means when he speaks of
good people?
2. How many parts are there to the soul, according to A. (1.13)? What does soul
comprise in A. and does this differ from what you call soul? How might you translate
this concept? How do the parts of the soul relate to each other?
B. Politics, Book 1: The parameters of politics
1. In Pol. 1.2 Aristotle famously says that "man is a political animal" (cf. NE 1.7: "man is
born for citizenship") and that the polis is "natural." What does he mean by these two
statements and how does he "prove" them? What is the point of politics? What, for that
matter, is a "polis" (cf. 3.1, 9)? To what extent do you think Philadelphia or the United
States natural?
2. Aristotle begins with family relations because they are self-evidently the basic social unit,
and as such many people (cf. 1.1) believe that these relations are only quantitatively
different from political relations. A. disagrees. Why?
3. Another sub-political relationship to consider is master and slave (1.4-7, 13; cf. 3.4, 6, 9):
how are master and slave related? Is this a natural relation? If so, how (remembering
A.'s definition of nature)? Why is politics not an extended version of this relationship?
4. A. next turns to household management and trade (1.8-11; cf. 2.5, 3.8), since a polis is a
community that has "reached the limit of total self-sufficiency, practically speaking"

Race in the Ancient Mediterranean, Sec. 2, Fall 2013

David M. Ratzan

Oct. 2, 2013

(1.2). What is his view of wealth and property and work and economic exchange? Can
these be natural and unnatural, and if so in what way? Cf. NE 1.5, 4.1-2, 5.5. What are
some conclusions that might be drawn from either position? Ultimately, it seems that A.
would exclude a good chunk of what we would call economics from politics: why and
what are the implications of this for politics? (A good question to ask on the eve of a
government shut-down.)
5. We end Book 1 (1.12-13) with a review of the analogies of types of rule with which we
began (1.1). How does his differentiation of the sorts of rule one has over one's slaves,
fellows, wives and children recall what he said of the manner in which one rules oneself
in the NE 1.7, 13?
6. One way of looking at Book 1 is that A. is trying to determine who may properly be said
to be in a political relationship. So, who is it? (Cf. 3.1, 4-5, 12) Who gets excluded
and on what grounds? Not everyone in the world gets to be a citizen of the United
States, or a resident of New York City, or a student at Temple: on what basis do we limit
participation in these communities?

C. Politics, Book 3: Citizen and State

1. What is a citizen (3.1-2)? Can one live in a polis and not be a citizen?
2. What is the relationship between virtue and politics, between the good man and the
good citizen (3.4, 12)? Or, put another way, what is the virtue (excellence, core
competency, etc.) of a good citizen? What are some of the implications of the very
existence of "political virtue" (see esp. 3.13)? How might this idea be extended to being
a US citizen (or a citizen of any other state, if you are not an American citizen)?

D. Politics, Book 7: Building the Ideal Polis

1. In 7.1-3 A. reviews the basic relationship of politics, or the correct form of social life, to
ethics, or the correct form of living ones life: what is that relationship? What is the
relationship of ethics to politics? Which comes first?
2. What is the best size for a polis (7.4)? What are the implications for the communities to
which you belong?
3. 7.7 should sound familiar. Where have we seen these ideas before? Has Aristotle done
anything with them? How important is race to A.s conception of politics and the good
life? (Cf. 7.13) How far should the legislator go in regulating the nature of a states
citizens (7.16-17)?

Race in the Ancient Mediterranean, Sec. 2, Fall 2013

David M. Ratzan

Oct. 2, 2013

4. Who gets to be a citizen in the ideal polis? (7.10, cf. Book 3)

5. 7.14-8.6 is all about education. Why is education so important to politics? Would you
include a whole book on education in your treatise on the ideal state?
6. What kind of education does A. prescribe? How are free and slave used as concepts in
his discussion of education? It is probably not going too far to see A.s ideal polis as
defined by the line between free and slave: can you find some examples in these later
chapters of A. drawing this line? Some will probably surprise you. Do they make
sense?