4 quotations linked to Politics: A Treatise on Government by or associated with Aristotle, with source notes, explanations and related topics.
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“Law is reason without desire.”
Good law is idealized as judgment governed by reason rather than by the changing appetites or personal passions of an individual ruler.
Source note: Politics, Book III, William Ellis translation; the line appears in a discussion of law and political rule.
“Man is naturally a political animal.”
Human beings naturally form communities in which speech, judgment, cooperation, law, and shared ideas of justice shape common life.
Source note: Politics, Book I, William Ellis translation; Aristotle argues that the city develops from natural forms of association.
“The safety of the ship is the common business of all of them.”
People with different roles can still share responsibility for preserving the larger community on which all of their particular roles depend.
Source note: Politics, Book III; Aristotle uses sailors and a ship as an analogy for citizens sharing a common political interest.
“All those governments which have a common good in view are rightly established and strictly just.”
Political rule is judged by whether it aims at a shared good rather than merely advancing the private advantage of those holding power.
Source note: Politics, Book III, William Ellis translation; Aristotle distinguishes correct constitutions by their orientation toward common benefit.