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Citizens, Slaves, and Foreigners: Aristotle on Human Nature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2004

JILL FRANK
JILL FRANK
Affiliation:
University of South Carolina
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Abstract

To most readers, Aristotle's many references to nature throughout the first book of the Politics imply a foundational role for nature outside and prior to politics. Aristotle, they claim, pairs nature with necessity and, thus, sets nature as a standard that fixes the boundaries of inclusion and exclusion in political life. Through readings of Aristotle on the nature of citizens, slaves, and foreigners in the Politics, this essay argues, in contrast, that, to Aristotle, nature, especially human nature, is changeable and shaped by politics. Through an analysis of Aristotle's philosophical and scientific treatments of nature in the Metaphysics and Physics, this essay demonstrates that in order to preserve what he takes to be characteristic and also constitutive of a distinctively human way of living—prohairetic activity—Aristotle is especially keen to guard against any assimilation of nature to necessity.

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ARTICLES
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American Political Science Review , Volume 98 , Issue 1 , February 2004 , pp. 91 - 104
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© 2004 by the American Political Science Association

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References

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