Politics [Book I] by Aristotle

Well,  this has certainly been the most interesting read so far.  For some reason it felt much easier to follow the line of thought with this.

TL;DR - all human activity is aimed towards some Ultimate End; even human associations. The 3 basic associations amongst people: 1) the household, 2) the village, and 3) the City.

4 Relationships of the Household:

1) Master/Slave,
2) Husband/Wife, and
3) Parents/Children; an additional element is
4) the Art of Acquisition.

Remember that Aristotle REALLY likes the idea that everything has a purpose in nature, and that translates to there being some people who are meant to rule and those that are meant to be ruled (e.g. master and slave).

The Art of Acquisition has two aspects:

1) Natural which is the proper use of acquiring things for their uses (i.e. things that keep us alive and have practical functions such as houses, food, and shoes) and
2) Unnatural (i.e. the accumulation for wealth/currency for its own sake).

Man, not being self-sufficient in himself, finds his ultimate goal/happiness in the City where he can exercise his nature as a "political animal."

TL;DR over.

This is certainly a thought provoking one to be sure.  Aristotle seems to explain his views towards women and slaves with the idea that everything in nature has a purpose.  And some things appear to be subservient to others.  So some things by their nature are likely meant to be subservient to other things in order to fulfill their Goal in life.  Even Men are subservient to the City in so far as a man can only properly fulfill himself as part of a City.

The way that Aristotle explains it is very matter of fact.  And it's difficult for me feel any anger towards him when he doesn't appear to display ill-will towards those that he says must be subservient.  But I can still consider him wrong to be sure while even more so wishing to fully understand why he thought as he did and understanding how different the modern world in which I live is from his world.

How might he have been right?  It doesn't seem unreasonable that things in nature may have a purpose.  And that purpose could have its roots in evolution (i.e. function developed through adaptation which then presents as something akin to purpose) as opposed to Divine Design.  But that still leaves us with the overall question of whether or not Aristotle's Master/Slave association is an inevitable end of having that apparent purpose.  I tend to think not.  Aristotle may have had the idea that such things are inevitable, but I have the perspective that even if such things are inevitable we aim to treat every individual as equal regardless.

From another perspective (i.e. thought experiment) perhaps the Master/Slave association was inevitable but has been corrected through the growth and affluence of modern economies.  To explain, in Aristotle's day Slave labor seems to have been a necessity for the functioning and building of the Cities.  But after the Industrial Revolution the necessities of life are cheaper and more abundantly available than ever for the average citizen (at least in the Western World).  What may have been a Master/Slave association in Aristotle's day can in modern times be conducted with the voluntary exchange of currency for labor.

Despite modern inequalities, more people than ever are able to support themselves of their own volition; even if not wholly satisfactory for all it is a tremendous difference with how things have been in most of the world for most of history.  This advantage of the modern day keeps many people from making themselves a slave to someone else in order to assure they have shelter and food.  To emphasize, it's not perfect, but it is so much better than it has ever been before.

Overall, I had a lot of fun reading this even if I don't agree with much of it. But what did you think? Did I misinterpret anything? Let me know!

Almost forgot. Up next is Plutarch, which will be the biggest slice to date at 98 pages worth. This should take around 30 days with the normal ten minutes of reading per day.

Here's the eBook w/ the chapters to be read in "[ ]":

PLUTARCH: The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans [Lycurgus, Numa Pompilius, Lycurgus and Numa Compared, Alexander, Caesar]

Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans by Plutarch

See you Sunday, July 22nd!