“Read books that make you mad,” was often heard from a former colleague. I don’t get angry reading Aristotle, but he is worth understanding. Aristotle gave me a few head scratchers in Book 1 of “Political” or “Politics” (translated by Benjamin Jowett):
First, for the modern reader, the opening paragraphs redefine “king” as a personal ruler over a household, a family leader. Where the citizens rule, there we find the state.
Second, Aristotle holds the state was created prior to the individual, for “when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all. . . If he have not virtue, he is the most unholy and savage of animals. . . Justice is the bond of men. . . “
Third, he divides the family into three groups: master and slave, husband and wife, father and children, noting that “where the relation of master and slave between them is natural they are friends and have a common interest, but where it merely rests on law and force the reverse is true.” Here he explains the nature of slavery, just and unjust acquisition (employees, debtors, or wartime captives and their children born after captivity), and property.
Fourth, Aristotle says all possessions are divided into two categories: those properly used, and those improperly used, as a shoe was not made to be the object of barter. While the role of the family is to be useful as society increases, the household is not intended to be a business that generates wealth, but is limited to the provision of food, shelter and safety. Retail trade is for making money. “The most hated sort [of wealth-getting] is usury”; that is, “money was intended to be used in exchange, not to increase at interest.” Thales made money by renting property.
The closing paragraphs raise a question: does a slave possess the virtues of temperance, courage, justice, etc? As he navigates to the answer, the reader gains insight into Aristotle’s world, namely the role of men, women, children and slave. In short, the slave “requires so much virtue as will prevent him from failing in his duty through cowardice or lack of self control.”
