Search

In Politics 2.2-5 Aristotle criticises the state described in Plato's Republic. The general consensus in the secondary literature (in particular after E. Bornemann) is that Aristotle's critique is unfair and too narrow in scope. Aristotle unjustifiably ignores significant parts of Plato's Republic and unreasonably assumes that the community of wives, children and property extends to the whole of Kallipolis. Although R. Mayhew's defence of Aristotle's criticism has mitigated this negative assessment, the problem has remained unresolved. This paper questions the traditional view and suggests an explanation of Aristotle's selective reading of Plato's Republic. Based on what turns out to be a reasonable interpretation of Plato's text, Aristotle does not extend Plato's communism to the whole city, but rather reduces Plato's city to the community of the guardians. As a result, Aristotle's arguments in fact hit the mark and present Aristotle as a much fairer reader than is usually acknowledged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal is the property of World Health Organization and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)