Aristotle's Criticism of Plato's Republic

(Paperback)

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The first five chapters of the second book of Aristotle's Politics contain a series of criticisms levelled against Plato's Republic. Despite the abundance of studies that have been done on Aristotle's Politics, these chapters have for the most part been neglected; there has been no book-length study of them this century. In this important new book, Robert Mayhew fills this unfortunate gap in Aristotelian scholarship, analyzing these chapters in order to discover what they tell us about Aristotle's political philosophy. Mayhew demonstrates that in Politics II 1-5, Aristotle is presenting his views on an extremely fundamental issue: the unity of the city. Indeed, he states, almost all of Aristotle's criticisms of the Republic center on this important subject in one way or another. Only by understanding Aristotle's views on the proper unity of the city, Mayhew explains, can we adequately discover his views on the proper relationship between the individual and the city. Students and scholars of classical political philosophy will be greatly interested in this innovative book.

Reviews

This is a splendid volume. It will be a revelation to most readers to discover how many ' amendments ' were made to the text of even the most 'official' works of Soviet literature right up to the 1980's. -- Martin Dewhirst, Universtiy of Glasgow * Slavonica *
This book is a wonderful success. -- John E. Sisko, College of William and Mary * Classical Review *
The book is thoughtful, clearly written, and lucldly argued. -- Robin Waterfield, St. Martin, Cornwall, UK * The Heythrop Journal *
Interesting... attractive arguments... -- David Keyt, Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Washington, USA * Ancient Philosophy *
Robert Mayhew offers a penetrating examination of Aristotle's critique of Plato's utopian constitution. He casts valuable new light on the major issues: in what way and to what extent should the state be one what is the proper relation of the individual to the state is communism preferable, or should property and families remain private Professor Mayhew's analysis reveals the power and continuing relevance of Aristotle's thought. -- Fred D. Miller, Jr., Bowling Green State University

Author Bio

Robert Mayhew is assistant professor of political science at Seton Hall University. His articles have appeared in Review of Metaphysics, Ancient Philosophy, Classical Philology, and History of Political Thought.