Quotation
Last reviewed:
“A human being is by nature a political animal.”
Aristotle · Aristotelianism · Ancient · c. 330 BCE
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that a human being is by nature made for a polis, a community that speaks about justice, not merely a herd that clusters for safety. A competing reading warns that 'political' does not mean party politics, and that the claim does not hand a modern state a right to shape every private aim. The sentence is in Politics I.2, in the argument that the city exists for living well. He adds that a being who can live wholly alone is either a beast or a god.
Did Aristotle really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Standard translation of politikon zōon. 'Political' means 'of the polis', a civic community, not 'interested in party politics'.
Where it comes from
Politics I.2, 1253a
Approximate date: c. 330 BCE.
How to use it
A plan for a good year that has savings goals and no one you would actually sit with, and no shared rule you would argue about, is missing what he thinks you are. The neighbours, the union meeting, the school governors' evening are not hobbies bolted on. They are the kind of speech he has in mind.
A mindset reading
Needing other people is not a failure of self-reliance on this view. It is the shape of a human life. The habit is to treat shared argument about what is fair as native, not as a distraction from your real purposes.
Understand the philosophy
Aristotle is answering whether the city is only a contract for trade and defence. Politikon zōon means an animal of the polis, the civic community, and his contrast is with creatures that are merely gregarious. Because we have speech about the just and the unjust, he calls the city natural. Later liberals will dispute how far that city may go in shaping a life.
- society
- ethics
FAQ
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that a human being is by nature made for a polis, a community that speaks about justice, not merely a herd that clusters for safety. A competing reading warns that 'political' does not mean party politics, and that the claim does not hand a modern state a right to shape every private aim. The sentence is in Politics I.2, in the argument that the city exists for living well. He adds that a being who can live wholly alone is either a beast or a god.
Did Aristotle really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Standard translation of politikon zōon. 'Political' means 'of the polis', a civic community, not 'interested in party politics'.
Which work is it in?
Politics I.2, 1253a Approximate date: c. 330 BCE.