or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
49 used & new from £1.84
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Politics (Classics)
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book

The Politics (Classics) (Paperback)

by Aristotle (Author) "Since, then, the question of legislation has been left unexamined by previous thinkers, presumably we had better investigate it more closely for ourselves, together with..." (more)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
RRP: £11.99
Price: £5.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £6.00 (50%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Tuesday, November 17? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
30 new from £4.31 19 used from £1.84
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover £15.95 £15.95 18 used & new from £11.90
Paperback (Reissue) £8.99 £4.94 22 used & new from £4.33
Audio Download (Unabridged) £15.19 £10.69
Paperback (Large Print) £17.99 £15.29 4 used & new from £15.29
Leather Bound (Reprint) Order it used
Unknown Binding Order it used

Frequently Bought Together

The Politics (Classics) + The Republic (Penguin Classics) + The Prince (Penguin Classics)
Price For All Three: £14.81

Show availability and delivery details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Republic (Penguin Classics)

The Republic (Penguin Classics)

by Plato
4.7 out of 5 stars (6)  £5.34
Leviathan (English Library)

Leviathan (English Library)

by Thomas Hobbes
4.6 out of 5 stars (10)  £6.39
The Prince (Penguin Classics)

The Prince (Penguin Classics)

by Niccolo Machiavelli
4.5 out of 5 stars (20)  £3.48
The Social Contract (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)

The Social Contract (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)

by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
4.0 out of 5 stars (7) 
The Nicomachean Ethics (Penguin Classics)

The Nicomachean Ethics (Penguin Classics)

by Aristotle
4.0 out of 5 stars (3)  £5.92
› Explore similar items

Product details

Product Description

The Philosophical Review

"Richard Kraut's new translation of and commentary on Politics: Books VII and VIII, which provides Aristotle's account of the ideal city, is an extremely distinguished contribution to our understanding of the Politics" --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


Review

Richard Kraut's new translation of and commentary on Politics: Books VII and VIII, which provides Aristotle's account of the ideal city, is an extremely distinguished contribution to our understanding of the Politics (The Philosophical Review )

Kraut's translation is clear, accurate, and readily intelligible to the Greekless reader: indeed, it satisfies these desiderata perhaps better than any other available English translation (The Philosophical Review ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
Since, then, the question of legislation has been left unexamined by previous thinkers, presumably we had better investigate it more closely for ourselves, together with the question of constitutions generally, so that our philosophy of human conduct may be as complete as possible. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Politics (Classics)
73% buy the item featured on this page:
The Politics (Classics) 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
£5.99
The Republic (Penguin Classics)
10% buy
The Republic (Penguin Classics) 4.7 out of 5 stars (6)
£5.34
The Prince (Penguin Classics)
8% buy
The Prince (Penguin Classics) 4.5 out of 5 stars (20)
£3.48
The Communist Manifesto (Penguin Classics)
5% buy
The Communist Manifesto (Penguin Classics) 4.0 out of 5 stars (38)
£3.97
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the effort..., 23 Nov 2004
By Alcat Garcia "aka bel_78 // A.G. is just an a... (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Aristotle was an important thinker, born in 384 BCE at Stagirus (a Greek colony), who is considered by many the founder of the realist tradition in Philosophy. He wrote many noteworthy books, among which "The Politics" stands out. "The Politics" is one of the first books I read at university, and even though it took me a lot of time to read it, I ended up being grateful to the professor that included it as obligatory reading material for History of Political Ideas I :)
In "The Politics", the author begins by analyzing the human being, that is in his opinion a political animal by nature. Afterwards, he explains what are, for him, the origins of the polis: family, small village and then, polis. Aristotle says that even though the polis is the last chronologically, it is all the same the most important, because it is autarchic. The polis (not exactly like our states, but similar to them in some aspects) is a natural community, because it answers to something that human beings need. Only in the polis will men find perfection, only there will they be completely human. Aristotle distinguishes between citizens and non-citizens (the vast majority), and points out that only citizens have political rights. The author delves in many other themes, for example the causes of revolution, the good and bad forms of government, and the "ideal" form of government. What is more, he also considers several constitutions, and talks about the adequate education that forms good citizens for the polis.

Now, why should you read a book that was written many centuries ago and that on top of that isn't especially easy to read?. The answer is quite simple: "The Politics" is worth it. Of course, you will find faults in some of Aristotle's opinions (for instance, he thought that slaves were "live property", and that slavery was a natural institution), but you cannot ignore that most of his book is as relevant today as it was when he wrote it. "The Politics" is a book that teaches the reader to analyze reality, and to watch things differently, from another perspective. It also mentions several times that it is always necessary to take into account the context, because there are not perfect solutions good for every circumstance. Even though that seems merely common sense, it is an often forgotten truth...

On the whole, I can recommend this book to all those who are interested in Political Science, History of Ideas, or simply curious. I can guarantee that if you are patient enough to end it, you will learn a lot.

Belen Alcat

Comment Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
48 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Politics, 20 Oct 2001
By A Customer
I'm not a philosopher or philosophy student, but I like The Politics a lot -- some of it. I think what I find boring in the book is what Aristotle found most interesting: the analysis of different types of constitution, which was best, the flaws of each and so on. To my pragmatic mind this seems a strange interest. You live under a certain constitution, and it has flaws and benefits to a greater or lesser degree, and that's it! What does it matter that another constitution is better or worse; or that one can imagine a better or worse constitution! I must say that Aristotle's obsession with the mean seems bonkers to me. "The law is the mean" seems more helpful to me than his application of this idea to ethics. He must have been a passionate man, subject to violent extremes of behaviour.

Aside from this idee fixe -- the doomed philosophical wish to regulate human behaviour -- Aristotle seems immensely sensible. I love his characterisation of wealth as a tool, or the comment that an official becomes worthy of respect when they become an official (which applies to royalty too), or the comment that the drawback of communal ownership is that people take less care of things owned by many people than things they own themselves, or the comment that it s pleasant to have money because only then can we make a gift of it. Aristotle seems much more aware of human nature than Plato is, although I enjoy The Republic, not as a practical plan of a state but as an immense artistic creation, like a novel or a play, or (because of the depth of the thought) like an author's whole oeuvre: Shakespeare or Dickens or Henry James.

My favourite part of The Politics is the last two books, on education. It's astonishing to learn of the importance the Greeks attached to music. When did music become a pastime for us? Although reading these last two books I have the persistent thought that civilisation has declined, and that we live like visitors to a clockwork shop, surrounded by useless technical marvels which we look at with glazed eyes. The Benthamite view of education (it's necessary for the economy) or art (it's useful for the economy) make me weep when they are put beside Aristotle's notion of education as work itself, and his idea that you need to learn precisely *for* leisure (how cheap our notion of leisure is beside this!) "But to be constantly asking 'What is the use of?' is unbecoming to those of superior mentality and free birth" -- this might profitably be disseminated in our society.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject














i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.