Luiber Robertis
Philosophy 1301
Dr. Ferguson
April 11, 2017
The Nature of the City on Aristotle’s View
The first concept defined in the “Politics” is the concept of city which is understood as “the highest form
of human association”
1
. While all associations seek a specific purpose the city seeks the supreme end that
implies the happiness of all citizens. The polis was for an ancient Greek the form of completed political
organization, while larger state structures such as empires were not considered by Aristotle as free forms
of political organization, they were too large for the citizen to participate politically.
After defining the polis and its purpose Aristotle proposes to analyze its origin and its necessity. All men
seek to associate to remain alive, first the natural “association of male and female”
2
is the family that is
sought for procreation; Then the families are associated with each other to conform villages to ensure their
subsistence and “from the union of villages”
3
arises the polis when they laid common laws for coexistence.
“Man by nature is a political animal”
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since he cannot live isolated and without social contact; a man who
