The Harmony of Conflict: The Aristotelian Foundation of Politics

In this collection of essays, Aristotle’s Politics, a complex text which has been the object of multiple readings and continuously stimulates new interpretative challenges, is analyzed from various points of view that range from the material transmission of the text and its controversial reception to the main subjects covered by the treatise (methodology, philosophy of law, citizenship, economy). Aristotle’s ability to base his political analysis on concrete and real facts is highlighted by the different approaches of the scholars who have contributed to this volume. Based on the collection of more than 150 existing political constitutions and of an intensive study of the theoretical works on the subject, this treatise brings to light the different ways to harmonise the conflicts inherent in every human community, but particularly in classical Greece. Its universal value for different regimes explains the enormous influence Aristotle’s text has had in the history of western political thought and practice.