Aristotle's Politics

Aristotle's Politics is a landmark in the history of political thought: the first systematic study of political life. Thinkers from Aquinas to Agamben and Foucault have taken the Politics as the foundation of their own political theories. In this course, we will read Book 1 of the Politics in its entirety, as well as selections from Books 3, 5, 7 and 8. We will address stylistic, philosophical and philological questions raised by the text, as well as reflecting on larger interpretive questions.