Page 33 - DPOL201_WESTERN_POLITICAL_THOUGHT_ENGLISH

Sukanya Das, Lovely Professional University
Ripudaman Singh, Lovely Professional University
Unit 3: Aristotle’s Life and His Conception of Human Nature and State

Unit 3: Aristotle’s Life and His Notes
Conception of Human Nature and State

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
3.1 Life Sketch
3.2 Conception of Human Nature and State
3.3 Nature of Happiness
3.4 Organic Theory of State
3.5 Summary
3.6 Key-Words
3.7 Review Questions
3.8 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit students will be able to:
• Discuss about life and works of Aristotle
• Understand the Conception of Human Nature and State
• Explain the Organic Theory of State

Introduction

Born at Stagira in Northern Greece, Aristotle was the most notable product of the educational
program devised by Plato; he spent twenty years of his life studying at the Academy. When Plato
died, Aristotle returned to his native Macedonia, where he is supposed to have participated in the
education of Philip’s son, Alexander (the Great). He came back to Athens with Alexander’s approval
in 335 BC and established his own school at the Lyceum, spending most of the rest of his life
engaged there in research, teaching, and writing. His students acquired the. name “peripatetics”
from the master’s habit of strolling about as he taught. Although the surviving works of Aristotle
probably represent only a fragment of the whole, they include his investigations of an amazing
range of subjects, from logic, philosophy, and ethics to physics, biology, psychology, politics, and
rhetoric. Aristotle appears to have thought through his views as he wrote, returning to significant
issues at different stages of his own development. The result is less a consistent system of thought
than a complex record of Aristotle’s thinking about many significant issues.

3.1 Life Sketch

Aristotle was born in 384 BC at Stagira, which is located on the north-eastern coast of the Aegean
Sea. His father, Nicomachus, was a court physician to King Amyntas III of Macedon. The family
was affluent. Aristotle developed a long-lasting interest in medicine and biology.
“He had every opportunity and encouragement to develop a scientific bent of mind; he was
prepared from the beginning to become the founder of science”.

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