[...]... 2.2 Mind the Gap 2.3 The Human Thing to Do 2.4 Political Animals 2.5 It's Only Natural 2.6 Getting Aristotle' s Priorities Right 42 42 45 53 67 73 80 3 The Concept of Political Authority 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Words Can't Describe 3.3 The Nature of Authority 3.4 Political Authority in the Ethics and Politics 3.5 Ways of Speaking about Authority in the Politics 87 87 88 90 101 112 4 Morality and Political. .. assembly and sit in judgment as juries, and thus carry on with the business of ‘first-order’ political issues which are mainly dealt with through ordinary legislation and decrees, and from (b) constitutional architects or lawgivers in the strong sense, those who are involved in ‘second-order’ political issues, such as the rules governing the making of rules themselves, laying down by whom and how political. .. journey In this last part I shall argue that Aristotle defends a conception of political authority and obligation according to which the authority of the state and the political bonds of its citizens are essentially guided and limited by moral considerations I shall first argue in Chapter 5 that Aristotle does raise the question of political obligation in terms that are quite familiar to modern political. .. (2.5) and the natural priority of the polis over its parts (2.6) can only be explained in terms of the well-being of its members The entire edifice of Aristotle' s political naturalism is built on a strongly practical bedrock Chapters 3 and 4 form a second and mainly conceptual block in order to argue that we can find in Aristotle' s political theory a discussion of the notions of authority, obligation, and. .. it does contain the idea (4.3) Finally, having seen that something akin to the notion of political obligation appears in Aristotle' s politics (4.4) and assumed that moral ‘duty’ and obligation are fairly equal expressions referring to the same phenomenon, at the end of the chapter we shall dwell on some of their differences when brought to bear on the issue of political allegiance in Aristotle (4.5)... 6.2 Enabling Constraint and Coordination 6.3 Et in Arcadia auctoritas? 178 178 186 193 7 The Limits of Political Obligation 7.1 Breadth and Depth of the Political Question 7.2 You Belong to Me 7.3 Eunomia and ‘Constitutional’ Vice 7.4 Tyranny and the Right of Resistance 219 219 222 233 239 Conclusion 259 Bibliography 261 Index Locorum 275 Index Nominum 288 General Index 292 Abbreviations and References... But the general consensus remains that Aristotle is not interested in this issue.7 Given this opinio communis, it seems only natural to assume that the burden of proof should rest on the contrary position, i.e on those who maintain that Aristotle does have a concept of political authority and obligation However, the point may well be made that Aristotle' s philosophico -political complex of foundational... scholars do affirm that Aristotle addresses the issue of political obligation, but they do it en passant, without giving much thought to it as a topic in its own right (4.4 ab initio) For instance, Polin (1971), 9, promisingly asserts that Aristotle will take up the problem at the point where the Criton had left off and will demonstrate once and for all the essential character of political obligation , but... page intentionally left blank Contents Abbreviations and References Introduction xiii 1 1 The Explanatory Power of Ethics in Aristotle' s Theory of Politics and Law 1.1 Rulers, Subjects, and the Practical Viewpoint 1.2 Description and Evaluation in Social Science 1.3 Complementarity of Description and Evaluation: Social Science and Moral Agency 11 11 19 33 2 Nature and Normativity 2.1 Nature in Ethics and. .. the individual to obey political authority? I shall argue that his political theory contains the claim that the authority of the state stands in need of justification (5.1) and that he actually faces up to an anarchist challenge of sorts to come up with a justification for the restriction of the liberty of subjects (5.2) Before going into the ways in which Aristotle answers the political question in terms . Andrés. Political authority and obligation in Aristotle / Andrés Rosler. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Aristotle. 2. Political obligation. 3. Authority. 4. Political science. h0" alt="" POLITICAL AUTHORITY AND OBLIGATION IN ARISTOTLE OXFORD ARISTOTLE STUDIES General Editors Julia Annas and Lindsay Judson Other titles in the series Aristotle on Meaning and Essence David. underpinning of Aristotle& apos;s political thought, the normativity of his ethical and political theory, and the concepts of political authority and obligation itself. It is true that Aristotle