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 Charles Aristotle's Theory of Substance The Categories and Metaphysics Zeta Michael V. Wedin Order in Multiplicity Homonymy in the Philosophy of Aristotle Christopher Shields Aristotle's De Interpretatione Contradiction and Dialectic C. W. A. Whitaker On Location Aristotle's Concept of Place Benjamin Morison Political Authority and Obligation in Aristotle ANDRÉS ROSLER CLARENDON PRESS • OXFORD Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford UniversityPress is a department of the Universityof Oxford. It furthers the University'sobjectiveof excellencein research, scholarship, and educationby publishing worldwidein Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong KongKarachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCityNairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary ItalyJapan South Korea Poland Portugal Singapore Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain othercountries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc.,New York © Andrés Rosler 2005 The moral rights of the authors have beenasserted Database rightOxford University Press (maker) First published 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publicationmay be reproduced, stored in a retrievalsystem, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, withoutthe prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permittedby law, or under terms agreed withthe appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the aboveshould be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford UniversityPress, at the address above You must not circulatethis book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same conditionon any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in PublicationData Data available Library of Congress Catalogingin Publication Data Rosler, Andrés. Political authority and obligationin Aristotle/ Andrés Rosler. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Aristotle. 2. Political obligation. 3. Authority. 4. Political science — Philosophy. I. Title. JC71. A7R67 2005 302'. 01—dc22 2004025226 ISBN 0–19–925150–9 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 For my parents This page intentionally left blank Preface and Acknowledgements The purpose of this book is to argue that, in spite of the prevailingview to the contrary, Aristotle does examine the questionofpoliticalobligationand itslimits. Toprovethispointsomeconnectedissueswillbetackled as well,suchas the ethical underpinning of Aristotle'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 does not discuss these topics systematically in particular chapters devoted to them. Actually, it looks as though Aristotle's books on practical philosophy that have come down to us are mainly the result of assembling some, as it were, ‘ready-to-go-to-press’ materials together with lecture notes and/or papers written to be looked up at the library of the school. Furthermore, there is no question that his main interests, challenges, and opponents were generally different from the usual modern ones. But I believe there is still a case for arguing that he does not fail to make an issue of topics which are thought to be particularly modern ones, such as political authority and obligation. Abriefperusalofitsindexwillshowthatthisstudystraddlestheusualacademicdivisionoflabourbetweenthehistory of philosophy and contemporary moral, political, and legal philosophy. As a result of our departamentalized view of theacademicbusinessitisnotunusualforclassicalscholarstoworkwithastereotypicaloroutdatedpictureofmodern political philosophy, and something similar applies to modern moral and political theorists as they deal with classical thought. Furthermore, scholars pursuing the study of classical and modern philosophy oftenoverlookthefindings of their colleagues involved in contemporary philosophy. Perhaps a comparative study focused on the analysis of what appears to be a mainly modern and contemporary issue in a classical thinker may contribute something of value to most of the fields at stake. Since the structure of this book is designed to meet several arguments against its principal thesis, those who are unimpressedbysomeoftheseargumentsmaywanttopassoverthesectionswherethelatteraredealtwith.Ofcourse, I would be delighted if somebody wanted to see new or different arms and tactics deployed against old or familiar enemies, let alone if the book were read from start to finish. Nevertheless, readers viii may be happy to know that, for instance, those who are not worried about the normative credentials or the foundationsofAristotle'sethicalandpoliticalnaturalismmaywanttoskipChapter2altogether—mindyou,thiscaveat does not apply to those interested in the way the foundation of Aristotle's ethical and political thought stands vis-à-vis Hobbes's and Kant's. In a similar sense, those who are willing to ascribe the notion of morality to Aristotle may have reason to omit the first three sections as they read through Chapter 4. At any rate, readers should feel free to help themselves to whatever they find of interest in this book. An earlierand rather differentversion ofthisworkwas submitted as a doctoral dissertationat Oxford inHilary Term 1999. My sincere thanks must first go to my supervisor, John Finnis, whose meticulous readings of and insightful critical comments on several drafts improved my dissertation greatly. In fact, I seem to remember that this whole adventureintoAristotelianterritorystartedoffoneafternooninearlyOctober1994 inhisroomatUniversityCollege, as he subtly suggested that I put off my Hobbesian interests for a while and explore instead the possibilities of ascribing the notion of political obligation to Aristotle. I hope the reader will agree that he was right. I wouldalso liketo thank my D.Phil. examiners, JohnGardner and Mark Philp, who provedto be ideal for thejobof conducting the viva voce. They made a number of helpful criticisms on and observations to my thesis and were instrumentalinmotivatingmetodevelopmydissertationinapublishedform.Regardingthislastpoint,Ishouldsingle out John Gardner's help and support. It should be added that Mark Philp had also served as examiner during my transfer totheD.Phil. status, together withDavid Charles. Theirsharpand uncompromisingcriticisms as statedinthe transfer report prodded me to raise significantly the standard of my dissertation. During my stay at Oxford I was lucky enough to be a member of and enjoy the friendly atmosphere at St Hugh's College.MygratitudegoestoAnnSmart,for herhelpandkindness duringmyfirstyear atStHugh's, andespeciallyto Joshua Getzler, who was my graduate tutor all along. They both made me feel quite at home. Thefinancial supportoftheBritish Councilduringmy first year at StHugh's, and oftheFundaciónAntorchas during my second and third years of graduate work in addition to a postdoctoral research fellowship, is also gratefully acknowledged. Any work in philosophy, especially one which is at the crossroads of the history of philosophy and contemporary philosophy, is bound to be heavily indebted to the work of many others. The footnotes throughout the book should acknowledge my many intellectual debts, especially to ix Aristotelian scholarship. But there is one study which requires special mention: Fred D. Miller, Jr.'s Nature, Justice, and Rights in Aristotle's Politics. Although it came out as my second year as a graduate student was well under way, I have learnedmuchfrom thestructureand contentofitsargumentfor theexistenceofrightsinAristotle.Whenitcomesto commentaries on the Politics, Eckart Schütrumpf's Aristoteles. Politik is a remarkable achievement, arguably head and shoulders above the rest. It is a pity that his fourth and last volume—on Books VII–VIII—is still in the pipeline. Although I am very fortunate to have many good friends, bothwithin and without the trade, I wouldparticularly like tothank thehelpand support ofthree ofmy colleagues: Jorge Dotti,Leiser Madanes, and BeatrizTrastoy. Just whatI owethemfor countless pizzas and barbecues has committedme to an irrevocablestatus of financial default. To all of them, my gratitude. I should single out nevertheless the encouragement I have received from Jorge Dotti, once my teacher and now a dear friend. My thanks to Carlos Strasser for his early guidance as I was cutting my scholarly teeth back in the early 1990s. Carlos Nino might also have been glad to hear of the existence of this book. And Gabriela Alonso, for her part, made me set the bar higher. Finally, I want to thank my OUP editor and assistant editor, Peter Momtchiloff and Jacqueline Baker, for their kindness and help, Nigel Hope, for his thorough copy-editing, and two OUP anonymous readers, for their helpful criticisms of and suggestions on the last-but-one version of the book. A. R. Buenos Aires July 2004