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Single Idea 2803
[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / a. Human distinctiveness
]
Full Idea
Man is by nature a political animal.
Gist of Idea
Man is by nature a political animal
Source
Aristotle (Politics [c.332 BCE], 1253a01)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Politics', ed/tr. Sinclair,T.A. /Saunders,T. [Penguin 1992], p.59
A Reaction
It might be clearer if we said 'social animal'. We are certainly gregarious. Anyone who fails to be social is dismissed by Aristotle as not truly human.
Related Ideas
Idea 21435
Man is both social, and unsociable [Kant]
Idea 2820
People want to live together, even when they don't want mutual help [Aristotle]
The
23 ideas
with the same theme
[what distinguishes humanity from other animals]:
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7506
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God made man in his own image
[Anon (Tor)]
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5245
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Society collapses if people cannot rely on exchanging good for good and evil for evil
[Aristotle]
|
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5265
|
Even more than a social being, man is a pairing and family being
[Aristotle]
|
|
2803
|
Man is by nature a political animal
[Aristotle]
|
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2820
|
People want to live together, even when they don't want mutual help
[Aristotle]
|
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22586
|
Only humans have reason
[Aristotle]
|
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12281
|
Man is intrinsically a civilized animal
[Aristotle]
|
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21396
|
Man is distinguished by knowing conditional truths, because impressions are connected
[Stoic school, by Long]
|
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3065
|
Humans are naturally made for co-operation
[Aurelius]
|
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4855
|
If people are obedient to reason, they will live in harmony
[Spinoza]
|
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19756
|
Humans are less distinguished from other animals by understanding, than by being free agents
[Rousseau]
|
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21412
|
Humans are distinguished from animals by their capacity to set themselves any sort of end
[Kant]
|
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21435
|
Man is both social, and unsociable
[Kant]
|
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6934
|
Man is not a particular being, like animals, but a universal being
[Feuerbach]
|
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6936
|
The essence of man is in community, but with distinct individuals
[Feuerbach]
|
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5275
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Men distinguish themselves from animals when they begin to produce their means of subsistence
[Marx/Engels]
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5292
|
Individuals are mutually hostile unless they group together in competition with other groups
[Marx/Engels]
|
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21992
|
Producing their own subsistence distinguishes men from animals
[Marx/Engels]
|
|
7166
|
Man is above all a judging animal
[Nietzsche]
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20740
|
Maybe humans are distinguished from other animals by feelings, rather than reason
[Unamuno]
|
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2558
|
Since Hegel we have tended to see a human as merely animal if it is outside a society
[Rorty]
|
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4365
|
We are distinct from other animals in behaving rationally - pursuing something as good, for reasons
[Hursthouse]
|
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20356
|
Humans dominate because, unlike other animals, they have a synthesis of conflicting drives
[Richardson]
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