Full Idea
Man is by his nature a pairing rather than a social creature, inasmuch as the family is an older and more necessary thing than the state.
Gist of Idea
Even more than a social being, man is a pairing and family being
Source
Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1162a20)
Book Reference
Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.280
A Reaction
Cf. Idea 5133. It seems that the family fulfils the most basic human function, but that political life arises from the next level of function, which is a combination of friendship and the wider needs of a family.
Related Idea
Idea 5133 Man is by nature a social being [Aristotle]