Meaning of Man is a political animal

What does Man is a political animal mean:

"Man is a political animal" is a phrase from Aristotle. It means that man differs from animals, among other things, because he lives in politically organized societies, in whose public affairs he participates to a greater or lesser extent, with the aim of achieving the common good: the happiness of citizens.

In the original Greek, Aristotle referred to man as a ζῷον πoλιτικόν (zôion politikón), where ζῷον means ‘animal’, and πoλιτικόν can be translated as ‘political’: political animal.

This statement, as such, is key in Aristotle's philosophical thought, since it states that man cannot be conceived outside of his relationship with the state in his capacity as a citizen.

The phrase appears in the Politics, a treatise where Aristotle establishes the foundations of the political philosophy of Western thought and where addresses some fundamental aspects of politics, understood as a form of organization and regulation of the society.

Phrase analysis

Aristotle, in his treatise on politics, described man as a "political animal." To answer why the Greek philosopher posed it in these terms and what he wanted to mean by it, we must carefully analyze this statement.

Let us consider, firstly, that he proposes man within the category of animals, with which he, in effect, shares other characteristics. Man, for example, is a gregarious, social being, that he lives in communities (the first: the family), associating with other individuals or groups of individuals (families, clans) based on common objectives: survival, protection, food, procreation.

However, man differs from animal in different respects. Man speaks, that is, he can communicate at different levels of complexity with his peers, which, in his Once, it means that he needs others to communicate, express his feelings, emotions and thoughts.

For Aristotle, then, man is a social being by nature, that he cannot live isolated and without social contact; a lonely man could only be a superior being (god, hero) or inferior to man (beast), but never the same.

See also Man is a social being by nature.

Man is also a rational being, with the ability to think, reflect, discern, be aware of his existence and that of his peers, and as a rational being he can distinguish the good from the bad, the virtuous from the immoral, the positive from the negative. Reason, in this sense, pushes man to seek what is just, what is virtuous, what is good, in short: happiness. But for this, to be fully formed and fulfilled, man needs others, that is, man needs to live in society.

See also Man is a rational animal.

Therefore, man is a social and rational being. But life in society, the coexistence of various social groups in a space of coexistence, naturally generates friction, conflicts of interest, problems of various kinds. For this reason, societies need regulations (rules, norms, laws, principles, values) that alleviate the difficulties inherent in all coexistence and that ensure a harmonious coexistence where values ​​such as justice, respect, tolerance and solidarity.

The creation of this entire system of norms to regulate and organize coexistence supposes the creation of forms of organization of life in the city (unit supreme politics, according to Aristotle), where man must participate to a greater or lesser extent by the simple fact of being part of an organized society of this kind. way. The participation of men in the public affairs of the government and the State is called politics. Politics is a branch of morality that deals with the activities through which a society solves the problems posed by its coexistence.

Thus, because man is a social and rational animal, inescapably immersed in the affairs of the polis or the city-state due to his status as a citizen (from which were excluded, in Ancient Greece, men under 21 years of age, slaves, women, children and foreigners), for this reason man is also a political animal, who participates in the organization of society and in the solving his problems, in the application of laws and justice, and in the achievement of the highest common good, which is happiness of the citizen.

About Aristotle

Aristotle he is one of the most important philosophers of all time. His ideas on metaphysics, logic, politics, rhetoric, aesthetics, physics, astronomy, and Biology have exerted enormous influence on Western thought and their influence can be traced back to the Present.

Aristotle was born in the year 384 BC. de C., in the city of Estagira (hence it is also known as "the Estagirita"), belonging to the Kingdom of Macedonia, and died in 322 BC. by C. He was a disciple of Plato and teacher of Alejando Magno. He was the author of hundreds of tracts, of which only 31 of them have survived. Among the best known are the Ethics, the Politics, the Metaphysics and the Poetics, among others.

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