CHAPTER VI.
Aristotle’s ‘Politics.’
The ‘Ethics’ of Aristotle end with the words, “Let us then commence our ‘Politics.’” He had described virtue and happiness, but neither of these, he says,[1] is attainable by any human being apart from society. Moral development and the full enjoyment of the exercise of our powers equally demand certain external conditions; they cannot exist save by the aid of a settled community, social habits, the restraint and protection of laws, and even a wisely regulated system of public education. Man is by nature a social creature; he cannot isolate himself without becoming either more or less than man—“either a god or a beast.” The state is, therefore, a prime necessity for the “well-doing and well-being” of the individual. In fact, says Aristotle,[2] you cannot form any conception of man in his normal condition—that is to say, in a civilised condition—except as a member of a state. On these grounds Aristotle proposed to go on to the writing of his ‘Politics’ as the complement and conclusion of his ethical treatise. But some time probably elapsed before the design was
