what was aristotles view on human nature?

we are reading excerpts of "the politics" in my political theory class, and i am having a little trouble understanding them.

?2009-04-26T00:21:01Z

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Aristotle's main premise in the politics is that humans are NATURALLY political animals. This is different approach than other political theorists, and social contract theorists, many who claim that we enter the contract because of protection, or because we are generally dependant upon each other.

Aristotle's view is unique because he thinks we are politically not because of any of those other reasons, we just generally gravitate towards each other, for whatever reason it may be. Man is by nature a political animal.

Also, people have a telos. Telos is the main virtue of something. For example, the telos of a pen is to write, or the telos of sugar is sweetness. In this regard, the telos of human's is rationality.

Also, in terms of his ethics, he felt that the highest form of life, and the highest pursuit of life, was that of politics.

Anonymous2016-11-15T11:18:45Z

Aristotle Human Nature

Anonymous2016-04-02T09:16:30Z

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Plato's most famous student made some of the most famous and influential statements about human nature. * Man is a' conjugal animal (Nicomachean Ethics), meaning an animal which is born to couple when an adult, thus building a household (oikos) and in more successful cases, a clan or small village still run upon patriarchal lines. * Man is a political animal (Politics), meaning an animal with an innate propensity to develop complex communities the size of a city or town (see division of labor). As a political animal, in contrast to his family and clan life, man thrives in his rationality - most fully in the making of laws and traditions. * Man is a mimetic animal (Poetics). In this case, Aristotle emphasizes human reason in its purest form. Man loves to use his imagination, and not only to make laws and run town councils. It is clear that for Aristotle, reason is not only what is most odd about humanity, but it is also what we were meant to achieve at his or her best. Much of Aristotle's position is still very much worth considering, but it should be mentioned that the idea that human nature was "meant" or intended to be something, has become much less popular in modern times.

Kristina2016-03-17T12:42:57Z

The Bible teaches that people are tripartite [1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12]: consisting of a body, soul and spirit [Isaiah 10:18; Matthew 10:28; Luke1:46,47;Ephesians 2:1]. The soul is made up of the mind, emotions and the will [Job 26:4; Psalm 86:4; 139:14; Song of Solomon 1:7; Lamentations 3:20; 1 Corinthians 14:14]. When Adam fell his spirit became deadened, insulated from God and lost its functions toward God [Ephesians 2:1]; and the conscience (God-centered morality and ethics) became defiled [Hebrews 10:22].

?2009-04-25T21:06:34Z

Born in Thrace 384 BC Aristotle was a student of Plato. He studied everything related to the aspect of the human nature. His studies today would be considered to as inductive reasoning's; observing as many examples as possible and then working out the underlying principles. Inadvertently inductive reasoning is the foundation of the Western scientific method of today. A larger contribution towards human nature has not yet been acknowledged.

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