Zoon politikon

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Zoon politikon ( ancient Greek ζῷον πολιτικόν , living things in the polis ' community ) is on the one hand a philosophical Fachterminus other hand, the expression is as foreign word received in the German language. Both variants deal with a determination of the essence of the human being, as presented by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle in particular in his politics .

For the foreign word zoon politikon , the Duden names the meaning “man as a social, political being”. The philosophical technical term is dealt with below. It should be noted that in research it is controversial how Aristotle meant the expression. According to one group of researchers (e.g. Wolfgang Kullmann ), it means that the human being is a social , community- based and community-building creature. Another group of researchers (e.g. Eckart Schütrumpf), on the other hand, emphasizes the human capacity for politics.

The closest genetic relatives of humans live in highly social communities, but due to their less developed consciousness and lack of language skills, they were unable to make political agreements with foreign groups. Local crises of existence (overpopulation; lack of opportunities to emigrate ) lead to the outbreak of war-like behavior. In considering this extreme of instinctive territoriality, the primate researcher Frans de Waal points out that the formation of military superstructures or superstructures that cooperate for the purpose of trade is a species-specific peculiarity of Homo sapiens .

The ability of the human spirit to achieve this cultural achievement is based on the Greek polis, insofar as each of these city-states consisted of at least two hierarchically positioned communities. The Greek myths also point to the merits of concluding treaties, contrasted by the negative consequences of failure in this regard: see Zeus' party with that of the Titans Prometheus and Epimetheus. Both formed a political alliance, but they came into conflict (among other things about the fair distribution of food), which led to a breach of contract by the Titans and the execution of sentences: on the one hand through the creation of Pandora , on the other hand through Prometheus' exile.

Approaches of the Zoon politikon in Plato

Against the background of these stories, which were considered history at the time, in which Politeia u. U. going back even further to the war of Ionia with the legendary alliance of Atlantis , Plato describes man in his works Politikos and Phaedrus as being inherently dual. Due to his physical constitution he is anchored in the worldly and demonic (the bad thing about horses in the ambiguous chariot), while his metaphysical-divine origin gives him the opportunity to develop the cardinal virtues . Through this process man can perfect himself and form social communities. In the statesman man is perfected as a being who emulates the example of the gods. Just as Zeus, as a good shepherd, cares for the world, the statesman cares for people by uniting their individuals who are otherwise at war or who are alienated from one another into states.

The highest task of the statesman is philosophizing (striving for knowledge of the truth) and the legislation with which the state comes into being and which ensures its continuity. Through educational support, people develop their abilities from childhood ( underground , predestined to four classes before birth) and become aware of their appropriate place in the political community. Education binds citizens to the law and thus to each other. The statesman as the philosopher ruler discusses and articulates the beautiful, the just and the good as well as their deviations (down to the tyrannical soul), whereby he gives people the opportunity to improve themselves and / or to take prophylactic measures if necessary .

The cause for man as a political being lies in the duality of human existence: The physical part of his nature makes it necessary to take care of his own existence, while his origin from the divine / metaphysical enables him to actually comply with it . The individual (stateless person) cannot assert himself against the injustices of nature.

Zoon politikon at Aristotle

The conception of the Zoon politikon is based on the Aristotelian conception of teleology . The telos inherent in every thing describes its purpose and the way to its perfection. In relation to the zoon politikon, the telos is the achievement of the “good life” that can only be realized in the polis . The telos is naturally implanted in every human being, which is why he is determined to form states . However, Aristotle rejects any determination of the telos development of the individual zoon politikon.

“Just as the whole tree is predisposed in the seed, the state is predisposed in man.” Accordingly, the state already exists on a metaphysical level during the state of nature and is formed by the fact that the zoon politikon develops and realizes its telos.

With Aristotle, the will to form states is justified by the will to live, because despite all the suffering in life, man hopes for happiness and friends. The prerequisite for the formation of states is the possession of logos , with the help of which humans as linguistically gifted and rational living beings ( zōon logon echon ) can name good / just and bad / unjust. The ability to “name” includes cognitive ability and the ability to speak, through which humans (in addition to their lifespan, the upright gait and the asymmetry of the halves) distinguish themselves from animals.

For Christof Rapp , the formula of the political nature of human beings means "that through the need for cooperation, through the striving for self-sufficiency and through the linguistic communication skills, human beings can best realize their natural talents within the framework of a legally regulated community, the state."

The conception of man as a zoon politikon receives a certain clarification by Aristotle himself, when he explains: “The love between man and woman exists according to nature. Because the human being is by nature more oriented towards the couple relationship ( zoon syndyastikón , literally “a living being intended for a community of two”) than towards the polis. In this respect, the household is older and more necessary than the polis. "

literature

  • Otfried Höffe : zôon politikon. In: ders. (Ed.): Aristoteles-Lexikon (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 459). Kröner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-520-45901-9 .
  • Wolfgang Kullmann: The human being as a political living being in Aristotle . In: Hermes 108 (1980), pp. 419-443.
  • Wolfgang Kullmann: Aristotle and modern science , Steiner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-06620-9 , pp. 334–363.
  • Fleischer, Margot: Hermeneutische Anthropologie , Berlin-New York 1976.

Individual evidence

  1. Aristot. Pole. 1253a1-11
  2. Duden online Zoon politikon . Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  3. See e.g. B. Karen Piepenbrink : Concepts of political order in the Attic democracy of the fourth century BC A comparative study of the philosophical and rhetorical discourse , Steiner, Stuttgart 2001 ISBN 3-515-07848-7 . Pp. 59-61.
  4. Territorial behavior . Retrieved July 12, 2019 .
  5. Philip Bethgen, Rafaela von Bredow :: Hippie or killer monkey? In: Spiegel Online . tape 34 , August 21, 2006 ( spiegel.de [accessed July 1, 2019]).
  6. Fleischer, Margot .: Hermeneutic Anthropology: Plato, Aristoteles . De Gruyter, Berlin 1976, ISBN 3-11-006714-5 .
  7. Christof Rapp: Aristotle for an introduction, Junius-Verlag, Hamburg 2001, p. 55.
  8. Nicomachean Ethics 1162 a