Date of Award

Fall 2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

Garsten, Bryan

Abstract

This dissertation explores and defends an Aristotelian theory of the state, which I argue should replace the Weberian understanding of the state that dominates social science. Elaborating on Aristotle’s insights, I understand the state as an association with the twin goals of creating a public realm where honor (understood as the recognition of striving to live a life worth remembering) exists and exercising a type of authority which has as its standard non-domination (I call this kind of authority “republican rule”). Apart from these twin goals, the state is built upon a self-sufficient association. I propose this as an alternative to the Weberian understanding of the state where the state is the institution that has the monopoly of legitimate violence.While the second part of the dissertation explores the central concepts of the Aristotelian theory of the state (specifically what is the common good, honor, and republican rule), the first part of the dissertation serves as a foundation for the theory of the state by providing an exegetical analysis of Aristotle’s political and moral thought. Specifically, how magnificence is polis-facing because of its being excellence of effect (while generosity is excellence of possession), how Aristotle proposes four kinds of arche (rule) each of which is present in the polis and in the household and can be used or abused, and how the solution to the collapse problem of the good regime into the bad regime means Aristotle uses the term “polis” to make reference to three entities.

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