_Examines the implications of Aristotle’s political thought for contemporary political theory._.

This essay considers episodes in which phenomena like war and civil strife affected, changed, and revealed the identity of the polis. Even if framed by an understanding of the Peloponnesian War and the imperialistic logic and destiny of Athens, Thucydides' History still provides us with narratives that illuminate the particular history of “minor” poleis, each with its specific events, turning points, and dynamics. Through analysis of Thucydides' historical material, this essay focuses on Plataea, Corcyra, and Mytilene and discusses the notion (...) of the polis in relation to space and in the context of time, thereby testing Aristotle's question—too soon dismissed—about the separation of a community from the space of its city. (shrink)

This book completes the Clarendon Aristotle Series edition of the Politics. One might assume that, since David Keyt’s contribution is the last of the four on the Politics, when Aristotle scholars agreed to write these volumes, he was fourth in line and so got stuck with Politics V–VI. Surely, one might think, few would choose Politics V–VI over Politics I–II, with its fascinating discussions of the fundamental nature of the polis, the infamous chapters on slavery, and the critique of the (...) communism of Plato’s Republic; or over Politics VII–VIII, which contains Aristotle’s presentation of the best political system; or even over Politics III–IV, with its important classification and discussion of the different types of political systems. But in fact, Keyt had been thinking about writing a commentary on Politics V–VI for some time: “The idea of writing a commentary on Aristotle’s study of faction and constitutional change was formed in the late 1960s during the period of political unrest in the United States connected with the Vietnam War. In the summer of 1971 I discussed the possibility of doing this volume in the Clarendon Aristotle Series with John Ackrill”. We can be happy that Keyt and Ackrill returned, over two decades later, to the idea of such a commentary, because the result is an excellent addition to the Clarendon Aristotle Series. (shrink)

The editors comment that the core of this book is formed by the papers presented as a special session at the Ninth International Congress of Medieval Philosophy, honoring Norman Kretzmann’s contribution to the study of medieval philosophy. They decided to publish these papers with other essays devoted to issues in Aquinas’s moral theory specially commissioned from a group of Kretzmann’s colleagues, friends, and former students. The book, consisting of ten essays and a list of Kretzmann’s publications on Aquinas, is dedicated (...) to Kretzmann, who died just months before the volume appeared. (shrink)