The Problems of a Political Animal

Disciplines Philosophy Social & Political Philosophy

About the Book

A bold new interpretation of Aristotelian thought is central to Bernard Yack's provocative new book. He shows that for Aristotle, community is a conflict-ridden fact of everyday life, as well as an ideal of social harmony and integration. From political justice and the rule of law to class struggle and moral conflict, Yack maintains that Aristotle intended to explain the conditions of everyday political life, not just, as most commentators assume, to represent the hypothetical achievements of an idealistic "best regime."

By showing how Aristotelian ideas can provide new insight into our own political life, Yack makes a valuable contribution to contemporary discourse and debate. His work will excite interest among a wide range of social, moral, and political theorists.

About the Author

Bernard Yack is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and author of The Longing for Total Revolution: Philosophic Sources of Social Discontent from Rousseau to Marx and Nietzsche (1986).

Reviews

"Yack does a marvelous job of disentangling Aristotle's thought from contemporary communitarianism and of demonstrating how for Aristotle conflict can coexist with community. . . . A well-written, bold book that flings open the doors and lets some sunlight into a very musty room."—William Galston, Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy

"An ingenious, provocative, exciting reinterpretation of Aristotle. . . . Yack's insights make this one of the most valuable things to appear on Aristotle's political thought in many years."—Harvey Goldman, author of Politics, Death and the Devil