Biological Perspectives on Political Animals in Aristotle

Since the second half of the last century, there has been an increasing interest in Aristotle’s biological works. This interest has led to a “biological turn” in Aristotelian studies, which has resulted in a reevaluation of his theory of science and in a substitution of the question of classification with that of definition. Today, there is high quality literature on the relation between the Metaphysics, the Analytics, and Aristotle’s biological writings. The “biological turn” in Aristotelian studies has also created a similar effect on works on his Politics: every change in the theory of animals has produced a change in the theory of political animals. Researches in this domain prove to be very productive and show rapid development. This is why we believe that this is a favorable time for devoting a conference to the Politics, and for discussing the effects of the “biological turn” on the famous Aristotelian formula that “human being is a political animal by nature.”