Aristotle on Group Agency

Segev, Mor

doi:10.2307/44983509

Cited by 2 publications

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“…As Lockwood and others have argued in detail, Aristotle described the polis as a collective agent capable of action. A polis , for Aristotle, can be happy and have virtues and vices; importantly, it has a life ( bios ), but it does not have a soul (Lockwood 2019, 19−23; Morrison 2017; Segev 2017). Indeed, Greek poleis often expressed consensus in collective decision‐making by announcing that a certain action seemed good to the demos ( edoxe tōi dēmōi ), understood as a collective agent (Cammack 2020, 21).…”

Section: Phantasia and The (Im)possibility Of Collective Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike our composite “monster,” real individuals cannot share in the same phantasia . A city, as noted above, has a life but does not have a soul (Lockwood 2019, 19, 22; Morrison 2017; Segev 2017). This means that the unity of phantasia must occur at the level of individual souls.…”

Section: Phantasia and The (Im)possibility Of Collective Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1295a35-b1, 1323b30-6). SeeSegev (2017),Lockwood (2019), andMorrison (2017).3 The literature on Pol. III.11 includesWaldron (1995),Bouchard (2011), Ober (2013,Lane (2013),Cammack (2013a),Bobonich (2015),Schwartzberg (2016),Girard (2019),Narbonne (2020),Anagnostopoulos (2021), and Hatzistavrou (2021), among others.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Political Phantasies: Aristotle on Imagination and Collective Action

Schwartz

2022

American J Political Sci

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This article provides a new account of the role of phantasia, imagination, in Aristotle's political thought. Phantasia plays a key role in Aristotle's psychology and is crucial for explaining any kind of movement and action. I argue that this insight holds for collective actions as well. By offering a reconsideration of the famous “Wisdom of the Multitude” passage, this article shows that the capacity of a multitude to act together is tied to its ability to share a collective phantasma: a mental representation of the practical end or goal of their collective effort as good and thus worthy of pursuit. However, I argue that given the subjective nature of phantasia, acting together can be hard. I conclude that since one's phantasia is shaped by one's moral character, a community can achieve a shared phantasma—and thus secure collective action—by means of persuasion, habituation, and education.

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Section: Phantasia and The (Im)possibility Of Collective Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Phantasia and The (Im)possibility Of Collective Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Political Phantasies: Aristotle on Imagination and Collective Action

Schwartz

2022

American J Political Sci

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Contemplation and Society in Plato and Aristotle

Scott

2024

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This Element concerns the civic value of contemplation in Plato and Aristotle: how does intellectual contemplation contribute to the happiness of the ideal state? The texts discussed include the Republic, the Nicomachean Ethics and the Politics, works in which contemplation is viewed from a political angle. The Element concludes that in the Republic contemplation has purely instrumental value, whereas in the Politics and Nicomachean Ethics it has purely intrinsic value. To do justice to the complexity of the issues involved, the author addresses a broader question about the nature of civic happiness: whether it is merely the aggregate of individual happiness or an organic quality that arises from the structure of the state. Answering this question has implications for how contemplation contributes to civic happiness. The Element also discusses how many citizens Plato and Aristotle expected to be engaged in contemplation in the ideal state.

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Aristotle on Group Agency

Cited by 2 publications

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Political Phantasies: Aristotle on Imagination and Collective Action

Political Phantasies: Aristotle on Imagination and Collective Action

Contemplation and Society in Plato and Aristotle

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