This dissertation re-examines a set of long-standing problems that arise from Aristotle’s defense of kingship in the Politics. Scholars have argued for over a century that Aristotle’s endorsement of sole rule by an individual of outstanding excellence is incompatible with his theory of distributive justice and his very conception of a political community. Previous attempts to resolve this apparent contradiction have failed to ease the deeper tensions between the idea of the polis as a community of free and equal citizens sharing in ruling and being ruled and the vision of absolute kingship in which one man rules over others who are merely ruled. I argue that the so-called “paradox of monarchy” emerges from misconceptions and insufficiently nuanced interpretations of kingship itself and of the more fundamental concepts of community, rule, authority, and citizenship. Properly understood, Aristotelian kingship is not a form of government that concentrates power in the hands of a single individual, but an arrangement in which free citizens willingly invest that individual with a position of supreme authority without themselves ceasing to share in rule. Rather than a muddled appendage tacked on to the Politics out of deference to Macedon or an uncritical adoption of Platonic utopianism, Aristotle’s defense of kingship is a piece of ideal theory that serves in part to undermine the pretensions of actual or would-be monarchs, whether warrior- or philosopher-kings. / text

This dissertation uses the history of political thought to shed light on the disconnect between the prominent place of judgments about the character in American democratic life, and the marginalized place of those judgments in contemporary democratic theory. By tracing the origins of that disconnect back into the history of political philosophy, and by locating an alternative approach to questions of character in the political and ethical writings of Aristotle, the dissertation brings out important connections between contemporary democratic theory and key developments in the history of ideas, and it recovers an ancient account of character that turns out still to be relevant to the dynamics of modern citizenship. The dissertation begins by showing how character is key to Aristotle‘s distinction between "correct" and "deviant" regimes in the Politics: not only are correct regimes distinguished by the character of those who rule, but the distinguishing feature of citizen-rulers in more correct regimes turns out to be their ability to appreciate what is excellent in the character of their fellow citizens. I then trace the decline of Aristotle‘s approach in the work of Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, and Kant, showing how Machiavelli‘s famously unsettling account of the relationship between moral goodness, political leadership, and popular government made its way into the foundations of later democratic theory. Finally, I return to Aristotle, showing how his treatment of philia or "friendship" in his ethical writings provides an important prelude to the ideas from the Politics we will already have considered. By taking into account both the high and often noble aspirations that inform considerations of character but also their potential to derail into disenchantment or dangerous ill-will, Aristotle‘s approach offers a theory capable of engaging directly with both the promise and the pitfalls of character judgments in democratic life. / Government

Part One defends the thesis, first advanced by Aristotle, that the conclusion of practical reasoning is an action, and argues for its philosophical significance. Opposition to the thesis rests on a contestable way of distinguishing between acts and contents of reasoning and on a picture of normative principles as external to the actions that fall under them. The resulting view forces us to choose between the efficacious, world-changing character of practical thought and its subjection to objective rational standards. This is a false choice. Aristotle's own understanding of the thesis points the way to an alternative conception of practical reason on which it is at once a power to effect changes in the world and to get things right. Practical reasoning endows the action performed on its basis with a principle that is not imposed on it from outside: instead, it makes the action what it is. Properly understood in terms of the relevant acts of a rational subject, the thesis is defensible and philosophically attractive. Furthermore, it helps us understand the continuity and discontinuity that exists between the motions of human beings and those of other animals, as Aristotle showed. / Philosophy

The starting point of the dissertation is a special kind of intentional action -- Aristotelian praxis, or, in a more metaphysical register, energeia -- a kind whose agent's intention in acting must be expressible as the deliverance of one's prohairesis (``deliberate choice''), action that is the embodiment of one's conception of eupraxia (``acting well''), and, equivalently, of eudaimonia (``happiness''). It is special, since not all that we intentionally do can be intelligibly expressed as the deliverance of our conceptions of acting well. Recognition of the gaps between action in general and intentional action more specifically, and between intentional action and prohairetic action, sets the stage for a reinterpretation, not only of core aspects of Aristotle's Ethics, but also of central features of Aristotle's political recommendations. The interpretation defended here centers on the claim that, for Aristotle, defective political communities are often marked, not so much by an erroneous conception of human virtue, but by defective forms of action, forms in which agents fail to apply certain concepts to what they do. Importantly, such failures do not hang on the different failure to apply concepts correctly: the failure to act prohairetically need not come to the failure to grasp the correct conception of human virtue or of human happiness. / Government

Ἡ παροῦσα μελέτη ἀποτελεῖ διπλωματική ἐργασία στό Τμῆμα Φιλοσοφίας τοῦ Πανεπιστημίου Πατρῶν. Μέ αὐτή θά ἀποπειραθοῦμε νά ἀναλύσουμε μέρος ἑνός ἀπό τά ἔργα τοῦ σπουδαιότερου, ἴσως, ἀρχαίου Ἕλληνα φιλοσόφου, τοῦ Ἀριστοτέλη. Πρόκειται γιά τό ἔργο «Φυσικῆς Ἀκροάσεως Α΄» καί συγκεκριμένα γιά τά κεφάλαια 6, 7, 8 καί 9 τοῦ ἔργου. Τά παραπάνω κεφάλαια τοῦ Ἀριστοτελικοῦ ἔργου παρουσιάζονται καί ἀναλύονται σέ ἀντίστοιχα κεφάλαια αὐτῆς τῆς ἐργασίας. Προτάσσεται γενική εἰσαγωγή, στήν ὁποία παρουσιάζεται συνοπτικά τό περιεχόμενο τῆς ἐργασίας καί ἀναφέρονται κάποια βασικά βιογραφικά στοιχεῖα τοῦ μεγάλου πανεπιστήμονα φιλοσόφου, τό ἔργο τοῦ ὁποίου κατέχει ἐξέχουσα θέση στήν παγκόσμια φιλοσοφία καί ἐπιστήμη. Ἀπό τή θέση αὐτή ἐκφράζω τίς θερμές εὐχαριστίες μου στόν ἐπιβλέποντα κ. Στασινό Σταυριανέα, Λέκτορα τοῦ Τμήματος Φιλοσοφίας τοῦ Πανεπιστημίου Πατρῶν, τόσο γιά τή βοήθειά του στήν ἐπιλογή τοῦ θέματος, ὅσο καί γιά τήν πολύτιμη καθοδηγησή του στήν πορεία τῆς ἐργασίας, καθώς καί ὅλους ὅσοι μέ κάθε τρόπο μέ βοήθησαν ἤ μέ διευκόλυναν στήν ὁλοκλήρωση αὐτῆς τῆς ἐργασίας. / This study consists dissertations in section Philosophy, University of Patras. With that attempts at analysis by one of his works, perhaps most importantly, Ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle. The project is called "Natural Hearing A΄" and specifically on chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the project. The above chapters Aristotle work presented and analyzed in respective chapters of this work. Preceded by a general introduction which summarizes the content of work and specifying some basic biographical information on major universities philosopher, whose work occupies a prominent position in world philosophy and science. From this position I express my warmest thanks to Supervisor Mr. Stasinos Stavrianeas, Lecturer of the Department of Philosophy, University of Patras, both for his help in choosing the subject and for valuable guidance in the course of work, and all those who in any way helped or by facilitated Consummation this work.

Aristotle’s articulation of a correct state is inherently socially hierarchical. This has led many scholars to view the functionalist approach as being at odds with the inherent equality of persons that is taken for granted in contemporary political theory. My thesis therefore aims to offer a defence of functionalist theory, demonstrating that it can be formulated to respect the functioning of every individual. In Chapter 1, I examine the key Aristotelian concept of natural justice. In order to draw out the subtleties of natural justice, I compare it with Cicero’s articulation of natural law. In Chapter 2, I compare and contrast Martha Nussbaum’s and Aristotle’s articulations of political philosophy. In Chapter 3, I examine the Aristotelian notion of friendship by considering the work of Cooper and Bentley. I argue against most contemporary theorists that Aristotle’s basic understanding of human relationships is altruistic. / Graduate / 0422

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-209). / Microfiche. / vii, 209 leaves, bound 29 cm

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-106). / vi, 106 leaves, bound 29 cm

Studies in acoustics, in so far as sound and hearing are concerned, are evident from the middle of the 5th century B.C. in ancient Greece. The earliest extant works originated in Tarentum with Archytas, after which the fundamentals were developed in Athens, particularly by Aristotle. Aristotle�s writings represent the transition from rudimentary hypothesising to true philosophical argument, and display accuracies missing from earlier studies. This study examines incipient acoustic theories from classical Greece, diachronically, presenting original translations of all relevant passages, to illustrate the development of fundamental consideration and the origins of acoustic science. 5th and 4th century texts are examined in detail, with questions of authenticity being answered where necessary, to decipher the true level and depth of knowledge on the subjects of sound and hearing. Extant Archytean material is paradigmatic, containing the nucleus of sound production underlying most models to follow, whilst relevant Platonic material embraces more difficult sound qualities, raising important questions for successors. The larger portion of this work centres upon the writings of Aristotle, whilst illustrating the debt he owes to his predecessors. Each aspect of sound and hearing is discussed in turn, based predominantly, though not exclusively, upon information sourced from Aristotle�s De Sensu and De Anima. Where pertinent, attention is given to his discussions of the full range of senses and sense organs. The result is a self-contained work tracing the origins and development of acoustic study from its fundamental beginnings to the critical point when the essential elements of a nascent science were in place and the door was opened for future enhancement and scientific verification.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2007. / Title from title screen (viewed 28 March 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts. Degree awarded 2007; thesis submitted 2006. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.