Aristotle and the Rediscovery of Citizenship

Aristotle and the Rediscovery of Citizenship confronts a question that is central to Aristotle’s political philosophy as well as to contemporary political theory: what is a citizen? Answers prove to be elusive, in part because late twentieth-century critiques of the Enlightenment called into doubt fundamental tenets that once guided us. Engaging the two major works of Aristotle’s political philosophy, his Nicomachean Ethics and his Politics, Susan D. Collins poses questions that current discussions of liberal citizenship do not adequately address. Drawing a path from contemporary disputes to Aristotle, she examines in detail his complex presentations of moral virtue, civic education, and law; his view of the aims and limits of the political community; and his treatment of the connection between citizenship and the human good. Collins thereby shows how Aristotle continues to be an indispensable source of enlightenment, as he has been for political and religious traditions of the past.

• Comprehensive treatment of Aristotle on citizenship, bringing together his two major works of political philosophy • Careful and in-depth analyses of contemporary thinkers on citizenship, including John Rawls, Richard Rorty, Michael Sandel and Peter Berkowitz • Sheds light on two questions of Aristotle’s thought and contemporary debate: the relation between justice and the good, and the nature of civic education

Introduction: the rediscovery of citizenship; 1. Liberal citizenship and Aristotle’s Ethics; 2. Citizen virtue and the longing for the noble; 3. Justice as virtue; 4. Prudence, the good citizen, and the good life; 5. Citizenship and the limits of law; 6. Political wit and enlightenment; Conclusion: Aristotle and the rediscovery of citizenship.