Aristotle's Politics

Please join us as we slow-read the whole of Aristotle's Politics, spending two weeks on each book (and combining 7 and 8 for this purpose). Prior knowledge of ancient Greek is not necessary, although we will have the original on hand and will be discussing the meanings of the various Greek terms as we go. This will be a truly communal scholarly journey, featuring two faculty as lead teachers but drawing on other theory faculty and graduate students as equal collaborators. Theory grads in their first and second years are particularly encouraged to attend, but all graduates with an interest in theory in our department and other proximate ones are welcome. Topics of interest to include the polis (city-state), oikos (household), freedom, slavery, Aristotle's interpretation of Plato, citizenship, democracy, oligarchy, Aristotle's ideal political system, the political implications of economic disparity, and how to think about (and potentially avoid) political revolution.