Ancient Wisdoms in Politics & Ethics

In looking up the etymology of the word politic I found some interesting works of Aristotle which may give some foundation for what we are doing here.

source: ... politic (adj.)

1427, from M.Fr. politique (14c.) "political," from L. politicus "of citizens or the state, civil, civic," from Gk. politikos "of citizens or the state," from polites "citizen," from polis "city" (see policy (1)). Replaced in most adj. senses by political (1551). The verb meaning "to engage in political activity" is first recorded 1917, a back-formation from politics.

... (essentially the Greek word for city of ancient)

At some point I may create the group threefold politics as distinguished from the group politics. However as a bookmark for the two works Ethics & Politics of Aristotle we have:

ta politika - the google now rare translation & notes (also a downloadable pdf)
ta ethika ( or Nichomachean Ethics) - here in Perseus edition

Two things stand out in perusal. First, the Ancient Greeks were not overwhelmed with the populations we have today on Earth & the speed & materialism of what goes on today. Second, a fractal version of the old or a modern structure might still be possible today. That is, neighborhood, city, county, state,region, country are in congruence differing only in size or scope.

An amazing number of books on interesting subjects were written by Aristotle:
Just do a google Aristotle books & see what you get.
Categories was one that showed up when I did . Some modern images of them show up when I do the search.

Comments

Mark de LA says

source: ... It has sometimes been said that Aristotle knows how we should act but not why. I don't think that is true. At bottom, he knows that life is simply choiceworthy. Without life, we have nothing. Virtuous actions are the ones that make something that is already choiceworthy, even better. Since life and pleasure are yoked together, and virtuous actions lead to objective pleasure in the success that they bring (given good fortune), it makes good sense to be virtuous.

...It is sad, but I'll bet that if you asked 100 people whether they ever considered such things as appear in the source article that none would say yes. Yet, such things go to the core of life. I asked in another item "What good is consciousness?". In the context of ethics & philosophy I ask here "What good is life?" . Shouldn't a threefold state at least ask that question once in a while?

Seth says

"What good is life?" is a strange question ... not sure i have ever heard it asked that way. Me thinks for the question to be complete it needs to have a direct object ... ie "to whom". I used to ask a different question: "What do i do this for?"

Mark de LA says

Well, I usually ask the question in contemplation & want to know the answer & then after a few things show up I may change the question if not tuned well. It is the process & not the answer which is of value.

Mark de LA says

A tangental goodie from Tai Shu pg 1982 is:

1982 - #21,5 70-10-2-14-9-28 Tue
"Note the present is always period of transition between the past & the future. As we go forward in time we do meet the Gods who travel in the opposite direction. The boundary exhibits the contours of our conscious being. Like this, background of philosophy which is more than an idle theory or speculation, which necessarily must be fitted into our thoughts if we are to solve properly the problems arising in our daily lives. Look around you & observe all the failures which must be counteracted by Divine intervention due to just this lack of philosophical & sound foundation among those who while in authority should be better equipped to know & mind their own business to lead!"

...

- CFR 1970

Ancient Wisdoms in Politics & Ethics

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