POLITICS OF ARISTOTLE

(Wang) #1
26 A RZSTO TLE 'S POLITICS.
blir mjv rpo+jv, r& 8' dyphu, ri pj wha, &Ah rd ys &iura rjs r&jr
mi ~UI)F fi&as IUCK~U, ';a xal idjs xai ma 8pya yivar it air9u.
Aristotle is tracing the design of nature in the creation of
animals and plants, first at their birth, secondly at their maturity.
She has provided food taken from the parents in various forms for
the young of animals at or about the time of their birth, and, after
they are born, she has provided one to sustain the other, plants for
the sake of animals, animals for the sake of man. The principle
that the lower exist for the sake of the higher is deeply rooted in
the philosophy of' Aristotle. The belief that the animals are
intended for his use is natural to man because he actually uses a
small part of them. Yet Plato would remind us (Politicus 263 D)
that 'a crane or some other intelligent animal' would have a
different account to give of the matter.
Compare Butler, Analogy, Pt. I., ch. vii. : ' It is highly probable,
that the natural world is formed and carried on merely in sub-
serviency to the moral, as the vegetable world is for the animal,
and organized bodies for minds.' Yet how far the idea of design
is applicable to nature, how far we can argue from a fact to an
intention, and how far such a conception, whether in ancient or
modern times, has enlightened or has blinded the minds of philo-
sophical enquirers,-are quostions not easily determined.
The opposition is between the young of animals before and
after birth, answering imperfectly to rard T+ lrphqv Y~UCO~U, and
tWs Kai rtXrrdciur: the first is illustrated in $ IO, the second in
8 11. There is no necessity for omitting (with Gottling and
Bernays) yrropivorr, which is found with a slight variation, yrvo-
fiivors, in all MSS. and confirmed by Moerbeke who has 'genitis.'
For the use of ytuo~uorr='after they are born' cp. Nic. Eth.
viii. 12. 5 5, TO; ybp Juur Kai rpagjuar airlor (SC. oi yourLs) ra] ycvolr;~orr
zoi mulku8;)uar.

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  1. I 1. y&p &pm~j pipor ays (SC. 6s vohrpdp).
    Cp. Plat. Soph. 222 C, where hunting is the genus of which
    war is a species: and Laveleye (Primitive Property, c. 7, p. 100,
    English trans.), who speaks of the warlike character of hunting
    gibes, citing this passage.

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