What role do religious institutions play in Aristotle's ideal polis?
In <i>Metaphysics</i> Λ, Aristotle defines a god as an intellect thinking itself, which is an entity not concerned with human affairs. However, in the <i>Politics</i>, he takes the provision of worship to be a necessary element of any self-sufficient <i>polis</i>,...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2023
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| _version_ | 1817932330921099264 |
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| author | Bryk, F |
| author2 | Fait, P |
| author_facet | Fait, P Bryk, F |
| author_sort | Bryk, F |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | In <i>Metaphysics</i> Λ, Aristotle defines a god as an intellect thinking itself, which is an entity not concerned with human affairs. However, in the <i>Politics</i>, he takes the provision of worship to be a necessary element of any self-sufficient <i>polis</i>, including the ideal <i>polis</i>. This thesis aims to answer the question, what role do religious institutions play in the ideal <i>polis</i>? Aristotle finds that the Greek traditional religion encourages the faithful to obey the law of the <i>polis</i>, while ceremonies provide them with opportunities to form friendships and enjoy rest and leisure. But we have reasons against ascribing to him advocacy of a policy of maintaining a cult of gods responsive to human actions even though there are no such gods. Passages from the <i>Metaphysics</i> and the <i>Parts of Animals</i> render unlikely Mor Segev’s suggestion that, on Aristotle’s view, exposure to anthropomorphic depictions of gods might inspire one to inquire into and contemplate the true divine nature. Limiting religious practice in the ideal polis to the traditional cult, elements of which are present there, makes us unable to explain how the ideal <i>polis</i> promotes the human good. Finally, this thesis argues that Aristotle takes <i>theôria</i> to be a religious practice which the ideal <i>polis</i> aims to foster. Sarah Broadie’s case for taking <i>theôria</i> to be our religious duty is modified in order to answer an objection to her reading of the <i>theophilestatos</i> argument, and expanded with more textual evidence. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:52:34Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:287b03e4-bef1-4fe6-90ac-30432a8cc527 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-09T03:36:12Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:287b03e4-bef1-4fe6-90ac-30432a8cc5272024-12-01T19:47:33ZWhat role do religious institutions play in Aristotle's ideal polis?Thesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_bdccuuid:287b03e4-bef1-4fe6-90ac-30432a8cc527AristotleEnglishHyrax Deposit2023Bryk, FFait, PIn <i>Metaphysics</i> Λ, Aristotle defines a god as an intellect thinking itself, which is an entity not concerned with human affairs. However, in the <i>Politics</i>, he takes the provision of worship to be a necessary element of any self-sufficient <i>polis</i>, including the ideal <i>polis</i>. This thesis aims to answer the question, what role do religious institutions play in the ideal <i>polis</i>? Aristotle finds that the Greek traditional religion encourages the faithful to obey the law of the <i>polis</i>, while ceremonies provide them with opportunities to form friendships and enjoy rest and leisure. But we have reasons against ascribing to him advocacy of a policy of maintaining a cult of gods responsive to human actions even though there are no such gods. Passages from the <i>Metaphysics</i> and the <i>Parts of Animals</i> render unlikely Mor Segev’s suggestion that, on Aristotle’s view, exposure to anthropomorphic depictions of gods might inspire one to inquire into and contemplate the true divine nature. Limiting religious practice in the ideal polis to the traditional cult, elements of which are present there, makes us unable to explain how the ideal <i>polis</i> promotes the human good. Finally, this thesis argues that Aristotle takes <i>theôria</i> to be a religious practice which the ideal <i>polis</i> aims to foster. Sarah Broadie’s case for taking <i>theôria</i> to be our religious duty is modified in order to answer an objection to her reading of the <i>theophilestatos</i> argument, and expanded with more textual evidence. |
| spellingShingle | Aristotle Bryk, F What role do religious institutions play in Aristotle's ideal polis? |
| title | What role do religious institutions play in Aristotle's ideal polis? |
| title_full | What role do religious institutions play in Aristotle's ideal polis? |
| title_fullStr | What role do religious institutions play in Aristotle's ideal polis? |
| title_full_unstemmed | What role do religious institutions play in Aristotle's ideal polis? |
| title_short | What role do religious institutions play in Aristotle's ideal polis? |
| title_sort | what role do religious institutions play in aristotle s ideal polis |
| topic | Aristotle |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT brykf whatroledoreligiousinstitutionsplayinaristotlesidealpolis |