Political Science · Western Political Thought
UGC NET July 2018 Political Science
Who among the following said that in order of time state is latter than the family or the individual, but in order of nature, prior to them?
ACephalus
BThrasymachus
CAristotle ✓ Correct
DLycophron
Correct answer: (C) Aristotle — The view that the state is later than the family in time but prior to it in nature is Aristotle's.
Explanation
★The view that the state is later than the family in time but prior to it in nature is Aristotle's.
★Aristotle traces a natural growth from the household to the village and finally to the polis, the complete and self-sufficient community.
★Though the individual and family come first in time, the state is prior in nature because it alone fulfils the human purpose.
★The whole is prior to the part, as the body is to the hand, so the self-sufficient polis is prior to the individual who needs it.
★Cephalus and Thrasymachus are speakers in Plato's Republic, and the remaining name does not fit this doctrine.
★This is the basis of his saying that man is by nature a political animal and that one who can live outside the polis is a beast or a god.
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