IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/polstu/v54y2006i4p827-845.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Aristotle, Hobbes and Chimpanzees

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher J. Berry

Abstract

The article is an exercise in the philosophical anthropology of politics. According to Aristotle, man is a political animal but not uniquely so, whereas, according to Hobbes, politics is artificial and the preserve of humans alone. Both Aristotle and Hobbes draw upon contemporary science. The dominant relevant science today is neo‐Darwinism – humans are products of evolution and genetically closely related to the other primates. The argument that chimpanzees are political, thus putatively endorsing an Aristotelian rather than a Hobbesian perspective, is scrutinised. However, at best, chimpanzees are only metaphorically political. While this conclusion may weaken the Aristotelian position, it cannot of itself vindicate the Hobbesian one. The philosophical anthropological endeavour to investigate the relation between politics and human nature still has work to do.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher J. Berry, 2006. "Aristotle, Hobbes and Chimpanzees," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 54(4), pages 827-845, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:polstu:v:54:y:2006:i:4:p:827-845
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9248.2006.00627.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2006.00627.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2006.00627.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Willhoite, Fred H., 1976. "Primates and Political Authority: A Biobehavioral Perspective," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 70(4), pages 1110-1126, December.
    2. Arnhart, Larry, 1995. "The New Darwinian Naturalism in Political Theory," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(2), pages 389-400, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paganelli, Maria Pia, 2011. "The same face of the two Smiths: Adam Smith and Vernon Smith," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 78(3), pages 246-255, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jack Hirshleifer, 1979. "Privacy: Its Origin, Funstion, and Future," UCLA Economics Working Papers 166, UCLA Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:polstu:v:54:y:2006:i:4:p:827-845. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0032-3217 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.