Marx’s Resurrection of Aristotle by Norman Levine

Author:Norman Levine
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030570354
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

2. Property

Property played a central role in Aristotle’s political theory. Property was the determinative agent in Aristotle’s typology of state forms. A full discussion of Aristotle’s theory of property is necessary in order to understand his theories of the state, ethics , and his method of sociohistorical explanation. My analysis will be divided into the following parts: (a) Origins; (b) Forms; (c) Class; (d) Anti-Plato and Marx.

(a) Origins

The account Aristotle asserted regarding the origins of property must itself be divided into two parts: form and content.

Aristotle lived in an agricultural age. Farming was the major source of productivity. Economic exchange and inter-polis trade existed but they were secondary to agriculture.

Within these productive process horizons, property predominantly took the form of farming. Aristotle looked upon the household as the major manifestation of property and the household which surrounded the farmer was the agricultural homestead. The content of property was occupation.

The ownership of a property belonged to the family that occupied the parcel of land.3 Aristotle did not focus on labor. In an age of agriculture he was concerned with the occupation of a family in a portion of land. He did not experience an age of manufacture and industrial productivity.

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