Eleutheria in Aristotle

Authors

  • Héctor Zagal Arreguín Universidad Panamericana Campus CDMX

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17230/co-herencia.15.28.3

Keywords:

Aristotle, politics, liberality, virtue, ethics

Abstract

The concept of eleutheria has both political and cultural connotations for the ancient Greeks. It refers to the free condition of Greek citizens as opposed to the barbarian peoples who prefer tyrannical government. Plato and Aristotle also refer to eleutheria in a moral sense, that is, as the free condition of the virtuous man. But Aristotle refers to a virtue in particular: liberality. Liberality implies the prudent use of wealth, that is, the right mean between avarice and prodigality. The exercise of this virtue has repercussions in the political sphere. Firstly, because citizenship presupposes moral virtue in itself. Secondly, because the stability of the polis lies in the core of liberality: unbridled avarice or ambition put the stability of the polis at risk. Consequently, eleutheria has a unitary sense, which goes from the private to the political sphere.

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Published

2018-03-22

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 28 (2018)

Section

Dossier

License

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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How to Cite

Zagal Arreguín, H. (2018). Eleutheria in Aristotle. Co-herencia, 15(28), 67-84. https://doi.org/10.17230/co-herencia.15.28.3