Justice and Reciprocity in Aristotle's Political Philosophy

How do Aristotle's ethical concepts offer a basis for his political philosophy, and how is that philosophy relevant to politics today? In this book, Kazutaka Inamura examines Aristotle's notions of justice, friendship, democracy, citizenship and the mixed constitution, and explores the receptions of his political thought in present-day democratic theories.

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This book illustrates how Aristotle's ethical concepts such as justice, reciprocity and friendship offer a basis for his political philosophy. In particular, it points out the importance of Aristotle for articulating the concept of a civic relationship and developing a theory of integration, by exploring how he includes a wide variety of people within the deliberative and judicial processes. Comparisons between Aristotle's own thought and present-day 'Aristotelian' political theories, such as communitarianism, civic republicanism and the capabilities approach, are also among the unique approaches offered by the book and are used to illustrate his original vision of politics. They can also, however, offer new insights into the problems of how to read his texts appropriately in their context and why we now need to read them, not only out of an antiquarian interest but also out of our concern for politics.