Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
8
Introduction
velliissilentaboutAristotle’spoliteia[a.k.a.regimeorconstitution]and
speaksinsteadofunewmodesandorders”andcoinstheconceptofla
stato[a.k.athestate]maybemissingwhatoldNic(thatisMachiavelli)
mighthavedone.Wescholarsmighthavenoticedhisbaitandswitch,
butwemayhavemissedthatwhichwas,infact,switched.Thatthecon-
ceptofthestate,lastato,mightbenotthenewpoliticalbody,butinfact
thatwhichgivesformtoandlifetothatpoliticalbody.Thatthestate,is
Machiavelli’sreplacementfortheAristotelianconceptofthepoliteia[the
regime].
Sothecontrastisnotbetweenthepolisandthestate,butbetween
thepoliteiaandthestate,betweenthetwotoolsthatgiveshapetoorform
tothepoliticalcommunity.ButwehavethenaproblemwithwhatHob-
besandothersdowithMachiavelli’sstate1fortheymakeitthebodypol-
itic,thecollectivewillofthebodypolitic.WhatMachiavelliunderstood
tobethetoolthatwouldgiveshapetothepoliticalorderandgiveitlife,
becameforMachiavelli’ssuccessorsthewholeofthepoliticalorder1that
istosayitshiftsfrombeinganinstrumentinthecreationofthewhole
tobeingthewholeitself.Fortheselaterthinkersthestateistheverybody
politic,itself.Thusthestatebecomestheformofthepoliticalcommunity
inmodernpoliticalthought.
Sotheconceptualcontrastisnotbetweenthestateandthepolis,
butbetweenthestateandtheconceptofthepoliteia,theregime.And
thepointofcontentionisnotthenthequestionofnaturalnessofthe
Ancientform(thepolis)versustheconventionalityofthemodernform
(theState),butratherthedifferenceisthefactthatthestate1beingan
actofwillandwillingoftheonewhobringsittobeingandasawilled
thing1itsformisgenerallyunitaryanditswholeisunitedasone(or
oughttobe,ifhealthyandstrong)versusawholethatemergesoutof
discreteandevenheterogeneouspartswhichmightcometogetherand
sharealifetogetherbutarenottrulyoneunitedwhole.Thepoliteia(or
theregime)isthatwhichbringstogetherthepartsthatformthegiven
politicalcommunity1butthosepartsremain,infact,discreteparts.
Thusanyconceptoftheugeneralwill”wouldbealientothecharacter
ofthepoliteia(regime)andbecauseofthatthepoliteiaallowsforamuch
moredynamicunderstandingofboththenatureandtheworkingsofthe
politicalcommunity.
Thisbookwillfirstlookatthenatureofthepoliticalcommunity
anditthenshowsthecentralrolethatthepoliteiaortheregime(asmany
modernpoliticalscientistswouldtodaylabeltheterm)playsingiving
