Aristotle on Justice

Aristotle's account of justice has inspired thinkers as diverse as Thomas Aquinas and Martha Nussbaum. Concepts such as distributive justice, equity, the common good, and the distinction between just and unjust political organizations find articulations in his writings. But although Aristotle's account of justice remains philosophically relevant, its intellectual, social, and political origins in the Mediterranean world of the fourth century BCE have often been overlooked. This book places Aristotle's account of justice in dialogue with his fourth-century intellectual colleagues such as Plato, Xenophon, and Isocrates, and allows it to be understood within the framework of fourth-century institutions as they were experienced by citizens of ancient Greek political communities. It thus provides the modern reader with the framework which Aristotle presupposed for his original work in antiquity, including the intellectual debates which formed its context.

Thornton Lockwood is Professor of Philosophy at Quinnipiac University (with a joint appointment in Environmental Studies). He is co-editor (with Thanassis Samaras) of Aristotle's Politics: A Critical Guide (Cambridge, 2015), and editor of the journal Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought.