TIMMERMAN, David M.

Summer 2002, pages 77-98

The Aristotelian Fix: Fourth Century B. C. Perspective on Political Deliberation

Abstract: Aristotle's discussion of political deliberation fixes the practice in that it implicitly addresses critiques found in the writings of earlier authors such as Aristophanes, the Old Oligarch, Thucydides, Plato and Isocrates. His perspective likewise fixes political deliberation by securing its status as the central means by which the polis is able to confront the contingent and pursue the expedient. The acceptance of argument from probability, and the disciplining of that argument into proper and improper forms, made his position in favor of political deliberation tenable. Finally, his perspective fixes political deliberation in that it stands as the latest and most thorough treatment of the subject in the classical period.