Politica e democrazia nella riflessione di Aristotele sulla cittadinanza. Il contributo di Leo Strauss

Leo Strauss made a decisive contribution to the comprehension of Aristotle’s treatment of citizenship in Book III of the Politics. Strauss recognises, as the main features of Aristotle’s treatment, its political dimension and the preference given to the democratic idea of citizenship. Strauss refers to the political element of Aristotle’ treatment as «the political» and analyses it with respect to its main features: the fact that Aristotle’s treatment of citizenship is only sensitive to historical factors (social, cultural, religious) that are relevant as distinctive of a given political regime (politeia), and the fact that it is a concrete treatment, close to the reality of the poleis. Another essential feature in Aristotle’s treatment of citizenship is, according to Strauss, the role of the democratic idea of citizenship as the model by which to measure the value of the definition of the citizen tout court: such a definition is only acceptable if it accepts the principle that broadens the faculty of access to the deliberative function to all citizens. For Aristotle, this principle is indispensable and is the conclusive argument by which the anti-democratic arguments discussed in chapters 6-16 of Book III.