Political Animal

People, as Aristotle said, are political animals. That we are animals means that we share with other social mammals a concern for children, and family relationships, that are too often neglected in mainstream political philosophy. That we are political means that we seek to govern ourselves through consultation and mutual adjustment. Stephen Clark argues for the significance of social bonds that ignore or transcend state authority. As political animals we have, in effect, domesticated ourselves. Understanding both the pros and cons of domesticity, we have a better chance of peace, with each other and the living world. Being and living like the animals we are is a more congenial prosepct than is usually, and ignorantly supposed.