Mensch und Tier, Sprache und Politik bei Aristoteles

The paper aims to clarify connections among the terms designated in the title on the basis of a well-known passage of the Aristotelian corpus (Politics I 2. 1253a7–18). The first part of the argumentation unfolds mainly through conceptual explanations and conceptual distinctions, during which some relevant claims of Aristotleʼs other works (primarily the biological and logical writings) are also taken into consideration. The main question of this part is directed to the difference between man and other living beings. The difference, as it will appear, lies in the specific performance of human speech (logos), contrasted with the performance of the animal voice (phōnē). In the second part, the reconstruction of Aristotelian theory based on close textual reading is complemented by references to some later but theoretically insightful contexts, especially with regard to the field of politics in the narrower sense. Conceptions of social constructivism (Berger and Luckmann), philosophical anthropology (Gehlen), political philosophy (Arendt), and philosophical hermeneutics (Heidegger and Gadamer) will primarily come into play.