GA18:68-69 – politike e êthos

What has now been shown is that if we seek the ἀγαθόν of the being of the human being as a ζῷον   πολιτικόν we must take up that knowing-the-way-around [Auskenntnis  ] that is appropriate to the being of human beings as thus determined, the knowing-the-way-around that makes the being of human beings explicit as being-with-one-another [Miteinandersein  ] in its τέλος   — more precisely, the knowing-the-way-around that makes this being-with-one-another explicit as this concrete way of being in its πόλις  . The τέχνη  , the μέθοδος  , that is related to beings as ζῷον πολιτικόν, is the πολιτική, this knowing-one’s-way-around in the being of human beings that is determined as being-with-one-another. Politics, as a determinate mode of knowing-one’s-way-around, of cultivating this knowing-the-way-around, is that by which we will come to know something about being-a-τέλος. If we aim at understanding the ἀνθρώπινον ἀγαθόν, that being-determination [Seinsbestimmung] that the being of human beings constitutes in its genuine being-in-its-world, we must look to the being of human beings itself. We must keep the basic determination of the human being as ζῷον πολιτικόν in view, and look at the human being itself as it is concretely there in the πόλις, how it stands out in its being-with-one-another.

This standing-out [Sichausnehmen] of the human being, this “comporting-oneself” [Sichhalten] in the world, this “comportment,” [Haltung] is τὸ ἦθος  . Therefore, politics, as knowing-the-way-around the being of human beings in its genuineness [Eigentlichkeit  ] is ethics — ἡ περὶ τὰ ἦθη πολιτική. [Rhet. Α 4, 1359 b 10 sq.] Ethics as a part of politics is a misunderstanding. Aristotle   says explicitly: […] “this investigation [in Book 1 of the Nicomachean Ethics] is an investigation that moves in the direction of [cultivating knowing-the-way-around the being of human beings in its genuineness].” [Eth. Nic. Α 1, 1094 b 11.] Insofar as this consideration is πολιτική, a basic determination found in all considerations of the ἀγαθόν lies hidden therein. [GA18MT  :48]