ABSTRACT
Aristotle has insisted in Nicomachean Ethics 10 that virtue is learnt through the existence of laws and traditions in society. Furthermore, he has argued in Politics 1 that man is by nature a citizen of a city, and in Politics 3 that citizenship involves participation in the government of the city. In Politics 3 Aristotle draws a distinction between the good man and the good citizen. The focus on the preservation of political societies tends to eclipse the problem of individual morality and the pursuit of the good life. Where this does appear, it is detached from the nature of the political system. Those for whom the Politics is chiefly a mine of historical material are urged not to neglect the ethical theory, since this is after all a significant development in the history of the Greeks.
