ABSTRACT
Family relations are described in quite some extent in three chapters (Book VIII) of the Nicomachean Ethics. Even when Aristotle formulates his classical phrase in the Eudemian Ethics—“Man is a sociable (koinonikon) animal” (1242a)—a few lines further he completes: “It is in the household that one can find the beginning and the sources of love, of community life and of justice” (1242b). The above shows the emphasis the philosopher puts on the psychological necessity of people communicating with each other, and how that starts in the family. It also shows how sensitive and receptive he was for human needs. The love between children and parents is by far more pleasant than the friendship or love for a stranger outside the family. The influence of the family atmosphere on fraternal interpersonal relations is even more stressed in another passage of the Nicomachean Ethics. The relation of family members to their cousins is also dealt with by Aristotle.
