An Aristotelian Philosophy of Civility - Culture and Politics

This book explores the concept of civility in the context of culture and politics. The book s primary assumption is that politics depends on, and is made possible by culture: that the realm of possibilities in politics is defined by the realm of what already exists in a particular culture. It is argued that whilst it is certainly possible to innovate in politics, all such innovation has a cultural background: it is impossible to imagine anything politically which is not already apparent culturally as a political potential.
With this conceptual relationship in mind, civility is here presented as a set of crucial, explicit or implicit social norms. These norms provide a threshold for what is acceptable in interpersonal relationships and what is imaginable in the public domain. They have relevance because all public acts and words are expected to meet certain cultural, internalized standards of acceptance: those which define decent, socially acceptable behaviour and communication. Civility is the form of socially acceptable behaviour, consisting in essence of a set of constraints slowly developed by social cohabitation. These norms of civility, or practical virtue are valid for all interpersonal communications and so also encompasses exchanges with external communities. Moreover, it is valid not only in times of peace and prosperity, but also defines what agents can do in conflicts, even brutal conflicts like war or civil war, as well as in times of hardship such as economic or financial crises. In this sense, to confront the major building blocks of the standards of civility, or what citizenship requires in politics and civil society in Western parliamentary democracies is a major precondition for making sense of contemporary politics. In this sense, this book claims, the Aristotelian tradition of politics still holds.
An Aristotelian Philosophy of Civility is essential reading for all scholars and researchers of culture, society and politics as well as for all advanced students of social and political philosophy.

List of contents

Part 1: Historical Approach.- 1. The Ancient Athenian, Concept of Politics informed by Culture.- 2. The Roman Concept of Civilization.- 3. The Christian Command to Love your Neighbour.- 4. The Early Modern Notion of Civility.- 5. The Cultural and Political Crisis of Modernity.- Part 2: Analytical and Conceptual Approach.- 6. Practical Epistemology: Aesthetic and Political Judgement.- 7. Social Ontology: Individual and Community in Art and Politics.- 8. Political Culture.- 9. Culture, Politics and Religion.

About the author

Ferenc Hörcher is head of the Research Institute of Politics and Government of the University of Public Service, and earlier Director of the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences in Budapest. His main research interests are conservatism, classical liberalism, urban republicanism and the philosophy of art. He is the author of Politics and Art in Roger Scruton's Conservative Philosophy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022).

Summary

This book explores the concept of civility in the context of culture and politics. The book’s primary assumption is that politics depends on, and is made possible by culture: that the realm of possibilities in politics is defined by the realm of what already exists in a particular culture. It is argued that whilst it is certainly possible to innovate in politics, all such innovation has a cultural background: it is impossible to imagine anything politically which is not already apparent culturally as a political potential.
With this conceptual relationship in mind, civility is here presented as a set of crucial, explicit or implicit social norms. These norms provide a threshold for what is acceptable in interpersonal relationships and what is imaginable in the public domain. They have relevance because all public acts and words are expected to meet certain cultural, internalized standards of acceptance: those which define decent, socially acceptable behaviour and communication. Civility is the form of socially acceptable behaviour, consisting in essence of a set of constraints slowly developed by social cohabitation. These norms of civility, or practical virtue are valid for all interpersonal communications and so also encompasses exchanges with external communities. Moreover, it is valid not only in times of peace and prosperity, but also defines what agents can do in conflicts, even brutal conflicts like war or civil war, as well as in times of hardship such as economic or financial crises. In this sense, to confront the major building blocks of the standards of civility, or what citizenship requires in politics and civil society in Western parliamentary democracies is a major precondition for making sense of contemporary politics. In this sense, this book claims, the Aristotelian tradition of politics still holds.
An Aristotelian Philosophy of Civility is essential reading for all scholars and researchers of culture, society and politics as well as for all advanced students of social and political philosophy.

Product details

• Authors: Ferenc Hörcher
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 13.03.2026
• EAN: 9783032095466
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3209546-6
• Illustrations: Approx. 320 p. 10 illus.
• Series: Palgrave Studies in Classical Liberalism
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Culture, Aesthetics, Political Philosophy, Antike griechische und römische Philosophie, Philosophie Ästhetik, Social Philosophy, civilisation, Aristotle, civility