THE PRIORITY ARGUMENT AND ARISTOTLE'S POLITICAL HYLOMORPHISM

I wish to demonstrate in this article that Aristotle's argument for the priority of the city in Politics I 2 is supported by his conception of the ontological priority of form (and actuality) over matter (and potentiality). This interpretation should enable us to see that, just as his hylomorphism is a middle path between Presocratic materialism and Platonic dualism, Aristotle's political hylomorphism is a middle path between two radical versions of political naturalism by Antiphon and Plato.