亞里士多德 ARISTOTLE:
政治學 Politics

作為動物而論，人類為什麼比蜂類或其它群居動物所結合的團體達到更高的政治組織，原因也是明顯的。照我們的理論，自然不造無用的事物；而在各種動物中，獨有人類具備言語的機能。聲音可以表白悲歡，一般動物都具有發聲的機能：它們憑這種機能可將各自的哀樂互相傳達。至於一事物的是否有利或有害，以及事物的是否合乎正義或不合正義，這就得憑借言語來為之說明。人類所不同於其它動物的特性就在他對善惡和是否合乎正義以及其它類似觀念的辨認「這些都由言語為之互相傳達］，而家庭和城邦的結合正是這類義理的結合。

It is also clear why a human being is more of a political animal than a bee or any other gregarious animal. Nature makes nothing pointlessly, as we say, and no animal has speech except a human being. A voice is a signifier of what is pleasant or painful, which is why it is also possessed by the other animals (for their nature goes this far: they not only perceive what is pleasant or painful but signify it to each other). But speech is for making clear what is beneficial or harmful, and hence also what is just or unjust. For it is peculiar to human beings, in comparison to the other animals, that they alone have perception of what is good or bad, just or unjust, and the rest. And it is community in these that makes a household and a city-state.


【文本來源 - 亞里士多德：政治學(吳壽彭譯)，商務印書館出版，1983，1253a
Aristotle: Politics, Translated by C.D.C. Reeve,1998, 1253a,7-18】