Summary Aristotle’s views on animals have generally been treated either superficially or with attention focused primarily on the views set forth in the psychological and in the biological treatises. This article examines the apparently very harsh views on animals that are found in two passages of the Politics. These passages have not received much scholarly attention, but they have regularly been cited by defenders of animal rights. In this article it is argued that an interpretation of these passages demands close scrutiny of the context, and furthermore that they must be taken into consideration along with the psychological and the biological writings if Aristotle’s views on animals are to be convincingly established.
