Abstract

Among the Aristotelian fragments that qualify man as a political animal, the lines 487b33-488a13of _Historia animalium_ –in which Aristotle points out some differences in the ways of life and the actions of certain animals–, have recently acquired great relevance. However, just as it happens with the most acknowledged references to the _zoon politikon_, the fragment brings great difficulties concerning the political way that life appears in comparison and contrast with other three ways of life: the gregarious, solitary and scattered ways of life. Accordingly, this article will try to understand the place of man in regards to the four aforementioned ways of life, considering that Aristotle seems to state that man “dualizes” between the political and the scattered ways of life, with the objective of understanding one of the main foundations of Aristotle’s political theory.