> Then again, this idea of the self as master is as old as Aristotle, but the ancient Greek polis was a whole political organization built for that idea. I was

> Then again, this idea of the self as master is as old as Aristotle, but the ancient Greek polis was a whole political organization built for that idea. I was hoping the latter part of that statement was a pointer at what you would go on to elaborate on, but wholy agree. Nichomachean Ethics, for anyone who's closely read that text, is an aristocratic parenting guide more than anything else. But what's more, much of modernity's discourse of rational agency is built upon this master/slave metaphor; up to today where we still refer to whole demographics as 'incapable' of self-mastery.