lt is well known that, in Plato, the difference between oikos and polis is not presented, as it is in Aristotle, in terms of an opposition. In this sense, Aristotle is able to criticize the Platonic notion of the polis and reproach his master for pushing the unitary nature of the city too far thus running the risk of transforming it into a household:
Is it not obvious that a city may at length attain such a degree of unity as to be no longer a city -since the nature of a city is to be a plurality, and in tending to greater unity, from being a city, it becomes a household [ oikia]. (Aristotle, Politics, 126Ia)
Giorgio Agamben
The Kingdom and the Glory: For a Theological Geneaology of Economy and Government
