A major premise in Book I of Aristotle’s Politics is that the state is a creation of nature. The combination of man’s unique ability of speech as well as his sense of good and evil is what creates the orders and groupings that eventually produce a state.

However, it seems to me that speech (and communication in general) is the only source of a state and stands above all other sciences. Although it is possible for a fairly advanced civilization (such as the Incas) to grow without evidence of a written language, it is the combination of the communication allowed through speech and the permanence of written language that lets a collection of families grow into a flourishing state.

Also, in political terms, the state is not built upon its constituents’ innate sense of good and evil, but the collective beliefs of the state and its leaders. This division of acts into good and evil, just and unjust is placed upon the people of the state in laws enumerated through language.

Thus, if speech and language are the real origin of the state and they therefore aid and control the practicing of politics, it follows that communication is the highest science since it stands above politics which, in turn, controls all other sciences.

Update: I discussed this with my professor and it seems that I may be approaching the concept of communication too academically. The “speech” that was described was not the science of communication, but just a skill that is unique to humans.