Politics by Aristotle

A Book Review

Presented to

Ms. Yasmira Moner

Faculty, Department of Political Science
College of Arts and Social Sciences
MSU-IIT
Iligan City

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements Prescribed for the Course
Political Science 110
1st Semester S.Y. 2016-2017

Presented by

Norhainah S. Mapandi
AB POSC III

October 21, 2016

Introduction
Aristotle (b. 384- d. 322 BCE) was a Greek philosopher, logician, and scientist. Along with
his teacher Plato, Aristotle is generally regarded as one of the most influential ancient thinkers in
a number of philosophical fields, including political theory.
His political philosophy can be read in his work entitled the Politics. Aristotle divides
practical science into ethics and politics. The Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle describes the happy
life intended for man by nature as one lived in accordance with virtue, and in his Politics, he
describes the role that politics and the political community must play in bringing about the virtuous
life in the citizenry. The Nichomachean Ethics, ends with a transition to the Politics, setting out a
program of debatable relation to what has come down to us as the Politics.
The Politics is named after the polis, city-states of Greece. Two other key terms in the
Politics are in Greek, related to polis: the citizen is a polites and what is translated as constitution,
regime, or citizenship is the politeia, a word also used by Aristotle to designate one particular
constitution, usually translated as polity. The word translated as government is politeuma. The
interconnections among these terms form one of the themes of the Politics. The Politics also
provides analysis of the kinds of political community that existed in his time and shows where and
how these cities fall short of the ideal community of virtuous citizens.

Summary
Aristotle’s Politics is divided into eight books in which I would only discuss Books 5-8.
i. Book 5
In this book Aristotle discusses the nature and causes of revolution as well as how to
prevent revolution. Aristotle offers two-fold meaning of revolution: (1) a revolution means any
major or minor change in the constitution; (2) a revolution is also said to have occurred if ruling
power has been transferred, even if the constitution remains the same. Factional conflict is the
main root cause of revolution. For other causes of revolutions he enumerated the following:
differing conceptions of justice and equality, the nefarious mentality of certain people to harvest
benefit or profit and dignity leads them to revolt against the establishment, owners of property and
honor instigate revolution by misusing their position, when one or more men exercise excessive
power out of all proportion to the state or to the power of the citizen body, revolution becomes
inevitable, fear, contempt and disproportionate increase.
After making in-depth analysis of different causes of revolution which are general in
nature, Aristotle discusses why particular constitutions change. In democracy changes take place
due to wanton license of the demagogues. Changes take place in an oligarchic government because
of the oppressive conduct of the oligarch and from dissension among oligarchical body. In
aristocracy it arises from the jealousy of those excluded from power, personal ambitions, great
inequality of wealth. Tyranny are overthrown by collision with external forces, or by private
intrigues in the tyrant’s entourage. Kingship are endangered by intrigues in the royal family, by
the kings’ personal incompetence, or by his developing tyrannical attributes.
Because Aristotle knew that stability is necessary in a political system in order to have a
good life he enumerated some measures on how to preserve these forms of government. The
government must be sincere and honest toward its citizens, proper care must be taken on the
sharing of governmental offices among the several qualifies aspirants, the magistrates must inform
the public of any aggression or alarm, the system should be taught to inculcate loyalty towards the
constitution and principles of state and a system of education must be established.
ii. Book 6
In this book Aristotle confronts the question how can constitutions be made to work best? It is
necessary to show what sort of constitutions are best for different states, but how these ought to be
constructed. For example, to do this it is necessary to look at all the features of popular rule to see
how these can be combined. Freedom is the defining principle of democracy, one aspect of which
is having a share in ruling and the second is to live as one pleases. Characteristics of democratic
rule are as follows; universal eligibility of all citizens for office, offices chosen by lot, no repeat in
office, short-term of office, a popular jury, and a popular assembly with great authority and all
offices must be paid.
How can equality be brought about in the city? In democracies people believe that justice is
whatever the majority decides, while in oligarchy justice is whatever the well-off decides in which
both are unjust. At this point Aristotle describes those conditions most conducive to the best
democracy. He explains that there are different types of democracy distinguished by the type of
people who are citizens. The best type are the farmers, followed by herdsmen, merchants and
laborers in which he considered the latter the worst kind of citizen for a democratic government.
For a stable democracy the leader must pay special attention to the composition and size of its
population. He also noted that the best democracy is not extreme, moderate or “mixed
constitutions” are far more durable. In order to preserve democratic institutions: a.) legislators
should make sure that property confiscated by the courts become sacred property rather than public
property, b.) frivolous prosecution should incur large penalty to minimize the number of public
lawsuits, c.) to maintain large turnouts at assembly meetings, people should be paid to attend, d.)
popular leaders should not be allowed to distribute the surplus in order to gain the popularity of
the people, e.) the notables should also try to help the poor so that the multitude will remain
benevolent towards them. For preservation of oligarchic constitutions; a.) moderate oligarchies are
the most stable, b.) it should be mixed oligarchy, very neat to polity, c.) property qualifications
should be organized to allow the poorer sections to hold the lower offices. Aristotle closes the
book by reviewing officials and procedures. He considers the offices all states must have.
iii. Book 7
In this book Aristotle attempt to envision his ideal city. To investigate the best regime, it is
necessary to first investigate the best way of life. He distinguishes between three ingredients that
must be present to be capable of a happy life: Bodily existence (health, the senses, sensual pleasure,
etc.), Intellectual and Moral qualities (wisdom, virtue, etc.), External things (wealth, reputation,
power, property. He argues that it is not by having external goods that one becomes virtuous and
happy but the opposite. Virtue is more important to have a good and life than external goods. Take
note that for Aristotle the aim of the state is to provide its citizen a good life. The best regime is
the one in which a person can act in the best manner and live most happily. There is a dispute
between those who assert that the political or active life is the most choice worthy and those who
assert that the philosophic life is the best. For people who are similar, the noblest arrangement is
to rule and be ruled in return. Yet this is no to say that the active life is necessarily the best, because
the philosophical life is in reality not inactive, and its actions are for the sake of goods which are
ends in themselves. Next Aristotle shifts his attention to consider the practicalities of the ideal
state. His first concern is population. A state’s population should be neither too large, nor too
small: too small and it might find it difficult to be self-sufficient and too large it might be difficult
to govern. The same applies to territory. It should be large enough to guarantee self-sufficiency,
allowing citizens to live at leisure and with moderation. It ought to be hard for a hostile force to
invade and easy to launch an expeditionary force. It must also be easily surveyable so that
assistance can be brought at any point. It must be well situated for commerce, allowing easy
importation of crops and raw materials. Aristotle believes that the Greeks are the ideal citizens as
they fit a perfect compromise between high spirit skill and intelligence.
In terms of social structure, like anything else in nature a state is organic, so there are some
parts of it that, although indispensable to its efficient running, are not part of it in a strict sense. So
citizens are genuine parts of the state, while slaves, craftsmen, foreigners, etc., while being
necessary to its efficient running, are not part of it. Slaves are treated as properties (they belong to
the necessary parts of the city). Citizens participate in public activities and serves the military (they
are considered as integral parts of the city). Six components of a city according to Aristotle are
Food, Arms, Worship, Crafts, Property and Government. These, then, are the essential functions a
state must perform. So, different types of people will be necessary: agricultural workers to provide
food, skilled workers, fighting men, wealthy men, priests and judges. In the best run states the
governing element must be citizens who own all property and have sufficient virtue to make the
legal and political decisions and to bear arms. They must not be merchants or farmers, because
they need enough leisure to live virtuous lives and govern. In their different “primes of life” they
should be successively soldiers, judges and statesmen, and priests, when they come to old age.
A state is composed of citizens who are “sound” men capable of living virtuous lives and are
united by their acceptance of the standards prescribed by the state. It follows therefore, that they
should be educated in these from the early age. Man must be educated for citizenship; he must be
educated morally and intellectually so that he is fit to hold office. Aristotle states that in a city of
equal citizens, everyone should take turns ruling and being ruled. The older should rule the
younger, this way the young learn how to rule by first being ruled properly by others. The habits
of the citizens should be trained first, followed by the intellect. Because reason and the life of the
intellect are the ends of human nature, habits should be formed with a view to promoting them. In
terms of marriage and childbirth: procreation should take place at the right time in the winter and
men should marry at age 37 and women at 18, and cease reproducing after 17 years. In terms of
raising and educating children, Aristotle divided the age groups of the children’s education from
ages 0-7, 7-14, 14-2. At age 5, children should play games, be told stories and be protected from
anything that is low and vulgar. Up to age 7, children should observe the older students. They
engage in proper study from ages 7-21.
iv. Book 8
In this book Aristotle argues that the education of the young should be the state’s responsibility
because they are the future citizens and rulers of the state and need to learn how to be a citizen as
any man must learn the skills of his trade. The education system should serve the aims of the State,
thus, Aristotle recommends public education. Aristotle suggests that knowledge is good to the
extent that it satisfies one’s mind or helps a friend, but is dangerous when it becomes a skill that
is rendered as a service to others. Aristotle says that there are arguments to be made for teaching
children what is useful, for teaching moral goodness, and for teaching pure knowledge for its own
sake. He suggests that a great deal depends on how and to what end the subjects are taught. Certain
kinds of practical knowledge are good, but children should not demean themselves by learning
menial labor; it is fine to teach moral goodness, though there are many different conceptions of
what is good and how it should be taught. Pure knowledge is good as well, but it should not be
pursued to such an extent that it becomes overbearing. As a general rule, Aristotle suggests that
knowledge is good to the extent that it satisfies one's mind or helps a friend, but it is dangerous
when it becomes a skill that is rendered as a service to others.
The four major disciplines of study as Aristotle enumerated this are reading and writing, music,
physical training or gymnastics and drawing. Reading, writing, and drawing all have practical
purposes and physical training promotes courage. Determining the value of music is trickier, but
Aristotle suggests that it helps promote the proper use of leisure. Aristotle values physical training
but warns that it should not be overdone, as it can create a savage character and stunt the
development of the young. Aristotle recommends light training until the age of puberty, followed
by three years of study. After those three years, physical training should begin in earnest. Working
the mind and body simultaneously will be counter-productive. Three possible use of music:
Amusement and Relaxation, Improvement of Moral Character and Cultivation of Mind. However,
education in music should not be taken beyond the point of learning an appreciation of rhythm and
harmony: if students dedicate themselves to being skilled performers, they will be studying only
to please others.
Analysis
The ideas presented by Aristotle in the Politics contrast that of Plato in that Aristotle is an
empiricist that based his findings on the different observations of the constitutions present in his
time while Plato is an idealist who only based his ideas on his own version of ideal city without
comparing other city states.
Aristotle’s understanding of revolution is fundamentally different from the modern
understanding. The ancient philosopher considers revolution in completely political, objective and
value-neutral sense. For him revolution is simply a change in regime not unlike the modern
political theorists who connect revolution with a notion of progress. As Aristotle discusses what
each ruler must do to ensure the stability of their respective regimes one thing becomes clear. The
importance that he places on the influence of education. Aristotle writes that “the greatest of all
these things that have been mentioned with a view to making regimes lasting though it is now
slighted by all is education relative to the regime. Aristotle’s suggestion is the opposite of what
one would expect. Citizens need to be educated, not to recognize the specific claim to justice of
their own regime, but to be able to recognize the competing claims to justice. As a result, citizens
will be more sympathetic to competing claims of justice from the parts of the regime which do not
have power, and factional conflict will be avoided.
Aristotle’s view on the connection between freedom and virtue, explains his assertion that
democracy is a deviation from the correct regime of polity. Aristotle holds that “the presupposition
of the democratic regime is freedom”. Following from this emphasis on liberty, he outlines two
interpretations: ruling and being ruled in turn and living according to how one pleases. While the
first has no conflict with equality, the second does and in the process it gets us to the heart of the
paramount issue for Aristotle’s philosophy: that a virtuous life is one ruled by reason. A virtuous
life is lived by the man that uses his reason to govern his actions and feelings in accordance with
the mean. To do otherwise, to allow our feelings and passions to rule our behavior, is not only
likely to err from the virtuous life, but it is also to lose one’s freedom. Instead we would be
controlled by impulses over which we exercise no rational control. True freedom, as opposed to
democracy’s conception of it, entails one objective end happiness and necessitates that any manner
of action incompatible with this end be considered inferior, for such an action would in fact defeat
freedom itself. One could therefore conclude that Aristotle’s emphasis on living virtuously as the
central goal of politics actually stems from a desire to preserve freedom.
In his discussion of the best city, Aristotle begin with an examination of the best life, since
of course the aim of the city is living well. Aristotle distinguishes between three ingredients that
must be present to be capable of a happy life: our bodily existence, our intellectual and moral
qualities, and external things like wealth, power and property. He then dismisses the idea that all
one needs to become happy and virtuous is bodily goods, like health, and to be well-provided with
external goods. Having health, power, wealth and property are only the means, the tools, but not
ends in themselves. They have extrinsic, but not intrinsic, value. However, it is quite different with
moral and intellectual goods. These are valued for themselves; they have intrinsic value. They are
the ends in themselves, whereas external and bodily goods are merely means to these ends.
Aristotle’s discussion of the best life leads him to the debate between the practical life
versus the contemplative life, a debate which recurs throughout the writings of both ancient and
medieval philosophers, such as Plato, Cicero and Aquinas. In Aristotle’s view, the highest practical
life is the political life, while the highest contemplative life is the philosophic life. While it is
unclear, especially in the politics, whether the political or the philosophic life is best, texts on this
subject in the Ethics, particularly in Book X, indicate that the philosophic life is best because it
engages the highest part of the soul in contemplation of the highest things, and is the most
complete, continuous and self-sufficient activity. Having established what, the best life is, Aristotle
then proceeds to work out the details of the best city. The best city brings together all of Aristotle’s
previous recommendation for a just regime. Aristotle often repeats that for a city to be well-
managed, the citizens have to be “similar in stock and free”. At the same time, Aristotle recognizes
that a city needs farmers, laborers and artisans if it is to be able to provide for the necessities of
life. It is clear to Aristotle that these laboring classes are not fit to take part in ruling because they
do not have the necessary leisure time required for a proper education in virtue. However, all
citizens ought to rule and be ruled in turn.
Aristotle’s strong belief in the importance of education is evident in his earlier statement
that education is the best means of preserving a regime, and is now made even clearer in his
unqualified assertion that education should be the legislator’s greatest concern. The education of
the young, he asserts, should be the state’s responsibility, not the parents’, because the young are
the future citizens and rulers of the state. The education system should serve the aims of the state,
so it shouldn’t be left in the hands of the parents and private tutors. Citizens don’t just belong to
themselves, but to the state. Each is a part of the state and naturally all parts have a responsibility
to the whole. So this naturally leads to Aristotle to consider what sort of education this should be.
As we’ve seen in previous books, education for the citizen should be an end in itself; it shouldn’t
be designed to develop the skills he might need to serve the interests of others, but to help him to
use his reason to live a virtuous life. So his education is to serve the development of himself as an
end in itself, not so that he develops the skills to become the means of serving others.
Conclusion
Politics is one of the first books ever to investigate the concept of political philosophy.
Written by the famous Greek thinker Aristotle in the fourth century BCE. It focuses on trying to
understand how best to create political communities that support, serve, and improve their citizens.
Aristotle investigates a number of different areas before drawing conclusions. These include an
examination of existing regimes to see which are best, a look at political theories, and even an
exploration of the systems of education. He comes to the conclusion that people form political
groups because they want to be better human beings. The state should therefore support them in
their quest by establishing a good constitution and making laws prudently.
Aristotle’s Politics is a comprehensive guide for political leaders and active citizens. It is
not a strongly unified work—not in the manner of Plato’s Republic (devoted to proving that justice
is the greatest good), or Statesman (devoted to saying what statesmanship is) or Laws (devoted to
the constitution and laws of the second-best regime). Instead, it contains a series of independent
studies of political matters, unified only in that each component must be considered by students
who seek to become experts in the political craft.
There is no doubt that Aristotle’s writings have heavily influenced governments over the
last two and a half millennia. Historians still must be critical of his works though. Taking into
account Aristotle’s surroundings versus the ones we know today help us relate his ideas of
citizenship and organization in a more modern way.
References:
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Aristotle: Politics, Retrieved on August 19, 2016, from http://www.iep.utm.edu/aris-pol/#H12
Tanwar, S. Aristotle’s Views of Revolution (4 points). Retrieved on August 19, 2016, from
http://www.politicalsciencenotes.com/aristotle/aristotles-views-of-revolution-4-points/857
Politics by Aristotle. Retrieved on August 20, 206, from
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.html
Aristotle’s Political Theory. Retrieved on August 20, 2016, from
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-politics/,
Aristotle’s Politics Summary. Retrieved on August 20, 2016, from
http://www.gradesaver.com/aristotles-politics/study-guide/summary
Aristotle, The Politics. Retrieved on August 20, 2016, from http://www.novelguide.com/aristotles-
politics/summaries/book1
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Garver, E. Aristotle’s Political Thought. Retrieved on October 16, 2016, from
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