Ranking the Regimes in Aristotle's Politics: The Four-Principles Approach

Mittiga, Ross

Abstract

There is a long-standing debate over which constitution Aristotle regards as best in the <jats:italic>Politics</jats:italic>. I attempt to clarify his view by reconstructing four principles he uses to assess constitutions, in both ideal and more ordinary circumstances: (i) the supremacy-of-virtue principle, (ii) the more-virtuous-citizens-are-better-than-fewer principle, (iii) the equality principle, and (iv) the stability principle. I apply these principles to defend a rank ordering of constitutions, which situates the ideal aristocracy of books 7 and 8 at the top, and tyranny, along with unmixed forms of democracy and oligarchy, at the bottom.

Citation

Mittiga, R. (2021). Ranking the Regimes in Aristotle's Politics: The Four-Principles Approach. Review of Politics, 83(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1017/s003467052000087x

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 3, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Nov 25, 2020
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Dec 19, 2024
• Journal: The Review of Politics
• Print ISSN: 0034-6705
• Electronic ISSN: 1748-6858
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 83
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 1-20
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s003467052000087x
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s003467052000087x