Aristotle Politics

Aristotle, Politics

Greek philosopher Aristotle views democracy as not being the best form of government. He criticizes democracy as a poor form of government in his Politics writing. Aristotle's views on democracy grasp that the self-governing organization will cause people to be dishonest. If the people choose to redistribute the wealth of the rich they will end up destroying the state. As the people have no knowledge about control they will end up electing a ruler in error.

Aristotle views democracy as when the poor rule solely in their personal concerns. By this, he means the rule of many as opposed to a select few and in this way, values succeed. Aristotle identifies citizenship with holding a public office and administration of justice and claims that the identity of a city rests in its constitution. In the case of rebellion, where citizenship and constitution change, a city's identity will change, and cannot be held responsible for its actions before the revolution.

In his book politics, Aristotle argues that the political association is the highest form of

human association. As such, the city-state must aim at achieving the highest good. Aristotle concludes that "man is a political animal": we can only achieve the good life by living as citizens in a state. He contends that life has no existence outside the restrains of the city and that it is not the city that exists to serve the needs of the individual but is a simple function and the city is more important than the individual.

According to him, political functions should be divided between the rich and the poor so that there is some balance in the two classes. Aristotle believed in the mean. Therefore, he recommended a CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT (politics). First, it must be ruled by the middle class. Second, there is not one type of government but rather, mixture of democracy,