What imperfect forms of government did Aristotle single out. What form of government did Aristotle consider to be the best and why? Polity as the best form of government, according to Aristotle

Classification of the forms of the state of Aristotle repeats in many respects Platonic. In search of a more perfect form, he, together with his students, analyzed many (more than one hundred and fifty) drafts and constitutions of states, considering the main causes of coup d'état. In the teachings of Aristotle, the form of the state is given decisive importance. This form includes a type of public administration, which depends on the specific individual conditions of a particular country, as well as peoples. Forms such as polity, aristocracy, and monarchy, in which those in power have in mind only the general good, are undoubtedly correct. While democracy, tyranny and oligarchy represent the achievement of the benefits only of the rulers and are incorrect state forms.

Aristotle considered the most correct form of polity, the form in which the majority rules the state for the sake of the common good. Politia was a constitutional-democratic republic, whose leaders set a goal and were able to combine order and freedom, wisdom with courage and other virtues.

Politia is a mixed form of government, which arises from a combination of two wrong forms at once, namely, democracy and oligarchy. So, the principle of formation of the ideal form of government is indicated - a mixture of irregular forms. Aristotle described polity in the following words: "This form is very rare and not many." So, discussing the possibility of the formation of a polity in Greece of that period, Aristotle came to the conclusion that the probability of establishing this state form is small.

For Aristotle, polity was the “middle” state form in which the dominant role was assigned to the “middle” element, that is, moderation in morals, contentment with a small wealth in property, as well as rule in the majority of the middle stratum of the population.

Keywords

ARISTOTLE / POLITIA / FORM OF THE STATE/ LAW / ARISTOTLE / POLITIA / FORM OF GOVERNMENT / LAW

annotation scientific article on philosophy, ethics, religious studies, author of scientific work - Belyaeva O. M.

The purpose of the state, according to Aristotle, is the common good, the achievement of happiness by every citizen. At the same time, the policy is considered as a political communication of free and equal people. The most correct form of government is polity, in which the middle class dominates everything.

The text of the scientific work on the topic "Politics as the best form of government, according to Aristotle"

BULLETIN OF THE PERM UNIVERSITY

Legal Sciences

Issue 1(19)

POLITIA AS THE BEST FORM OF GOVERNMENT, ACCORDING TO ARISTOTLE

O.M. Belyaeva

PhD in Law, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the Department of Theory and History of State and Law Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University 420008, Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan, st. Kremlin, 18 E-mail: olga.beliaeva@mail.ru

The goal of the state, according to Aristotle, is the common good, the achievement of happiness by every citizen. At the same time, the policy is considered as a political communication of free and equal people. The most correct form of government is a polity in which the middle class dominates everything.

Keywords: Aristotle; polity; the form of the state; right

Aristotle (384-322 BC) - the greatest ancient Greek thinker-encyclopedist, student of Plato, educator of Alexander the Great, founder of the Lyceum (in another transcription - the Lyceum, or the peripatetic school), the founder of formal logic. It was Aristotle who created the conceptual apparatus, which still permeates the philosophical lexicon and the very style of scientific thinking. For about 20 years, Aristotle studied at the Academy of Plato, and then largely departed from the views of the teacher, declaring: "Plato is my friend, but the truth should be preferred." The birthplace of Aristotle is the Greek city-polis of Stageira in Thrace, therefore Aristotle is sometimes called Stagirite. The scientific history of Aristotle is truly outstanding, he remains, perhaps, the most relevant and widely read author for many hundreds of years.

Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), president of France, general, wrote at one time: "... at the basis of the victories of Alexander the Great, we always, in the end, find Aristotle." The authority of Aristotle was so great that before the beginning of modern times, Aristotle's works were referred to as something unshakable and beyond any doubt. So, when a certain Jesuit professor (XVIII century) was asked to look through a telescope and make sure that there were spots on the Sun, he answered the astronomer

Kircher: "It's useless, my son. I have read Aristotle twice from beginning to end, and I have not found in him any hint of sunspots. And therefore, there are no such spots.

Among the works of Aristotle, which make up the so-called "Aristotelian Corpus", the following cycles should be distinguished:

Logic (Organon): "Categories", "On Interpretation", "First Analytics", "Second Analytics", etc.;

About nature: "Physics", "On the soul", "On memory and recollection", etc.;

Metaphysics: "Metaphysics";

Ethics and politics: "Nicomachean ethics", "Politics", "Athenian polity" and others;

Rhetoric: "Rhetoric", etc.

So, when writing the "Politics" (c. 329 BC), Aristotle did a gigantic job, having studied with his students the constitutions of 158 Greek policies (!). Aristotle's work was based on a comparison and analysis of the current basic laws of city-states available to him. Until that time, this kind of attempt to compare legislation was not only not undertaken, but simply did not occur to anyone. Thus, Aristotle laid the foundations for the future methodology of political science.

About the state

Since the beginning of politics in Aristotle is ethics, therefore the objects

political science are fine and fair.

Aristotle considers the state a political organization of society, a product of natural development and at the same time the highest form of communication, and a person, accordingly, a political being. “The state,” he convinces, “belongs to that which exists by nature ... and a person by nature is a political being, and one who, by virtue of his nature, and not due to accidental circumstances, lives outside the state, is either underdeveloped in in the moral sense, a being, or a superman ... such a person, by his nature, only craves war.

In all people, nature introduced the desire for state communication, and the first person who organized this communication did the greatest good to man. Human,

who has found its completion is the most perfect of living beings and, conversely, a person who lives outside the law and rights is the worst of all.

“Since every state is a kind of communion, and every communion is organized for the sake of some good, then, obviously, all communions strive for one or another good, and more than others and for the highest of all good that communion, which is the most important, strives out of all and embraces all other communications. This communication is called the state or political communication.

Politics is a science, knowledge of how the best way organize the common life of people in the state. A politician must take into account that people have not only virtues, but also vices. Therefore, the task of politics is not to educate morally perfect people but the education of virtues in citizens. The virtue of a citizen consists in the ability to fulfill his civic duty and in the ability to obey the authorities and laws. Therefore, the politician must look for the best, i.e. most corresponding to the specified purpose, the state structure.

Aristotle criticizes the communist project of the ideal state of Plato, in particular for his hypothetical

skoe "monolithic" unity. In contrast to Plato, Aristotle argues that the community of ownership established in the commune does not at all destroy the basis of social schism, but, on the contrary, strengthens it many times over. Naturally, the selfishness inherent in a person, caring for the family, caring first about one's own, rather than the general, - objective reality state life. The communist, utopian project of Plato, which denies the family and private property, deprives the political activity of the individual of the necessary impetus.

And the community of property, wives and children proposed by Plato will lead to the destruction of the state. Aristotle was a staunch defender of the rights of the individual, private property and the monogamous family, as well as a supporter of slavery.

Being an adherent of the slave system, Aristotle closely connected slavery with the issue of property: in the very essence of things, an order is rooted, by virtue of which, from the moment of birth, some creatures are destined for submission, while others - for domination. This is the general law of nature, and animated beings are also subject to it. According to Aristotle, “who by nature does not belong to himself, but to another, and at the same time is still a man, is by nature a slave. A person belongs to another if, while remaining a person, he becomes property; the latter is an active and separate tool. At the same time, slavery in Aristotle is ethically justified, because the slave is devoid of virtue. At the same time, the relationship between master and slave is, according to Aristotle, an element of the family, not the state.

The purpose of the state, according to Aristotle, is the common good, therefore, participation in the management of state affairs should be common. “The goal of human community is not just to live, but much more to live happily.” In other words, the goal of the state is to achieve happiness for every citizen. At the same time, the policy is considered as a political communication of free and equal people.

Aristotle continues Plato's teaching about the state as an association of people for mutual assistance and cooperation, politics as the art of providing people with the highest justice, and about law as its most complete and perfect expression. Law represents political justice. Therefore, the primary task of law is the protection of life, property of each person. The law must correspond, according to Aristotle, to political justice and law. Right

This is the measure of justice, the regulating norm of political communication. Society cannot exist without laws and law: "a person who lives outside law and law is the worst of all." Aristotle justifies legal coercion: “Most people obey necessity rather than reason, and fear punishment more than honor.”

If Plato is a radical, uncompromising thinker, loves extremes, in his writings - a flight of fancy, courage, refined style, then Aristotle is an opponent of all extremes, a supporter of the middle in everything, his rule is the thoroughness and validity of research in any field.

“In every state there are three components: very wealthy,

the extremely poor and the third, standing in the middle between the one and the other. Since, according to the generally accepted opinion, moderation and the middle are the best, it is obvious that the average prosperity is the best of all goods. With it, it is easiest to obey the arguments of reason; on the contrary, it is difficult to follow these arguments for a person who is super-beautiful, super-strong, super-noble, super-rich, or, conversely, a person who is super-poor, super-weak, super-low in his social position. People of the first type become mostly insolent and big scoundrels. People of the second type often become villains and petty scoundrels. And of the crimes, some are committed because of arrogance, others because of meanness.

Thus, some are not able to rule and are able to obey only the power that appears in the masters over

slaves; others are not capable of submitting to any authority, and they know how to rule only in the way that masters rule over slaves.

It is clear, therefore, that the best state communication is that which is achieved by means of averages, and those states have a good order, where the averages are represented in greater numbers, where they are - at best - stronger than both extremes, or, in any case, each of them in separately. Connected to one or the other extreme, they provide balance and prevent the preponderance of opponents. Therefore, the greatest welfare for the state is that its citizens should have average but sufficient property, and in cases where some own too much, while others have nothing, either extreme democracy, or pure oligarchy, or tyranny arises, namely influenced by opposite extremes. After all, tyranny is formed both from an extremely loose democracy and from an oligarchy, much less often from the average types of state system and those that are akin to them.

About the form of the state

The form of the state in the teachings of Aristotle is given decisive importance. It includes the form of the state system, the type of state government, depending on the specific conditions of a particular country or people. Those forms (monarchy, aristocracy, polity), in which the rulers have in mind the common good, are correct. Those (tyranny, oligarchy, democracy) who have in mind only the good of the rulers are wrong.

The "correctness" of Aristotle's system does not depend at all on the number of rulers. And this is another feature of the thinker's teaching.

The most correct form is polity, in which the majority governs in the interests of the common good. Politia is a constitutional moderate-democratic republic whose leaders are able to combine freedom with order, courage with wisdom. Politia is a mixed form of state government, arising from a combination of two irregular forms: oligarchs

hi and democracy. So, the principle of creating an ideal form of government is a mixture of two irregular forms. Aristotle described polity as follows: it "is found extremely rarely and in a few." In particular, discussing the possibility of establishing a polity in contemporary Greece, Aristotle came to the conclusion that such a possibility was not great. In the polity, the majority governs in the interests of the common good. Politia is the "middle" form of the state, and the "middle" element here dominates everything: in morals - moderation, in property - average prosperity, in ruling - the middle layer. “Only where, in the composition of the population, the averages have a preponderance either over both extremes, or over one of them, political system can count on stability. For the oligarchy exacerbates the existing inequality of property, and democracy excessively equalizes the rich and the poor.

“Deviation from monarchy gives tyranny, deviation from aristocracy - oligarchy, deviation from polity - democracy, deviation from democracy - ochlocracy,” wrote Aristotle.

About rhetoric

Plato did not highly appreciate rhetoric: "untrue art", "juggling with words"; Aristotle, on the other hand, dedicates a whole work to her, of the same name, where he discusses in detail the content of a publicly delivered speech, the style, and manner of the speaker's speech. He believes that it is necessary to teach oratory, because this is, in his opinion, part of civic education. Politics can become the property of all citizens largely due to oratorical eloquence. honed oratory should be placed at the service of educating political culture, law-abiding behavior, and a high level of legal awareness.

Aristotle changed the style of presenting political and legal ideas - Aristotle's scientific treatise replaced Plato's dialogues. It is from Aristotle that the teaching of state studies originates. Aristotle is the founder of political science and the main developer of its methodology.

It so happened that not all of Aristotle's works have come down to us. Moreover, some

some of the works were not published by him during his lifetime, and many others were falsely attributed to him later. But even some passages of those writings that undoubtedly belong to him can be called into question, and even the ancients tried to explain this incompleteness and fragmentation to themselves by the vicissitudes of the fate of Aristotle's manuscripts. According to the tradition preserved by Strabo and Plutarch, Aristotle bequeathed his writings to Theophrastus, from whom they passed to Nelius of Skepsis. The heirs of Nelius hid the precious manuscripts from the greed of the Pergamon kings in a cellar, where they suffered greatly from dampness and mold. In the 1st century BC e. they were sold at a high price to the rich and bookish Apellicon in the most miserable condition, and he tried to restore the damaged parts of the manuscripts with his own additions, but not always successfully. Subsequently, under Sulla, they came among other booty to Rome, where Tyrannian and Andronicus of Rhodes published them in their modern form. According to some scholars, this account can only be true with respect to a very small number of minor writings by Aristotle. At the same time, it remains only to build versions of what could be contained in the lost part of Aristotle's manuscripts.

Bibliographic list

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2. Marchenko M.N., Machin I.F. History of political and legal doctrines. M.: Higher education, 2005. 495 p.

3. Machin I.F. History of political and legal doctrines. M.: Higher education, Yurayt-Izdat, 2009. 412 p.

4. Mukhaev R.T. History of political and

legal teachings. M.: Prior-izdat,

5. Thinkers of Greece. From myth to logic: works / comp. V.V. Skoda. M.: Eksmo-Press Publishing House; Kharkov: Folio Publishing House, 1998. 832 p.

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8. Electronic resource: http://ru.wikipedia. org/wiki/%C0%F0%E8%F 1%F2%EE%F2 %E5%EB%FC (accessed:

Bibliograficheskij spisok

1. Istorija gosudarstvenno-pravovyh uchenij / otv. red. V.V. Lazarev. M.: Spark, 2006. 672 s.

2. Marchenko M.N., Machin I.F. Historija politicheskih i pravovyh uchenij. M.: Vysshee obrazovanie, 2005. 495 s.

3. Machin I.F. Historija politicheskih i

pravovyh uchenij. M.: Vysshee obra-

zovanie, Jurajt-Izdat, 2009. 412 s.

4. Muhaev R.T. Historija politicheskih i pravovyh uchenij. M.: Prior-izdat, 2004. 608 s.

5. Mysliteli Grecii. From mifa k logike: so-chinenija / sost. V.V. shkoda. M.: Izd-vo Jeksmo-Press; Har "kov: Izd-vo Folio, 1998. 832 s.

6. Pravovaja mysl": antologija / avtor-sost. V.P. Malahov. M.: Akad. proekt; Ekaterinburg: Delovaja kniga, 2003. 1016 s.

7. Taranov P.S. Filosofija soroka pjati pokolenij. M.: Izd-vo AST, 1998. 656 s.

8. Jelektronnyj resources: http://ru.wikipedia.

org/wiki/%C0%F0%E8%F 1%F2%EE%F2 %E5%EB%FC (data obrashhenija:

POLITIA AS THE BEST FORM OF GOVERNMENT IN ARISTOTLE'S JUDGMENT

Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University 18, Kremlyovskaya st., Kazan, 420008 E-mail: olga.beliaeva@mail.ru

Aristotle’s political and legal views found their reflection in his works: “Athenian politia”, “Nickomakhov’s ethics”, “Politics”. In Aristotle's judgment, the aim of state is common good and happiness of its every citizen. At the same time, city-state (polis) is considered as a political communication of free and equal people. The most correct form of government is politia where the middle class of people predominates in all spheres, to be precise, the middle class as the majority rules in the interests of common good. Politia is a specific kind of confusion of oligarchy and democracy deprived of extremes and disadvantages.

Aristotle was one of the supporters of the organic theory of state's origin; he pointed out that state was the product of natural development that was conditional on the nature of a man himself: “The man is a political and social being”. The state itself is the end of the genesis of the man's political nature.

Aristotle criticizes Plato’s project of an ideal state (“Plato is my friend, but I appreciate truth more”) because of his attempt to make a state “excessively united”. So, community of ownership, wives and children proposed by Plato will result, in the last analysis, in degeneration of the state itself, the philosopher thought.

Plato was against private ownership, but Aristotle advocated the maintenance of ownership; he pointed out that “private ownership is rooted in the human nature, in the man’s love to himself.” So far as Aristotle was an aristocrat, he had rather determined views on the slavery as well. Slavery was ethically justified; the relations between master and slave had a family nature. Moreover, the notion of a citizen itself is formed by the philosopher from the person’s ability to participate in the legislative and judicial activities of the state.

Aristotle was one of the most universal philosophers in the history of mankind. The appearance of metaphysics as a method of cognition and the tradition of Athenian school - a lyceum - are connected exactly with his name nowadays. Really, in Aristotle’s works there is an interpretational synthesis of all the ancient theories that is of especially great interest in our time. As never before the critics of democracy is actual now (in Aristotle’s view, it is one of the worst government systems along with tyranny), in the period of global crisis and fall of universal values.

Thanks to his incontestable authority, Aristotle’s views became starting points for the whole political and legal thought not only on the West, but on the East too, right up to the beginning of the 18th century.

Keywords: Aristotle; politia; form of government; law

Forms of government according to Aristotle

Remark 1

Forms of government are forms of government that determine the system of organization and formation of higher bodies of state power, their competences, the procedure for interacting with the population, and the involvement of the population in their formation.

Aristotle continued to develop the political ideas of Plato. According to Aristotle, the state is formed as a result of natural processes, the natural inclination of people to communicate. Aristotle divided all forms of government into two groups:

According to the goal pursued by those in power: correct (monarchy, aristocracy, polity) - the activities of rulers are aimed at the common good; wrong (tyranny, oligarchy, democracy) - rulers pursue personal gain.
By the number of rulers: the rule of one (monarchy, tyranny), few (aristocracy, oligarchy) or majority (polity, democracy).

Each form of government is characterized by its own concept of a citizen, the basis for empowering a certain circle of people. Each form of government has several types with different combinations shaping elements. According to Aristotle, the form of the state is a political system, personified in the state by the supreme power. That is why the form of the state is determined by the number of ruling persons.

The best form of government according to Aristotle

What form of government is the best and most correct? According to Aristotle, this form of government is polity. Polity means rule by the majority in the interest of the common good.

Definition 1

Politia is a specific combination of democracy and oligarchy, their best sides, while excluding their extremes and shortcomings. Aristotle's polity is not just a special form of government in the state, it is a theoretical construction of the political form of power. Politiya acts as a certain standard for the state forms of government existing in practice and a criterion for identifying the level of their deviation from the norms of justice in politics, the degree of their political character.

In his Politics, Aristotle relates the forms of government to their best principles:

the principle of aristocracy is virtue;
the principle of oligarchy is wealth;
The principle of democracy is freedom.

Remark 2

A polity should ideally combine all three elements. It should become the government of the best, unite the interests of both the wealthy and the poor. The perfect form of government is a kind of majority rule, when the best manifestations of oligarchy and democracy are combined.

Law is the norm of political communication between people. Law serves as a criterion of justice, acts as a regulatory aspect of political communication, so the concept of justice should be associated with the idea of an ideal state.

In politia, citizens elect the best representatives from their midst to the governing bodies. But in order to choose rightly and govern well, voters and candidates must have certain merit. According to Aristotle, polity is possible only in a state in which the middle strata of the population, located between wealthy and very poor citizens, represent an overwhelming majority. The greatest welfare for the state is the fact that citizens have an average but sufficient property.

Citizens with average incomes elect magistrates and participate in the popular assembly. In deciding the most important issues, the main role belongs not to the people's assembly, but to the magistrates.

Those persons who aspire to hold public office must possess the necessary qualities:

sympathize with the existing state system;
have sufficient ability to perform official duties;
be distinguished by justice and virtue.

For Aristotle, the ruler must be a watchman who punishes those who disturb the public peace and protects the people. Later, this representation was used in the concept of the state as a "night watchman".

Aristotle believed that laws in themselves do not bring benefits to the state. Education for the stability of the state must correspond to the type of government that really exists in this state.

The best way to ensure the stability of government in the state, Aristotle considers the establishment of a polity, the strengthening of the middle class and the establishment of a mixed system.

Politicians are, first of all, the state. The sphere of the political is the sphere of state relations and public administration. Many of Aristotle's views are associated with the underdevelopment of the political sphere of his time, which is not characterized by the branching and complexity of the modern political system, which contains a system of separation of powers, a complex electoral and party system, and supranational structures.

Separates "bad" forms of the state (tyranny, extreme oligarchy and ochlocracy) and "good" ones (monarchy, aristocracy and polity).

The best form of state, according to Aristotle, is polity - a combination of moderate oligarchy and moderate democracy, the state of the "middle class" (Aristotle's ideal).

According to Aristotle, the state arises naturally to meet the needs of life, and the purpose of its existence is to achieve the good of people. The state acts as the highest form of communication between people, thanks to which all other forms of human relations reach perfection and completion.

The natural origin of the state is explained by the fact that nature instilled in all people the desire for state communication, and the first person who organized this communication provided humanity with the greatest benefit. Finding out the essence of man, the patterns of his formation.

Aristotle believes that a person, by nature, is a political being and his completion, one might say, he receives perfection in the state. Nature has endowed man with intellectual and moral strength, which he can use both for good and for evil.

If a person has moral principles, then he can achieve perfection. A person deprived of moral principles turns out to be the most impious and wild being, vile in his sexual and taste instincts. Concerning the correlation and subordination of the triad: state, family, individual, Aristotle believes that “the state by its nature precedes the individual”, that the nature of the state is ahead of the nature of the family and the individual, and therefore “it is necessary that the whole precede the part”.

The state, and in this Aristotle follows Plato, is a kind of unity of its constituent elements, though not as centralized as Plato's. Aristotle characterizes the form of government as a political system, personified by the supreme power in the state. Depending on the number of those in power (one, few, majority), the form of the state is determined. There are both right and wrong forms of government. The criterion for correct forms of government is their service to the common state interests, for incorrect ones - the desire for personal good, profit.

The three correct forms of the state are monarchical rule (royal power), aristocracy and politics (politics is the rule of the majority, combining the best aspects of aristocracy and democracy). Erroneous, wrong - tyranny, oligarchy, democracy. In turn, each form has several varieties. Aristotle sees the main reason for the indignation of people, sometimes leading to a change in forms of government, including as a result of coup d'état, in the absence of equality in the state.

It is for the sake of achieving equality that coups and uprisings are carried out. On the issue of land, Aristotle believes that there should be two forms of land ownership: one involves the general use of land by the state, the other is private ownership by citizens who must, on a friendly basis, provide the grown products for the common use of other citizens.

Legislation in the state is an integral part of politics. Legislators must always take this into account in order to skillfully and adequately reflect in the laws the uniqueness of a given state system and thereby contribute to the preservation and strengthening of the existing system of relations.

The historical significance of Aristotle's philosophy is that he:

He made significant adjustments to a number of provisions of Plato's philosophy, criticizing the doctrine of "pure ideas";

He gave a materialistic interpretation of the origin of the world and man;

He singled out 10 philosophical categories;

He gave the definition of being through categories;

Determined the essence of matter;

He singled out six types of state and gave the concept of an ideal type - polity;

In area social philosophy Aristotle also put forward deep ideas, which gives reason to consider him as a thinker who stood at the origins of our modern ideas about society, the state, the family, man, law, equality. Origin public life, Aristotle explains the formation of the state not by divine, but by earthly reasons.

Unlike Plato, who considered only ideas as everything that exists, Aristotle interprets the ratio in being of the general and the individual, the real and the logical from other positions. He does not oppose or separate them, as Plato did, but unites them. Essence, as well as that whose essence it is, cannot, according to Aristotle, exist separately.

The essence is in the subject itself, and not outside it, and they form a single whole. Aristotle begins his teaching by clarifying what science or sciences should study being. Such a science, which, abstracting from the individual properties of being (for example, quantity, movement), could cognize the essence of being, is philosophy. Unlike other sciences that study various aspects, properties of being, philosophy studies what determines the essence of being.

Essence, according to Aristotle, is what underlies: in one sense it is matter, in another sense it is concept and form, and in the third place it is that which consists of matter and form. At the same time, matter is understood as something indefinite, which “in itself is not designated either as determined in essence, or as determined in quantity, or as possessing any of the other properties that are definitely beings.” According to Aristotle, matter takes on definiteness only with the help of form. Without a form, matter appears only as a possibility, and only by acquiring a form does it turn into reality.

Essence- the cause of not only the real, but also the future being.

Within this paradigm, Aristotle defines four causes that determine being:

1. Essence and essence of being, thanks to which a thing is what it is;

2. Matter and substratum is that from which everything arises;

3. Motive cause, signifying the principle of motion;

4. Achievement of the set goal and benefit as a natural result of activity.

Aristotle's ideas about knowledge are essentially intertwined with his logical doctrine and dialectics and supplemented by them. In the field of cognition, Aristotle not only recognized the importance of dialogue, dispute, discussion in reaching the truth, but also put forward new principles and ideas about cognition and, in particular, the doctrine of plausible and probabilistic or dialectical knowledge, leading to reliable knowledge, or apodictic. According to Aristotle, probabilistic and plausible knowledge is available to dialectics, and true knowledge, built on necessarily true positions, is inherent only in apodictic knowledge.

Of course, "apodictic" and "dialectical" are not opposed to each other, they are interconnected. Dialectical knowledge, based on sensory perception, proceeding from experience and moving in the area of incompatible opposites, gives only probabilistic knowledge, i.e., a more or less plausible opinion about the subject of research. In order to give this knowledge a greater degree of reliability, it is necessary to compare various opinions, judgments that exist or are put forward to reveal the essence of the phenomenon being known. However, despite all these techniques, it is impossible to obtain reliable knowledge in this way.

True knowledge, according to Aristotle, is not achieved through sensory perception or through experience, but through the activity of the mind, which has the necessary faculties to reach the truth.

These qualities of the mind are inherent in man not from birth. They exist potentially. In order for these abilities to manifest, it is necessary to purposefully collect facts, concentrate the mind on the study of the essence of these facts, and only then will true knowledge become possible.

Since from the ability to think, possessing which, we learn the truth, - Aristotle believes - some always comprehend the truth, while others also lead to errors (for example, opinion and reasoning), while science and the mind always give the truth, then no other kind (knowledge) ), other than the mind, is no more accurate than science. Aristotle's theory of knowledge closely adjoins his logic. Although Aristotle's logic is formal in content, it is multidisciplinary, as it includes the doctrine of being and the doctrine of truth and knowledge.

The search for truth is carried out through syllogisms (inference) using induction and deduction. An essential element of the search for truth are the ten categories of Aristotle (essence, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position, state, action, suffering), which he considers as closely interconnected with each other, mobile and fluid.

Here is one example showing how truth can be known through logical analysis. From two syllogisms: “all men are mortal” and “Socrates is a man”, we can conclude that “Socrates is mortal”. It is impossible not to note the contribution of Aristotle to the classification of sciences. Before Aristotle, although there were already various sciences, they were scattered, distant from each other, their direction was not defined.

Naturally, this created certain difficulties in their study, and in determining their subject, and in the field of application. Aristotle was the first to carry out, as it were, an inventory of the existing sciences and determine their direction. He divided the existing sciences into three groups: theoretical, which included physics, mathematics and philosophy; practical or normative, in which policy is one of the most important; poetic sciences that regulate the production of various objects.

He made a significant contribution to the development of logic (he gave the concept of the deductive method - from the particular to the general, substantiated the system of syllogisms - the conclusion from two or more premises of the conclusion).

Aristotle divides the forms of government on two grounds: the number of rulers, specified according to property, and the purpose (moral significance) of government. From the point of view of the latter, the forms of government are divided into "correct", in which those in power mean the common good, and "wrong", where only their own benefit is meant. By the number of rulers - one ruler, the rule of a wealthy minority and the rule of a poor majority.

Aristotle considers the correct forms of government to be those in which the goal of politics is the common good (monarchy, aristocracy, watered), and the wrong ones where only their own interests and goals of those in power are pursued (tyranny, oligarchy, democracy).

A right order is one in which the common good is pursued, whether one, a few, or many rule:

Monarchy (Greek Monarchia - autocracy) - a form of government in which all supreme power belongs to the monarch.

Aristocracy (Greek Aristokratia - the power of the best) is a form of government in which the supreme power belongs to the inheritance of the tribal nobility, the privileged class. The power of the few, but more than one.

Politia - Aristotle considered this form to be the best. It occurs extremely "rarely and in a few". In particular, when discussing the possibility of establishing a polity in contemporary Greece, Aristotle came to the conclusion that such a possibility was not great. In the polity, the majority governs in the interests of the common good. Politia is the "middle" form of the state, and the "middle" element here dominates everything: in morals - moderation, in property - average prosperity, in ruling - the middle stratum. "A state consisting of average people will also have the best political system."

Wrong system - a system in which the private goals of the rulers are pursued:

Tyranny is a monarchical power, meaning the benefits of one ruler.

Oligarchy-observes the benefits of wealthy citizens. A system in which power is in the hands of people of rich and noble birth and who form a minority.

Democracy is the benefit of the poor, among the irregular forms of the state, Aristotle preferred it, considering it the most tolerable. A democracy should be considered such a system when the free-born and the have-nots, constituting the majority, have the supreme power in their hands.

Deviation from monarchy gives tyranny, deviation from aristocracy - oligarchy, deviation from polity - democracy, deviation from democracy - ochlocracy.

At the heart of all social upheavals lies property inequality. According to Aristotle, oligarchy and democracy base their claim to power in the state on the fact that property is the lot of a few, and all citizens enjoy freedom. The oligarchy protects the interests of the propertied classes. None of them are of general use.

For any state system general rule the following should serve: no citizen should be allowed to unduly increase his political power beyond the proper measure. Aristotle advised to watch the ruling persons, so that they do not turn public office into a source of personal enrichment.

Departure from law means a departure from civilized forms of government to despotic violence and the degeneration of law into a means of despotism. “Dominion cannot be a matter of law, not only by law, but also contrary to law: the desire for forcible subjugation, of course, contradicts the idea of law.”

The main thing in the state is a citizen, that is, one who participates in court and administration, performs military service and performs priestly functions. Slaves were excluded from the political community, although they should have been, according to Aristotle, the majority of the population.

Aristotle in different works presents the relative value of these forms in different ways. In Nicomachean and Ethics, he declared the monarchy to be the best of them, and polity the worst of the "correct" forms. The latter was defined as a state based on the property differentiation of citizens.

In Politics, he considers polity to be the best of the "correct" forms. Although the monarchy here seems to him "primordial and most divine", at present, according to Aristotle, it has no chance of success. In the fourth book of Politics, he connects the form of government with their "principles" (beginnings): "virtue serves as the principle of the aristocracy, wealth is the principle of oligarchies, freedom is democracy." Politia must combine these three elements, which is why it must be considered a true aristocracy - the rule of the best, uniting the interests of the wealthy and the poor. The perfect form of government - polity - is a variant of majority rule. It combines the best aspects of oligarchy and democracy, this is the "golden mean" that Aristotle strives for.

Citizens are recognized only by persons with an average income. They participate in the popular assembly, elect magistrates. In deciding many important questions, the main role belongs to the magistrates, and not to the people's assembly.

The pure form of polity is rare, for it requires a strong middle class that would prevail over both extremes (rich and poor) or over one of them, so that the opponents of the system remain in the minority. Most of the existing states are polities, but not pure ones. They need to strive for a balance between the opposing elements.

At the same time, Aristotle is not against democracy as such, he is against its deformed form, when the people or the authorities do not obey the law.

Aristotle pays a lot of attention to the change in the forms of the state as a result of violent or peaceful coups. The reason for the coups is the violation of justice, the absolutization of the principle underlying the various forms of government. In a democracy, this is the absolutization of equality. Having recognized it in relation to citizenship, extreme democracy proceeds from the fact that people are equal in all respects. Oligarchy, on the contrary, absolutizes inequality.

Aristotle connects upheavals with social contradictions. When there are few rich and many poor, he argues, the former oppress the latter, or the poor destroy the rich. The strengthening of one of the classes, the weakness of the middle class - the cause of the upheavals.

Aristotle gives advice on how to strengthen various forms of government. But the best way To ensure stability, he considers the establishment of a polity, a mixed system, the strengthening of the middle class.

Aristotle quite clearly pursues the idea that politicians are, first of all, the state, and the political sphere is the sphere of state relations (“state communication”, communication between “political people” about the conduct of public affairs) and state administration. Aristotle's views were largely associated with the underdevelopment of the political sphere itself, in which, naturally, there was still no complexity and branching of the modern political system, including the system of separation of powers, and a complex party and electoral system, supranational structures

The real basis for building the political model of Aristotle is the city-polis, where there is still no clear division of the functions and elements of the state and society. Each citizen of the policy acts, as it were, in two guises, roles: both as an individual who is part of the urban community, and as a participant in state and public life, influencing the management and decision-making process.

Despite the fact that during this period the themes of the origin and nature of the state and public life, the nature of public administration and public communication (intrastate relations) are constantly in contact with social problems related to individuals, social strata and groups, the world of politics is primarily the area of public government of citizens or subjects.

Stagirite believes that slavery exists "by nature", for some people are destined to command, while others - to obey and follow the instructions of the first.

It cannot be said that the socio-political concept of Aristotle, for all that it adequately reflected the existing social relations, was extremely limited.

Aristotle's politics is a descriptive science, the creator of which sought to give the politician a practical orientation, helping to make political institutions and government in general as stable and permanent as possible.

Aristotle also puts forward the idea of the division of powers in the state into three parts:

a legislative body in charge of matters of war, peace, alliances and executions; official body; Judicial authority.

After analyzing the various projects of the state system, Aristotle proceeds to consider the state structures that actually existed in his time and were considered good - Lacedaemonian, Cretan, Carthaginian. At the same time, he is interested in two questions: first, to what extent these devices approach the best or move away from it; secondly, whether there are any elements in them that contradict the intention of the legislators who established them. At the beginning of the study of the types of state structures, Aristotle examines the question of the state in general. First of all, he analyzes the concept of a citizen, from time to time referring to the practice of Greek policies. Aristotle's scheme may seem artificial, if we do not take into account the fact that all six terms used by the author of the "Politics" to refer to various types of state structures were in use among the Greeks in the 4th century BC. BC. In "Politics" to refer to the state system, in which power is in the hands of the majority - "average" people who have a certain small qualification and govern the state in the interests of all citizens, Aristotle uses the term "polity". In such a broad sense, the term "polity" occurs many times in the "Politics".

In relation to both, we have the right to raise the question: do they belong to the realm of good wishes, to the realm of political dreams, or have any practical orientation? Let's start with a conditionally exemplary device. It, according to Aristotle, is suitable for all policies. This system, which is not given out by the philosopher as an ideal, but acceptable and feasible system, does not require the citizens to have a virtue that exceeds the capabilities of ordinary people; he is not designed for education that corresponds to the most brilliant natural gifts and favorable external circumstances. It provides the citizens with a happy life, since with it there are no obstacles to the exercise of virtue. Such a situation, according to Aristotle, develops where the middle stratum of citizens outnumbers the rich and the poor combined, or at least one of these strata. Of polity, Aristotle says that it is rare and in a few. Indeed, such a system was rarely observed in the Greek states. However, it cannot be considered as something that existed only in the imagination of Aristotle. In the fifth book there are references to the real existence of the polity. In Tarantum, Aristotle notes, around the time of the end of the Persian Wars, a democracy was established, which grew out of polity. The general form refers to coups d'etat, as a result of which oligarchies, democracies, and polities are established. In Syracuse, shortly after the victory over the Athenians, the demos changed politics to a democratic system. In Massalia, as a result of a change in the laws governing the filling of posts, the oligarchy became close to the polity. There is also a general reference to the collapse of the polity. This list shows that although Aristotle found in the past and present few examples of the "average" structure - much less than examples of democracy, oligarchy, monarchy, aristocracy - nevertheless, polity for him is not a utopia, since it can exist and existed in historical reality. After all that has been said, Aristotle’s remark that, contrary to the established custom, not to desire equality, but either to strive to rule or to patiently endure his subordinate position, a certain single husband showed himself to be a supporter of the “average” order, takes on special significance. This place is usually understood in the sense that Aristotle found in the past in one of the Greek policies a statesman who introduced an exemplary, according to the philosopher, device. In accordance with such a generally accepted interpretation, they searched in different policies and in different eras for that “only husband” that Aristotle means. Then, this man exercises hegemony in the Greek world, and does not dominate any one Greek city. Finally, in the words of Aristotle one can hardly see the message that this only husband introduced in practice the “average” state system, especially since he independently decided to introduce it. So, the only husband is a contemporary of the philosopher, holding hegemony over all of Greece. It is most natural to see Alexander the Great in him. He "let himself be persuaded" to introduce an "average" system in the Greek states. Does Aristotle hint that the young Macedonian ruler heeded his teacher and, at least in words, agreed to facilitate the introduction in the Greek policies of that device, the advantages of which Aristotle justified in front of him in his lectures-conversations.

After all, the "middle system" is, according to Aristotle, the only one in which internal strife is excluded.

Summing up our reasoning about the “average” system in the coverage of Aristotle, we can conclude: polity, the “average” state structure, which should be supported by citizens of average income, was not only of theoretical interest to Aristotle. Pinning hopes on the Macedonian king, Aristotle believed that he had reason to look at his conditionally exemplary system as the future of the Greek policies.

Two recent books The Politicians contain a blueprint for the best form of government in which citizens lead happy lives. The writing of such projects was not an innovation in the time of Aristotle: the philosopher had predecessors whose theories are dealt with in the second book of Politics. As can be seen from the words of Aristotle, as well as from the works of Plato, well known to us, the authors of the projects, setting themselves the goal of building an ideal city-state, did not really care about the practical implementation of their proposals. Such projects did not satisfy Aristotle. Outlining his doctrine of the ideal system, he proceeds from the fact that this doctrine does not contain anything impracticable.

The prerequisites for creating an exemplary, best policy, according to Aristotle, are a certain amount of population, a certain size of the territory, a convenient position relative to the sea. Craftsmen and merchants are excluded from the number of full citizens, since the way of life of both, Aristotle argues, does not contribute to the development of virtue, and only life in accordance with virtue can be a happy life. The organization of land tenure must provide the citizens with subsistence and at the same time the opportunity to lend their property in a friendly manner to the use of other citizens. All civilians should participate in sissies, i.e. public meals. It is proposed to divide all the land in the state into two parts - public and privately owned. One part of the public land will provide funds for covering the expenses of a religious cult, the other - for sissitia. The division of privately owned land into two parts must be done in such a way that each citizen has two plots of land - one near the borders, the other near the city. Considering issues related directly to the state structure, Aristotle refrains from great detail. He insists that a good organization of the state can be obtained not by a happy accident, but by knowledge and a conscious plan.

The ideal state system described in the Politics is, on the whole, close to that which was called aristocratic in the previous exposition. According to Aristotle, full-fledged citizens lead a lifestyle in such a policy that promotes the development of virtue and, therefore, ensures a happy life for the state.

Let us turn to the first wish of Aristotle, relating to the foundation of the policy - the choice of a good location, a certain number of citizens. Both were the real problem, not in Greece, where no new policies were being created; the problem of choosing a place for a city with a certain number of inhabitants existed in the East during the time of Alexander the Great. Aristotle, one must think, associated with the East the possibility of realizing his socio-political ideals.

Further, the author of the "Politics" agrees to consider as full-fledged citizens only those who in their youth are warriors, and upon reaching an older age become rulers, judges, priests. They are not engaged in crafts, trade, or agriculture. Referring to the examples of Egypt and Crete, Aristotle proves the possibility of establishing such an order in which warriors and farmers are two different classes. Thus, he obviously responds in advance to the objection of those who, based on the laws of a number of Greek states, in particular Athens, could argue that it is the farmers who should be hoplite warriors.

The farmers whose labor feeds the citizens, according to Aristotle's design, are slaves who do not belong to the same tribe and are not distinguished by a hot temperament (to prevent any danger of revolt on their part). In second place after the slaves, the barbarians are named as desirable farmers.

Who is Aristotle referring to here? He himself gives us the answer to this question elsewhere. People living in Asia, in contrast to the inhabitants of Europe, in his opinion, although distinguished by their abilities, are lacking in courage, and therefore live in a subordinate and servile state. Barbarians, i.e. non-Greeks, according to Aristotle, are by nature slaves. So, he probably found favorable conditions for creating policies with an exemplary, from the point of view of Aristotle, organization in Asia.

In the vast expanses of the Persian state conquered by the Macedonian king and his Greek-Macedonian army, an opportunity arose to spread the Greek forms of political life, moreover, in a purified, perfect form, in the view of Aristotle. Aristotle's theory both sanctioned and crowned the practice of Macedonian politics, substantiating it with philosophical considerations. The practical implementation of a number of essential points of his political projects gave the philosopher hope for achieving the desired results in the future.

Doubts about the legitimacy of the proposed understanding of Aristotle's project may arise from the other side: a significant part of the scientists who wrote about Aristotle's "Politics" consider it an early work of the philosopher, written before Alexander's campaign against Persia. Meanwhile, the proposed interpretation is based on the assumption that Aristotle was engaged in his project, already seeing the beginning of the implementation of his wishes.

Approaching the chronological question that interests us, we must, firstly, determine in what aspect we are considering it, and secondly, find reference points in the text of the “Politics” that can help us understand this issue.

At the time of Aristotle, the polis was going through a severe crisis, the symptoms of which were a fierce social struggle within the Greek city-states and a sharp division of the latter into democratic and oligarchic ones - Aristotle himself states the fact that in most of the policies there is either a democratic or oligarchic system. Referring both to the number of "wrong" and at the same time seeing in the policy the highest form of human unification, Aristotle had to look for a way out of the situation. In his opinion, the Greek states, unable to establish a perfect form of government in themselves and in other policies, could hope to get out of the impasse in which they found themselves only with help from outside. The same force (the Macedonian king), which will be able to establish proper order in Hellas itself, as Aristotle believed, will help the Greeks settle in the former possessions of the Persian kings, establish new policies there with an unconditionally exemplary state structure that has all the desired properties.

Aristotle, of course, saw those huge political changes in the world that were taking place in his contemporary era, but they interested him only to the extent that they could influence the further fate of the highest, from his point of view, political organization - the Greek policy. .

Aristotle agrees to consider full-fledged citizens only those who are warriors in their youth, and upon reaching an older age become rulers, judges, priests. They are not engaged in trade, crafts, or agriculture.

The cultivators, whose labor feeds the citizens, are slaves, who do not belong to any tribe and are not distinguished by a hot temperament (to prevent any danger of revolt on their part). In second place after the slaves, the barbarians are named as desirable farmers. Although they are distinguished by their abilities, they lack courage, and therefore live in a submissive and servile state. Barbarians are by nature slaves.

In the vast expanses of the Persian state conquered by the Macedonian king, the opportunity arose to spread the Greek forms of political existence, moreover, in a purified, perfect form. Aristotle's theory both sanctioned and crowned the practice of Macedonian politics, substantiating it with philosophical considerations. The practical implementation of a number of essential points of his political projects gave the philosopher hope for achieving the desired results in the future.

Aristotle's method of politics as a science is a method of analysis, because "every case must be investigated in its basic, smallest parts," which in relation to politics means an analysis of the state, finding out what elements it consists of. It is also necessary to explore the real-life forms of political organization and those created by philosophers. social projects, while being interested not only in the absolutely best forms of government, but also in the best possible ones. The justification for such a study is, as Aristotle emphasizes, the imperfection of the existing forms of political life.

Aristotle defines the state as "a form of community of citizens using a certain political system", while the political structure is "the order that underlies the distribution of state powers".

The political structure presupposes the rule of law, defined by the philosopher as "dispassionate reason", as "those reasons on which those in power should rule and protect this form of public life against those who violate it" .

Aristotle distinguishes three parts in the political system: legislative, administrative and judicial. Speaking about the composition of the state, Aristotle emphasizes its many parts and dissimilarity of parts to each other, the difference between its constituent people - "the state cannot be formed from the same people", as well as the difference between families in the state.

But the main thing in the state is a citizen. The state is made up of citizens. Noting that every political system has its own concept of a citizen, Aristotle himself defines a citizen as one who participates in the court and in government, calling it "the absolute concept of a citizen" . By this, Aristotle, apparently, wants to say that it is true for all political systems, the difference between them is not so much in the concept of a citizen, but in what sections of the population are allowed there to judge and govern. In addition, citizens perform military service and serve the gods. So, citizens are those who perform military, administrative, judicial and priestly functions.

There is a patriarchal theory of the origin of the state of Aristotle. And since the power of the householder in relation to his wife and children, as noted, is monarchical, the first form of political structure was a patriarchal monarchy.

However, the patriarchal monarchy is not the only form of political organization. There are many such forms. After all, every state is a complex whole, consisting of unlike parts with its own ideas about happiness and the means to achieve it, and each of the parts of the state is striving for power in order to establish its own form of government. The peoples themselves are also diverse. Some succumb only to despotic power, others can live under royal power, while others need a free political life, the philosopher believes, meaning by the last peoples only the Greeks. When the political system changes, people remain the same. Aristotle does not understand that man is not an ahistorical phenomenon, but the totality of all public relations, a product of its era and its class. Classifying the types of political structure, the philosopher divides them according to quantitative, qualitative and property characteristics. States differ primarily in whose hands power is in one person, a minority or a majority. This is the quantitative criterion. However, one person, and a minority, and the majority can rule "correctly" and "incorrectly". Such is the qualitative criterion, Moreover, the minority and the majority can be rich and poor. But since usually the poor are in the majority, and the rich in the minority, the division according to property coincides with the quantitative division. Therefore, only six forms of political devices are obtained: three correct ones - the kingdom, the aristocracy and the polity; three wrong ones - tyranny, oligarchy and democracy. Monarchy is the oldest form of political organization, the first and most divine form, especially absolute monarchy, which is permissible if there is an excellent person in the state. Aristotle claims that a person who surpasses all people, as it were, rises above the law, he is a god among people, he is the law itself, and it is ridiculous to try to subordinate him to the law. Speaking against ostracism, usually used in ancient democracies against such people as a means of anti-tyrannical protection, Aristotle argues that "such people in states (if they, of course, turn out to be, which rarely happens) are their eternal kings", that if such a person finds himself in state, then "it remains only to obey such a person."

On the whole, however, an aristocracy is preferable to a monarchy, for under an aristocracy power is in the hands of a few with personal dignity. Aristocracy is possible where personal dignity is valued by the people, and since personal dignity is usually inherent in the noble, they rule under the aristocracy. Under a polity (republic), the state is ruled by the majority, but the majority, the philosopher argues, has the only virtue common to all of them - military, therefore "the republic consists of people who carry weapons." He knows no other democracy. These are the correct forms of government. Aristotle recognizes them all to some extent. He also finds an argument in favor of the third form, raising the question of whether the majority has an advantage over the minority, and answers it positively in the sense that, although each member of the minority is better than each member of the majority, on the whole the majority is better than the minority, for although there everyone pays attention to only one part, all together - everyone sees.

As for the wrong forms of political organization, Aristotle sharply condemns tyranny, arguing that "tyrannical power does not agree with the nature of man." The "Politics" contains the famous words of the philosopher that "honor is no more to the one who kills the thief, but to the one who kills the tyrant", which later became the slogan of the tyrant-fighters. Under an oligarchy, the rich rule, and since the majority in the state is poor, it is the power of a few. Of the irregular forms, Aristotle prefers democracy, considering it the most tolerable, but on condition that the power there remains in the hands of the law, and not the crowd (ochlocracy). Aristotle tries to find transitions between forms of political organization. The oligarchy, subject to one person, becomes despotism, and when dissolved and weakened, it becomes democracy. The kingdom degenerates into an aristocracy or a polity, a polity into an oligarchy, an oligarchy into a tyranny, a tyranny can become a democracy.

The political doctrine of the philosopher is not only a description of what is, as he understood it, but also a sketch of what should be. This was already reflected in Aristotle's division of the forms of political organization by quality, as well as in the way the philosopher determined the purpose of the state. The purpose of the state is not only to perform economic and legal functions, not allowing people to inflict injustice on each other and helping them satisfy their material needs, but to live sympathetically: "The purpose of human community is not just to live, but much more in living happily."

According to Aristotle, this is possible only in the state. Aristotle is a consistent supporter of the state. For him it is "the most perfect form of life", "environment of a happy life". The state, further, allegedly serves the "common good". But this applies only to regular forms. So, the criterion of correct forms is their ability to serve the common good. Aristotle argues that the monarchy, aristocracy and polity serve the common good, tyranny, oligarchy and democracy serve only the private interests of one person, minority, or majority, respectively. For example, "tyranny is the same monarchy, but having in mind only the benefit of one monarch."

That is why Aristotle's "Politics" is the most valuable document both for studying the political views of Aristotle himself and for studying ancient Greek society. classical period and the political theories that had their support in it.

Aristotle summed up the development philosophical thought from its inception to Ancient Greece and up to and including Plato, he created a differentiated system of knowledge, the development of which lasted over one and a half thousand years. Aristotle's advice did not stop the degeneration of Greek statehood. Having fallen under the rule of Macedonia, Greece was no longer able to restore freedom and soon submitted to Rome. But Aristotle's contribution to the history of political thought is very great. He created a new methodology for empirical and logical research, generalized a huge amount of material. His approach is characterized by realism and moderation. He perfected the system of concepts that humanity continues to use to this day.

What imperfect forms of government did Aristotle single out. What form of government did Aristotle consider to be the best and why? Polity as the best form of government, according to Aristotle

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What imperfect forms of government did Aristotle single out. What form of government did Aristotle consider to be the best and why? Polity as the best form of government, according to Aristotle

annotation scientific article on philosophy, ethics, religious studies, author of scientific work - Belyaeva O. M.

Related Topics scientific papers on philosophy, ethics, religious studies, author of scientific work - Belyaeva O. M.

The text of the scientific work on the topic "Politics as the best form of government, according to Aristotle"

The best form of government according to Aristotle

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