1. Lecture 7: Aristotle’s Politics (Bks IV-VIII)
(Bk 4) The Causes of Factional Conflict and Constitutional Change
a) Different Interpretations of Justice and Equality
–democrats seek numerical equality (absolute
equality of numbers)
–oligarchs seek equality of ratio (equality
proportionate to desert/according to wealth
b) Small Middle Class –no equilibrium (

2. (4:9) The Solution: A Mixed Constitution
a) Appears to be both democratic and oligarchic
(emphasis is on perception vs. real outcomes)
b) It is a “mean” between both regime types
c) Neither class believes it is excluded from rule
d) Power is Vested in a Large Middle Class
e) nobody seeks to change the constitution
f) Those “in the middle” usually do not foment
factional unrest or political power

3. Lot versus Elections 1) Lot establishes an identity between rulers
1) Lot establishes an identity between rulers
and ruled
2) Elections establish differences between
electors and elected
The Best Education for Citizenship and
Political Rule (Books VII-VIII)
1. Education is experiential (rule-by-others must be
experienced personally. Knowledge is not
merely a science that can be taught by others)

4. 2. There is no permanent class of rulers so the
ideal education for citizens and their leaders is
identical (unlike Plato)
 3. Some forms of work/art/education are
“mechanical” and unfit for a freeman, such as:
-whatever adversely affects physical fitness
-work done for gain beyond one’s needs
-whatever makes people unfit to practice
goodness

5. Aristotle’s Teleological View of Nature
1) “The End Justifies the Means”
2) Whatever is Good is Done For Its Own Sake
and Not for the sake of Anything Else
3) Ends have No Limit but Means always have a limit
4) Work is a lower order activity because it is done
merely out of necessity and valued as a means to
other things
5) Leisure is a higher order activity pursued for its
own sake. Some branches of learning are done for
their own sake (e.g.,music) *Play vs. Leisure*

6. 6) Wealth is always a means and never an end to
the Good Life (unlike Plato in which is also an
end-material self-sufficiency)
7) Wealth is permissible up to the point where it
begins to impede upon one’s leisure time
8) Most wealth is through accident/chance (fortune)
9) Goodness and wisdom produce internal wealth
10) God is intrinsically happy without external
goods

7. Aristotle’s View of The Good Life
1) The Contemplative Life or The Political Life
Logos and Nomos vs. Phronesis
It is unclear which life is better (according to
many scholars)
2) Aristotle redefines his view of a natural slave:
It is a person whose ends make him a slave
rather than his means