cally, and politically) to participate in governance—
ruling as a judge, administrator, and so on; this idea of
everyone knowing how to “rule and be ruled” becomes
the classical definition of CITIZENSHIPand the standard
for all future REPUBLICANgovernments.
The state itself emerges out of a teleological devel-
opment for Aristotle. First, the individual is born into
a family or household; then various families live
together in a village or society; finally, the state encom-
passes various villages. Politics is thus an organic
development, for Aristotle. The telos, or goal, of poli-
tics strives toward self-sufficiency or perfection, which
is completeness or having everything it needs to live
and live well. Thus, the family encompasses the indi-
vidual, society encompasses families, and politics
encompasses society. Hence, politics, for Aristotle is
the “master science” and is superior to the individual
(psychology) or property (economics). Family and
society provide for humans’ material, animal needs or
“mere life,” but politics, through rational deliberation
and governing, achieves the “good life” by employing
humanity’s highest, godlike faculties (reason, speech,
morals). So for Aristotle, ruling is nobler than com-
merce or moneymaking. His ideal civilized person is
prosperous enough to be freed from work to serve in
public life or ruling. For Aristotle, a wealthy person
who continues to make money and care only about
possessions is a slave to lower nature. This became the
basis of much Western aristocratic views of the “gen-
tleman” who does not deal with trade and money but
with the higher intellectual, moral, and political mat-
ters, using higher human faculties. From this, Aristotle
claims certain preconditions for real citizenship: edu-
cation, wealth, and experience; this is why he excludes
those who are irrational (slaves, workers) or have lim-
ited reasoning ability (women and children).
Aristotle categorizes regimes by the number of
rulers and their character. Kingship is the rule of one;
aristocracy is the rule of a few; polity is the rule of the
many. All of these regimes are just because they rule
not for their own interest but for the good of the
whole society. So, justice in a government is not deter-
mined by the number of rulers, but by the quality of
their ruling. Each form of state can be corrupted when
those in government rule for their own interest rather
than the common good. The corrupt form of kingship
is tyranny; the corruption of aristocracy is oligarchy;
and the corrupt form of polity is democracy.
Aristotle discusses what causes political change or
REVOLUTIONS. Generally, they are the fault of the gov-
ernment or rulers especially being unfaithful to the
principles of the CONSTITUTION (e.g., introducing
monarchy into a polity or the rule of the many into a
kingship). Most radical changes in politics come from
varying notions of EQUALITY. The worst government,
for Aristotle, is tyranny, the single ruler governing for
his own passions. The tyrant kills the best people,
destroys social organizations, spies on citizens, causes
internal rivalries and strife, keeps the populace impov-
erished and busy, discourages schools and learning,
makes war with his neighbors, and harasses intelli-
gent, serious people. A just ruler, seeking to preserve
order and stability, will act in a different way: selecting
leaders of skill and morals, remaining loyal to the con-
stitution and laws, and promoting virtue.
Most of Aristotle’s political writings occur in his
published lectures, The Politics. Some discussion of
society also occurs in his Nicomachean Ethics.Here he
develops the ethics of moderation, or the “Golden
Mean.” This says that virtuous behavior is that
between the extremes of excess and deficiency. For
example, in matters of money, the best is the Golden
Mean of “generosity” between the excess of “extrava-
gance” and the deficiency of “stinginess.” The mean or
moderate with respect to military conduct is
“courage”; the deficiency of this virtue is “cowardess,”
and the excess is “recklessness.” So the good or moral
action is moderation, which resides between two
extremes. This Golden Mean ethics produces the
Greek maxim “Moderation in all Things” and the
Western moral view that extreme action is necessarily
evil. In this view, the good person is one who has a
character that habitually (without having to think
about it) chooses the Golden Mean in every situation.
It is knowing what is the right thing to do with the
right persons. It measures virtue by what is “appropri-
ate” or proper. The person who knows this has been
trained and cultivated in the Golden Mean.
One of the social relationships that helps to culti-
vate ethics in the individual is friendship. Human
friendship, for Aristotle, can be based on (1) use, (2)
pleasure, or (3) goodness. Relationships based on use
involve someone being useful to you; those based on
pleasure involve someone being pleasant (attractive,
wealthy, etc.); those based on goodness concern the
goodness or character of the other person. Only the
friendship based on the mutual regard for the other’s
character are stable and permanent; those based on use
and pleasure (which are transient) often end in quar-
rels and separation.20 Aristotle