Aristotle’s Theory of the State

Abstract

Perhaps the fundamental question to ask about any treatise of political theory is, why is it important? About the Politics it is hard to know where an answer to this question would begin. Aristotle’s work intersects with contemporary problems of both politics and philosophy in such a large number and variety of places that the question itself seems redundant. One need only mention Aristotle’s concerns with the sovereignty of law, the fundamental ‘class’ structure of political regimes, the causes and preventions of revolutions among states, the meaning of justice and how to secure it in various regimes, the place of virtue and ethics in political life generally, the role of wealth and money in political elections, the importance of education and habituation in political socialization (to mention only a few), in order to see that many or most of Aristotle’s problems are the same ones that continue to occupy political thinking in the twentieth century.