Aristotle (384-322 BC) in his book Politics (see also [1.3.15]) gives a typology of constitutions based on two attributes:

• the number of people included in the power structures
• the justice/injustice of the constitution

This way, he identifies six possible constitutional forms (adapted from Plato’s Statesman) – presented in the OntoUML diagram below. He argues that Kingship and Aristocracy are the best regimes, depending on the presence of o person with kingly virtue (who is like a god among man) in the City-State.

Class	Description	Relations
Constitution	“The formal cause of the city-state is its constitution. Aristotle defines the constitution as ‘a certain ordering of the inhabitants of the city-state’… He also speaks of the constitution of a community as ‘the form of the compound’ and argues that whether the community is the same over time depends on whether it has the same constitution. The constitution is not a written document, but an immanent organizing principle, analogous to the soul of an organism. Hence, the constitution is also ‘the way of life’ of the citizens.”
Constitutional Form	“Aristotle defines the constitution (politeia) as a way of organizing the offices of the city-state, particularly the sovereign office. The constitution thus defines the governing body, which takes different [constitutional] forms: for example, in a democracy it is the people, and in an oligarchy it is a select few (the wealthy or well born)…”	characterizes Constitution
CorrectForm	“The conception of universal justice undergirds the distinction between correct [forms] (just) and deviant (unjust) constitutions”	subkind of Constitutional Form
DeviantForm	Deviant form of constitution is unjust form of constitution.	subkind of Constitutional Form
Kingship	“absolute kingship is a limiting case of aristocracy”, when political power is exercised by one single person. Kingship is the best regime, when a ruler of kingly wirtue is present in the City-State. Aristotle suggests, that when such a person is present, “that in the case of the best regime it would be unjust to expel such men or force them to share ruling with others, so that the natural course is for everyone to accept them gladly as permanent kings.” (Vander Waerdt)	subkind of CorrectForm
Aristocracy	“the correct conception of justice is aristocratic, assigning political rights to those who make a full contribution to the political community, that is, to those with virtue as well as property and freedom. This is what Aristotle understands by an ‘aristocratic’ constitution: literally, the rule of the aristoi, i.e., best persons.” Aristotle proposes that the aristocrats should fulfill offices through rotation.	subkind of CorrectForm
Polity	“polity is… a kind of “mixed” constitution typified by rule of the “middle” group of citizens, a moderately wealthy class between the rich and poor.”	subkind of CorrectForm
Tiranny	Tyranny is power exercised by one person, who rules according to its own interests, not of his subjects.	subkind of DeviantForm
Oligarchy	“the dominant class in oligarchy (literally rule of the oligoi, i.e., few) is typically the wealthy… The oligarchs mistakenly think that those who are superior in wealth should also have superior political rights…” This approach of political justice is mistaken because assumes a false conception of the ultimate end of the city-state, which is not a “business enterprise to maximize wealth (as the oligarchs suppose)”. Instead, Aristotle argues, “the good life is the end of the city-state, that is, a life consisting of noble actions”.	subkind of DeviantForm
Democracy	“in democracy (literally rule of the dêmos, i.e., people) it is the poor, so that these economic classes should be included in the definition of these forms.” Democracy is a deviant constitutional form because assumes a false conception of the ultimate end of the city-state, which is not an “association to promote liberty and equality (as the democrats maintain) “. Instead, Aristotle argues, “the good life is the end of the city-state, that is, a life consisting of noble actions”.	subkind of DeviantForm

Sources

• All citations without explicit reference from: Miller, Fred, “Aristotle’s Political Theory“, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
• P. A. Vander Waerdt, “Kingship and Philosophy in Aristotle’s Best Regime”, in Ancient Philosophy 5 1985, (1):77-89.

First published: 17/10/2019
Updated: 19/9/2021

Aristotle (384-322 BC) elaborates his political theory in the treatise Politics. In this work he sustains, that:

• political science is Practical Science (see [1.3.10]),
• political structures can be understood using the causal (see [1.3.4]) and hylomorphic (see [1.3.5]) analysis.

The following OntoUML diagram shows the main classes of his political theory:

Class	Description	Relations
Class	Description	Relations
City-State	“Polis, the city-state is composed of individual citizens, who, along with natural resources, are the ‘material’ or ‘equipment’ out of which the city-state is fashioned… the city-state is a hylomorphic (i.e., matter-form) compound of a particular population (i.e., citizen-body) in a given territory (material cause) and a constitution (formal cause).”	aims to GoodLife
Territory& Assets	Territory and assets, like: natural resources, buildings, roads etc.	component of CityState; is the MaterialCause
ResidentPerson	A resident person is a human who is resident of the City-State, living under the rule of the Constitution. “human beings are by nature political animals, who naturally want to live together”	member of Resident Population and Community
Citizen	“… the citizens (politês) are that minority of the resident population who possess full political rights,”	role of ResidentPerson; has Right to holdPoliticalOffice; is the MaterialCause
Politician	“Political science studies the tasks of the politician or statesman (politikos), in much the way that medical science concerns the work of the physician. It is, in fact, the body of knowledge that such practitioners, if truly expert, will also wield in pursuing their tasks.”	is role of the Citizen; helds PoliticalOffice
Lawgiver	“The most important task for the politician is, in the role of lawgiver (nomothetês), to frame the appropriate constitution for the city-state.”	role of Politician; creates Constitution
Ruler	“The existence of the city-state also requires an efficient cause, namely, its ruler (archôn). On Aristotle’s view, a community of any sort can possess order only if it has a ruling element or authority.”	role of Politician; rules City-State; is the EfficientCause
Non-Citizen	Non-citizens are all the resident persons in the resident population, who are not citizens (e.g., women, slaves, foreigners, children, old people, and some others).	role of ResidentPerson
Resident Population	Resident population is a collective of resident persons.
Community	Different communities (koinônia) are formed based on common functions and interests, as “households, or economic classes (e.g., the rich and the poor), or demes (i.e., local political units).”
PoliticalOffice	Political offices were different bodies. “In Athens, for example, citizens had the right to attend the assembly, the council, and other bodies, or to sit on juries. The Athenian system differed from a modern representative democracy in that the citizens were more directly involved in governing.”
Right	Right (exousia) in this context relates Citizen with PoliticalOffice.	relates to Citizen; PoliticalOffice
Constitution	“Aristotle defines the constitution (politeia) as a way of organizing the offices of the city-state, particularly the sovereign office . The constitution thus defines the governing body, which takes different forms: for example, in a democracy it is the people, and in an oligarchy it is a select few (the wealthy or well born)… The formal cause of the city-state is its constitution. Aristotle defines the constitution as ‘a certain ordering of the inhabitants of the city-state’… He also speaks of the constitution of a community as ‘the form of the compound’ and argues that whether the community is the same over time depends on whether it has the same constitution. The constitution is not a written document, but an immanent organizing principle, analogous to the soul of an organism. Hence, the constitution is also ‘the way of life’ of the citizens.”	is component of the CityState; is the FormalCause
GoodLife	Aristotle posits, that: “the city-state comes into being for the sake of life but exists for the sake of the good life … The theme that the good life or happiness is the proper end of the city-state recurs throughout the Politics”	is the FinalCause
FormalCause	Formal cause is the expression of what it is the object.	subkind of Cause
MaterialCause	Material causes are the elements out of which an object is created.	subkind of Cause
FinalCause	Final cause is the end for which it is the object.	subkind of Cause
EfficientCause	Efficient cause, or the means by which it is the object created.	subkind of Cause
Cause	Aristotle thinks that we have knowledge of a thing when we grasped its cause.

Sources

• Miller, Fred, “Aristotle’s Political Theory“, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)

First published: 10/10/2019
Updated: 8/12/2021