Politics - A Treatise on Government

by Aristotle

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Politics is a work of political philosophy by Aristotle, a 4th-century BC Greek philosopher. The end of the Nicomachean Ethics declared that the inquiry into ethics necessarily follows into politics, and the two works are frequently considered to be parts of a larger treatise, or perhaps connected lectures, dealing with the "philosophy of human affairs". The title of the Politics literally means "the things concerning the polis".

Aristotle (384 - 322 BCE) has been referred to simply as “The Philosopher,” and Cicero called his literary style a “river of gold.” That said, Aristotle wrote primarily to teach his students at the Lyceum, so what remains of his writing are not highly polished tracts meant for wide readership. Thus Aristotle's Politics, which is a philosophical exploration of the ideal political community, reads like a series of jumbled lecture notes: scholars cannot agree which book goes where, or whether or not some of it was lost. He traveled widely, cataloging every possible permutation of human governance from democracy to tyranny.

The eight books in Politics, however tedious and complex, have central themes: that a state has a nature that is definable and knowable, and that the role of citizens cannot be determined without this knowledge. Also important is the role which political life plays in the development of the citizens of a state. A city forms its citizens and vice versa, so to ensure the proper development of both, a populous must be well-educated (that is its men and non-slaves). And above all, virtue is morality in action, doing instead theorizing. In Politics, Aristotle does a heck of a lot of theorizing, but it full of concrete concepts which have shaped history and nations for eons.