POL200Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Polis
Document Summary
Pol200 lecture 10 aristotle; politics iv, vii, viii. However, they exclude all others without wealth: also, democracy claims being born free is an important aspect however they exclude those with wealth, each claim to rule excludes the other. Democrats who are equal think they are equal in all things. Not only does democracy/oligarchy fall short of justice, they are also unstable: there is always a conflict between rich and poor. Aristotle says if we combine certain aspects of democracy and oligarchy then the polity becomes stable: the polity is a practical polis, the polity aims towards stability. Aristotle says there are two ways of combining: the constitution mixture; fine the rich for not showing up and pay the poor for showing up. Where the constitution itself favors both democratic and oligarchic principles the end result is stability: the sociological mixture. Aristotle says the polity conforms to an idea called a mean.
