DIALECTIC AND ITS ROLE IN ARISTOTLE’S POLITICAL MORPHOLOGY. THE CASE OF DISTINGUISHING OLIGARCHY AND DEMOCRACY
Keywords:
Aristotle, democracy, oligarchy, dialectic, number, wealth, differentia, accidentAbstract
Dialectic and Its Role in Aristotle’s Political Morphology. The Case of Distinguishing Oligarchy and Democracy. Is the number of rulers an essential criterion in distinguishing democracy from oligarchy? This is an important issue tackled by Aristotle in two places from his Politics (III, 8 and IV, 4), an issue that seems to generate disagreement among scholars. Some believe that number is an essential criterion, i.e. a differentia, others that it is an accident. An attempt to solve this disagreement shall be considered from the perspective of Aristotle’s views on dialectics. I will try to show that even if there is no sufficient proof to mandate the interpretation that the number of rulers is a differentia, this position can be defended to some point. In addition, that it is more likely that he considered number to be a particular type of accident.
References
Edition of Aristotle’s works used
The Complete Works of Aristotle: The revised Oxford Translation, edited by Jonathan Barnes, 2 volumes, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984. All the quoted fragments are from the translations found in this edition.
Edition of Plato’s works used
Plato, Complete Works, edited, with Introduction and Notes, by John M. Cooper, Associate Editor D. S. Hutchinson, Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 1997. All the quoted fragments are from the translations found in this edition.
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