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Aristotle mentioned the collection of Constitutions in the Nicomachean Ethics (10.1181B17). It was supposed to be material gathered for his work on Politics.However, after the Athenian politeia was discovered, historians noted a later dating of the monographs (in the 320s BC) compared to the Politics (after 336 BC, most likely before 331 BC).
According to ancient sources, Aristotle compiled constitutions of 158 Greek states, of which the Constitution of the Athenians is the only one to survive intact. [6] Modern scholars dispute how much of the authorship of these constitutions can be attributed to Aristotle personally; he at least would have been assisted by his students. [7]
Finally, Aristotle criticizes Plato's suggestion from the Republic that there is a natural lifecycle of constitutions in which they begin as aristocracies and then progressively decay through the stages of timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, and finally tyranny. Aristotle says that this is oversimplified, does not make theoretical sense, and fails ...
Diagram illustrating the classification of constitutions by Aristotle. Aristotle (c. 350 BC) was the first to make a formal distinction between ordinary law and constitutional law, establishing ideas of constitution and constitutionalism, and attempting to classify different forms of constitutional government. The most basic definition he used ...
A specific form of government. Aristotle classified constitutions on two grounds: how many citizens had a voice in making the laws; and whether they did so considering the good of all citizens, or only their own. Along with monarchy and aristocracy, politeia is one of the three virtuous forms of
“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” 5. “Whosoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god.”
Mixed government (or a mixed constitution) is a form of government that combines elements of democracy, aristocracy and monarchy, ostensibly making impossible their respective degenerations which are conceived in Aristotle's Politics as anarchy, oligarchy and tyranny.
Although few details are known about the government of the great city, we do have Aristotle's invaluable text: he depicts it as a model of a "mixed" constitution, balanced and displaying the best characteristics of the various types of political regimes, i.e. blending elements of the monarchical (kings or suffetes), aristocratic and democratic ...