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Aristotle

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Aristotle (384 to 322 BCE) treated politics as a practical science aimed at the good life of citizens, understanding the city-state (polis) as a community that exists for the sake of the good life. His Politics distinguished six constitutional forms by whether one, few, or many rule and whether they govern for the common advantage or their own benefit, and posed the founding question of whether it is better to be ruled by the best man or by the best laws, favoring law's generality and advance promulgation over the unpredictability of personal rule.

Facts
Birth Year
384 BCE 1
Death Year
322 BCE 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Founded

Aristotle's Politics posed the founding question of rule by law versus rule by the best man, favoring law's generality and advance promulgation over the unpredictability of personal rule.

In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Aristotle's Political Theory (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Fred Miller, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyView the Source
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