Abstract

What is the relationship between Aristotle's concern for the best regime and virtue and his concern for practical political matters? This is one of the most perplexing interpretative questions of the Politics. By investigating the meaning of aristocracy in the Politics, we get a much better understanding of this relationship than currently exists. We learn that there are actually two best regimes in the Politics. There is the regime discussed in books VII and VIII, which Aristotle explicitly presents as the best regime. It is an aristocratic regime and it functions as an aristocratic standard for commonly existing regimes. Aristotle's concern for it and the virtue that defines it is part of his concern for practical political matters. But Aristotle also quietly presents another regime as the best regime in the Politics. It is aristocracy in the strict sense of the term or the simply best regime. Aristotle discusses it in book III of the Politics and it turns out to be the same as the best regime in logos of Plato's Republic, the regime ruled by philosopher-kings. The simply best regime is not any sort of standard for existing regimes. Aristotle's concern for it and the virtue that defines it is not directly related to his concern for practical political matters. The investigation of aristocracy reveals that the concern for the best regime and virtue in the Politics is both part of and separate from the concern for practical political matters. But since Aristotle only quietly presents the teaching on the simply best regime, the investigation also elucidates the peculiar character of his political thought, of how it aims primarily yet not exclusively at practical political matters