Abstract

It has long been recognized that Aristotle's Politics is not a well-polished work: its structure is rather puzzling, and inconsistencies seem to run throughout it. This has led many scholars to hold that the various parts of the Politics were written at different periods of Aristotle's life, and that he changed his mind over time. Thus, it is claimed, only by sorting through the chronological strata can we properly explain the contradictions of the Politics.