![]() ![]() ![]() 1286620-22) and, insofar as his political science is intended to be practical, understanding its strengths and limitations is of great importance. The aims of the state are two: to satisfy mans social in- stinct, and to fit him for the good life. This is, in fact, particularly true with regard to democracy: Aristotle suggests that it is unlikely that any regime other than democracy will come into being (Pol. ![]() Yet Aristotle's understanding of political science requires him to consider not only what the simply best regime might be, as Socrates purports to do in the Republic, but also the characteristic advantages and disadvantages of all kinds of regimes, including democracy. The failed Sicilian expedition, the execution of Socrates, the failure to heed Demosthenes's warnings about Philip of Macedon and Aristotle's own reported flight from Athens all highlighted the weaknesses of Athenian democratic institutions. Although Aristotle classifies democracy as a deviant constitution (albeit the best of a bad lot), he argues that a case might be made for popular rule in Politics III. This is, to a certain extent, true: Plato and Aristotle both saw democracy, at least as practiced in Athens, as prone to tumultuousness and imprudence. It was the best of many bad forms of government to him, and he admitted the lack of. It is a commonplace that Aristotle, like his teacher Plato, was a critic of democracy. Democracy is rule by male citizens with moral sense and property ownership. ![]()
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