Aristotle was born in northern Greece of a wealthy family, his father was the physician to the king of Macedon. In 367 B.C., Aristotle moved to Athens and studied at Plato's academy. He later became the tutor of young Alexander the Great. At Alexander's death in 322, much anti-Macedonian sentiment gripped Athenian society, so Aristotle left to avoid persecution. Aristotle is considered one of the most brilliant, possibly the greatest, philosopher in the Western heritage. His investigations and writings cover the entire range of liberal arts studies, from physics and biology to ethics, logic, politics, theater, art, poetry, and music. Widely regarded as a genius, his ideas have influenced all future scholarship on ethics, aesthetics, science, philosophy, religion, and politics.

Aristotle's views on government inform classical political theory (Greek and Roman--as Cicero); Medieval theology (St. Thomas Aquinas); Modern republican thought (James Harrington); and contemporary democratic theory (Benjamin Barber). Aristotle conceived of humans as naturally social and political by virtue of two human faculties: reasoned speech and moral choice. These uniquely human abilities make society and politics humanity's home, and apart from his or her community, a person is not fully human. These traits of reason, speech, and ethics are innate in humanity but require cultivation and education to become fully developed. Aristotle takes a teleological approach to reality that looks at everything in terms of its development to completion. A frequent example of this is an acorn, whose telos or potential is a fully grown, healthy oak tree. But that  full development, while inside the acorn, requires specific environmental encouragement--the best soil, rain, sunlight, surrounding plants, and so on—and most acorns do not reach their full potential or "perfection." So Aristotelian teleology looks at the ultimate end or goal or purpose of a thing when judging its excellence. Humans are potentially the greatest creatures, but without "law and morals" they can fall below the beasts in depravity and cruelty. So it is everyone's concern to have each person in the society receive an education and moral cultivation, or the whole country will suffer. Humankind exists between the gods and the beasts.

Aristotle idealizes the ancient Greek Polis, the small democratic community in Athens. The ideal citizen is one who is properly prepared (educationally, economically, and politically) to participate in governance--ruling as a judge, administrator, and so on; this idea of everyone knowing how to "rule and be ruled" becomes the classical definition of citizenship and the standard for all future republican governments.

The state itself emerges out of a teleological development for Aristotle. First, the individual is born into a family or household; then various families live together in a village or society; finally, the state encompasses various villages. Politics is thus an organic development, for Aristotle. The telos, or goal, of politics strives toward self-sufficiency or perfection, which is completeness or having everything it needs to live and live well. Thus, the family encompasses the individual, society encompasses families, and politics encompasses society. Hence, politics, for Aristotle is the "master science" and is superior to the individual (psychology) or property (economics). Family and society provide for humans' material, animal needs or "mere life," but politics, through rational deliberation and governing, achieves the "good life" by employing humanity's highest, godlike faculties (reason, speech, morals). So for Aristotle, ruling is nobler than commerce or moneymaking. His ideal civilized person is prosperous enough to be freed from work to serve in public life or ruling. For Aristotle, a wealthy person who continues to make money and care only about possessions is a slave to lower nature. This became the basis of much Western aristocratic views of the "gentleman" who does not deal with trade and money but with the higher intellectual, moral, and political matters, using higher human faculties. From this, Aristotle claims certain preconditions for real citizenship: education, wealth, and experience; this is why he excludes those who are irrational (slaves, workers) or have limited reasoning ability (women and children).

Aristotle categorizes regimes by the number of rulers and their character. Kingship is the rule of one; aristocracy is the rule of a few; polity is the rule of the many. All of these regimes are just because they rule not for their own interest but for the good of the whole society. So, justice in a government is not determined by the number of rulers, but by the quality of their ruling. Each form of state can be corrupted when those in government rule for their own interest rather than the common good. The corrupt form of kingship is tyranny; the corruption of aristocracy is oligarchy; and the corrupt form of polity is democracy.

Aristotle discusses what causes political change or revolutions. Generally, they are the fault of the government or rulers especially being unfaithful to the principles of the constitution (e.g., introducing monarchy into a polity or the rule of the many into a kingship). Most radical changes in politics come from varying notions of equality. The worst government, for Aristotle, is tyranny, the single ruler governing for his own passions. The tyrant kills the best people, destroys social organizations, spies on citizens, causes internal rivalries and strife, keeps the populace impoverished and busy, discourages schools and learning, makes war with his neighbors, and harasses intelligent, serious people. A just ruler, seeking to preserve order and stability, will act in a different way: selecting leaders of skill and morals, remaining loyal to the constitution and laws, and promoting virtue.

Most of Aristotle's political writings occur in his published lectures, The Politics. Some discussion of society also occurs in his Nicomachean Ethics. Here he develops the ethics of moderation, or the "Golden Mean." This says that virtuous behavior is that between the extremes of excess and deficiency. For example, in matters of money, the best is the Golden Mean of "generosity" between the excess of "extravagance" and the deficiency of "stinginess." The mean or moderate with respect to military conduct is "courage"; the deficiency of this virtue is "cowardess," and the excess is "recklessness." So the good or moral action is moderation, which resides between two extremes. This Golden Mean ethics produces the Greek maxim "Moderation in all Things" and the Western moral view that extreme action is necessarily evil. In this view, the good person is one who has a character that habitually (without having to think about it) chooses the Golden Mean in every situation. It is knowing what is the right thing to do with the right persons. It measures virtue by what is "appropriate" or proper. The person who knows this has been trained and cultivated in the Golden Mean.

One of the social relationships that helps to cultivate ethics in the individual is friendship. Human friendship, for Aristotle, can be based on (1) use, (2) pleasure, or (3) goodness. Relationships based on use involve someone being useful to you; those based on pleasure involve someone being pleasant (attractive, wealthy, etc.); those based on goodness concern the goodness or character of the other person. Only the friendship based on the mutual regard for the other's character are stable and permanent; those based on use and pleasure (which are transient) often end in quarrels and separation.

Because the character of citizens is affected by their environment, Aristotle sees the society as regulating much of life to ensure justice. For example, he finds that different kinds of music greatly affect character and actions, so the society has an interest in preventing hostile or destructive music, especially among the young. Fine and sacred music brings out the best in people; harsh and obscene music can lead to destructive behavior and social chaos, so it is properly regulated by society.

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