Indeed, Jan. That is what he says. Thank you for filling in the details of
my little summary.




.


> Actually, he distinguishes between the rule of one, the rule of a few,
> and the rule of many. Then he says there is a healthy and a perverted
> form of each. The healthy rule of one, kingship, is best; the healthy
> rule of many, "polity," is comparatively worse than the other two
> healthy forms.
>
> Democracy, as Aristotle knew it, is in his view a perverted form, but
> not as bad as oligarchy or tyranny, the other two perverted forms. He
> also distinguishes among types of democracy, some of which are better
> than others. But not all forms of government are applicable
> everywhere. He thought that in his day polity might be the best a
> city could do. (In much earlier times, he thought, when there
> actually were a few highly virtuous individuals, or one preeminently
> virtuous individual, aristocracy (the healthy rule of a few) or
> kingship (the rule of the most virtuous individual) would have been
> the right choice.
>
> On Jul 10, 2009, at 4:19 PM, brunians@... wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> > Neither the Stoics nor Aristotle are
>> > big fans of democracy, though Aristotle admits that sometimes
>> > collective judgment is superior to individual judgment.
>>
>> Aristotle also says that the three basic forms of government,
>> monarchy,
>> aristocracy and democracy each have a good and bad form, and that
>> the good
>> form of each make for decent places to live, but that the bad form of
>> democracy, exceptionally, can be tolerable in ways that the bad
>> forms of
>> aristocracy and monarchy are not.
>>
>> .
>>
>>
>>
>
>