The Best Form of Government and Civic Friendship in Aristotle’s Political Thought

This paper aims to show that in the classification of political regimes by Aristotle, the polity, mixed regime of oligarchy and democracy, is the best form of government, and that this best constitution is presented as an alternative to have a stabler constitution in which ordinary people can live a life of better quality in the intersubjective relationships with the virtuous people. It is civic friendship that will regulate the ethics of the people in this city, a friendship based on utility on the one hand, and on equality on the other. Political conventions made after the consent of diverse classes of the city will allow the people to participate turn by turn in public affairs. In effect, rotational share in office constitutes a part of the elements which assures the stability of the regime against factional conflicts. Occupying the place of just "mean" in Aristotelian sense of the word, the middle class will play the core role in the polity. They constitute an influentially moderating balance between two extremes: claims for excellence and those for equality. Thus constructed, the polity appears to be kin to the rule of law. For, different from pure forms of kingship and aristocracy, in which personal rule is practices on the basis of the ruler(s)'s excellence, the polity will be governed by conventions, i.e. man-made laws. It would be interesting to note here that for Aristotle, a city constructed on law and justice is conceived as a possibility to overcome the natural limits. Nature conditions human beings' faculties. Yet men can build on earth an ideal city with his unaided reason. This is very crucial for us to understand Aristotle's political project he declares at the end of the Nicomachean Ethics. The best form of government, that is the mixed polity of oligarchical elements and democratic elements, is ways and means to realize a generally practicable form of government for most people as well as for most cities.