Aristotle: Revolution

His Life: Aristotle (384- 322 BC) was born in Stagira, a small Greek colony and lived for the
period of 62 years. He was not an Athenian by birth. His father, Nicomachus was a royal
physician at the court of Amyntas II- king of Macedonia, in South- East Europe. As his
childhood was spent at Pella, the royal seat of Macedonia, it gave him the opportunity to
acquire first hand information about the royal court and greatly sharpened his understanding
of the working of the state. He witnessed the administration from a very close range, nature
of one- man rule, economy, the importance of foreign relation and of foreign policy. It can be
well imagined that he must have developed keen interest in Medicine, physical science,
biology, etc.

He spent more than half of his life in Athen where he was a student of Plato at his
institute known as Academy for 20 years from 367- 347 BC.

 Plato’s Institute- Academy- established in 387 BC

His works:
Though he wrote extensively on subjects like metaphysics, psychology, rhetoric, poetry,
biology, moral science, politics etc. But we are primarily concerned with his political writings
which are as follows:
 Politics – contains his political philosophy
 Metaphysics - originally published in 1923 in German
 Nicomachean ethics – discussed about how a person should be

Influences on Aristotle:
1. His father had a great influence on him: His biological outlook and scientific
approach to the problems clearly speaks for this.
2. The prevailing anarchy in the Athen: he was convinced that the anarchy, the
lawlessness and the turbulent state of affairs was due to the fact that the rulers in his
times were idealists rather than realists.
3. The existing Greek philosophy
4. His practical knowledge: his practical greatly influenced his thinking and philosophy.
It is well known that he spent practically two- third of his life studying political
institution of his time as much as 158 constitutions. In his childhood, he got a chance
to observe the working of the court from very close quarters because his father was a
royal physician. As a tutor of Alexender also he got an opportunity to collect first
hand information about many royal institutions. In addition, he visited a number of
other royal courts as well.
5. Plato, his teacher: He felt deep impact of his teacher Plato. Although he is very
critical of his teacher Plato, yet it cannot be denied that he is indebted to him in many
ways. He spent nearly 20 years in plato’s Academy which greatly influenced his
political philosophy.
Theory of Revolution:
Aristotle’s view on revolution is discussed in book V of Politics, about the causes and
cures of revolution which are the causes of political instability in the society. The
analytical and the empirical mind of Aristotle gave numerous causes, which would affect
the life of the state. He undertook this study because of the frequent changes in the
governments of city- states during his time.
Meaning: He offered a two- fold meaning to the term revolution. First he implied by it
any major or minor change in the constitution such as change from monarchy to oligarchy
or so on. Secondly, even a change in the ruling power, even though it didn’t lead to
change in the government or constitution was also a revolution. Thus a change from
monarchy to tyranny and vice versa meant a revolution.
Revolution according to Aristotle is a change in the constitution, a change in the rulers, a
change- big or small. For him, the change from monarchy to aristocracy, an example of a
big change, is a revolution; when democracy becomes less democratic it is also
revolution, though it is a small change. Hence, to sum up the meaning of Aristotle’s
revolution, one may say revolution implies:
a. A change in the set of rulers
b. A change, political in nature
c. A palace revolution
d. Political transformation/ political instability
e. A change followed by violence, destruction and bloodshed.

It is evident from the above that Aristotle did not restrict the revolution to political change
only and assigned it a much broader meaning.
Aristotle was an advocate of status quo and didn’t want political changes, for they
brought with them catastrophic and violent changes. That is why he devoted a lot of space in
the Politics explaining the general and particular causes of revolutions followed with his
suggestions to avoid them.

Revolution of 2 types:

General particular

a. Causes: General:-
1. Natural desire of the people to be treated as equal. They always envy the privileges
and superior position of the few and want to do away with the existing system.
2. Avarice nature of the rulers or ruling class which causes men to react against them.
3. Possession of power by one/ more individuals such as to excite fears that they design
to act up a monarchy or oligarchy.
4. An attempt by the wrong doers to instigate a revolution as a smokescreen to conceal
their own misdeed or of men freeing the aggressions of others of others to start a
revolution in order to anticipate their enemies.
5. Disproportionate increase of any part of state i.e. (territorial, social, economic or
otherwise) of the state, causing the other states to resort to violent means of offsetting
this counteract their predominance.
 6. Dissension/ rivalries of people of different races.
7. Dynamics and family feud and quarrel.
8. Struggle for office/ political power between rival classes and political factions or
parties.
b. Particular cause of revolution in a form of state:

He also discusses the causes of revolution in particular types of state viz. Democracies,
oligarchies, aristocracies and polities.

Revolts in monarchy and tyranny are caused by two factors viz. Hatred and contempt
generated in the minds of the people due to insolent and oppressive behaviour of the rulers;
personal insult inflicted by the ruler on some notable persons; or influence of the foreign state
of opposite character.

In aristocracy, few people share in honour. The revolution is spearheaded by those who are
denied honours which are conferred only on the few. When the number of people benefitting
becomes smaller or when the disparity between rich and poor becomes wider, revolution is
caused.

In oligarchies revolution takes place either due to rivalry and dissensions among the ruling
oligarchies or due to oppressive and dictatorial nature of their rule.

According to him, in democracies, revolutions are caused due to the unprincipled character
of the popular leaders. The excessive use of powers and unwarranted condemnation of the
rich by the demagogues provides the emergence of oligarchy.

In polity revolution is caused due to defective balance of different elements in the

Hence, According to him, Monarchy, kingship and tyranny are bad forms of constitution to
begin with and are very prone to dissensions or revolution. A mixed form of government is
the best form of government to govern and to avoid the revolution.

Remedies for prevention of revolution: [general and particular]

General:

1. Equality before law: Offices should be opened to everyone and not monopoly of any
particular class: irrespective of class, religion, caste, sex. An effort should be made to
gain the confidence of all section of the society by eliminating all symbols of injustice
and treating the various classes with consideration.
2. Rule of law: The spirit of law abidingness among the citizens should be maintained.
For this purpose, the violation of law should be viewed seriously.
3. Maintain Status quo: The petty change in the status quo should be viewed seriously
because the negligence can ultimately result in complete revolutions.
 4. Balance behaviour of the king: by permitting him limited power as the absolute
power can encourage the negligence of the weaker section of he society or can
encourage the seed of resentment.
5. Corruption free: The offices should not be a source of profit or gain. Efforts should
be made to check the bribery and illegal methods.
6. Gradual promotion: Promotion should be gradual as the sudden and quick
promotion can likely lead to resentment and prove disadvantageous for the society.
7. No job to foreigners: Important posts should not be given to outsiders/ foreigners as
they cannot feel connected and won’t be concern about the welfare of the state as
much as the native.
8. Public scrutiny: the public finances should be made transparent to gain confidence of
the public and to make them feel that the officials are not exploiting their positions for
selfish ends. This will contribute to the popularity of the government.
9. Patriotism: efforts should be made to keep the spirit of patriotism at fever pitch.
10. Education in line with constitution: the citizen should be made aware of their duties
along with the rights. The young must be trained in the spirit of the constitution, must
be disciplined to social habits consonant with the maintenance of the constitution,
must learn to think and act as an integral part of a particular form of political society.

Particular methods for prevention of revolution:

Aristotle has described the methods by which stability of each one of the different forms of
governments can be secured. In the mixed constitution, special care must be taken to detect
the beginning of any new condition taking place in the state for bringing any political change.
Then only the revolution can be prevented in different forms of governments:

1. In aristocracy and oligarchy the people consisting of the inferior and the lower
classes must be well treated and the principles of democratic equality must be strictly
applied among the privilege class. The lower class should be treated with fairness and
no single person or group of persons should be permitted to become too powerful.
The poor people (who aren’t rich in the society/ not reputed) should also be associated
with the administration.
2. In democracies, the rich pact (leaders/ rulers/) of the society should be encouraged to
share in those administrative function/ community participation which do not affect
the sovereign power. Further, in democracies, the property of the rich people should
be safe from the fear of redistribution. In polity revolution can be averted by proper
blending of the democratic and oligarchic elements.
3. Under tyranny the revolution can be checked through the following methods:
3.1. Beautiful women spies should be employed because a beautiful woman could easily
gather the information about different activities within the state.
3.2. Following the policy of aggression and expansion to display the power and to
maintain the hegemony.
3.3.Creating a sense of constant fear from a powerful enemy among the masses.
3.4.Keeping people busy in non- political activities so that they may find no time to
indulge in political activities and to revolt against the tyrant ruler.
 3.5.Keeping the people poor so that they are constantly faced with economic problems as
there is a saying that goes “keep people busy with basic needs and they will forget
about the freedom they have lost”.
3.6.Creating distrust and hostility among the various section of the society so they will be
busy in mutual wrangles and cannot think of revolting against the rulers.
3.7.Participating in public worship and religious ceremonies of the people showing
respect for their religious sentiments.
3.8.Earning reputation for military virtues.
3.9.The tyrant should punish those by chopping off their heads that are found guilty.

Criticism:

 It is difficult as well as confusing to differentiate between the general causes and the
particular causes of the revolution.
 Aristotle disapproves revolution or he does not support revolution. He considered
revolution as a medium to bring catastrophe and violence in the society. But if a ruler
is corrupted, then the revolution is bound to occur. Hence, it is a necessity in the
course of change.
 Revolution is not only meant for bloodshed as seen by Aristotle. History is witnessed
that the revolution marks the beginning of new era or new world order. Ex. End of
British colonial rule in India was brought with the help of series of revolution only.
 The tyrant has been encouraged on how to continue the reign and the methods to
suppress or prevent the revolution which is not a good sign.

Contribution of Aristotle to the political thought:

Father of political science: He is the first political thinker to have done a systematic study of
the state. Due to his vast knowledge on the politics, he is considered as the encyclopaedia of
his time. As Barker says that the essence of Aristotle’s procedure was observation and
registration of all relevant data and the objective of his study was in every case, to discover
some general theory. Prior to making any theory, he observed the political institution of his
time in a systematic and scientific manner.

A realist thinker: He was a realist political thinker which was the result of deep impact on
him of his father and his teacher, Plato. He always used to analyse before jumping into any
kind of conclusion. He was realist in the sense that his concepts were practical or scientific in
nature and was accepted by the people and achievable within stipulated time. He has allowed
as large scope for the rights of individualism.

Implied comparative method: did comparative study of 158 constitutions of his time to
prove the theories and the philosophies.

Believed in supremacy of law: unlike plate, Aristotle says that the knowledge of the ruler
can be better than the customary law. Plato believed in the rule of man, i.e., the philosopher
king whereas Aristotle believed in the rule of law. He clearly says that every good
governance should be based on laws. And in the making of laws, collective wisdom of the
people should be consulted because collective wisdom of the people is more important than
the wisdom of the single individual. By having faith in the supremacy of law, he stressed the
need of having constitutional government.

Close relationship between politics and the economic: he was the first to talk on this. He
stressed that the character and the distribution of wealth is a determining factor in fixing the
form of the government. The occupation of the people influence their political attitude and
ability. He said that the revolution is usually a conflict between those who have plenty of
wealth versus those who have little. In simple words, the cause of the revolution are rested in
the economic condition of life.

Comparison between Plato Vs Aristotle: