Aristotle's Politics is a discourse, which attempts to define the purpose and nature of the political state and politics. Thus, it is perhaps one of the world's most ancient texts on political science, as it is a study of the social arrangements necessary to achieve peace and justice within a given society. In fact, Aristotle begins his treatise by stating that the city is essentially a product of politics, as it has developed to fulfill human need for self-sufficiency. Since this entails interdependence, a political partnership is formed, which aims at the common good. Aristotle goes on to explain that achieving the common good involves both the state and the individual citizen working towards living a virtuous life. He believed that this was possible to achieve given the human power of reason and desire for "living well." Thus, having established a framework for his discussion on the ethics of politics, Aristotle then explores various aspects of politics in the subsequent books.
Indeed, the thoroughness of Aristotle's analysis is evident by the range of subjects he touches on: the position of women and slaves in society; the pros and cons of different regimes; the ownership of property; the value of free enterprise and democracy; corruption; the importance of education in inculcating the right values; the role of citizens; the authority and purpose of law; the causes of conflict; and the benefits of virtue. After examining the nature of each of these aspects of life, Aristotle concludes that the best regime is "polity," a mixture of democracy and an oligarchy, largely because democracy presumes that because people are equally free, they are equal generally whereas an oligarchy believes that because people do not have equal wealth, they are unequal. Thus, Aristotle found a flaw in both concepts as neither takes into account true equality or justice, which is why he concluded that a good political regime should vest maximum authority in a legal system. Many of Aristotle's observations in his Politics such as the importance of freedom and virtue are taken for granted today but his work still holds enormous value for the ethical perspective it takes on the politics of society and daily living.
