Politeia and the historical account of the polis in Aristotle

Abstract

Aristotle's conception of the politeia (regime, constitution) as a distinctive feature of the historical experience of the polis is a key aspect in his treatment of politics2. Part of this discussion deals with Aristotle's attempt to locate and define the qualities of the politeia as the most valid criteria for a historical account of the polis. These are the qualities I intend to address in this chapter. In section 1 I consider the role of the politeia in Aristotle's account of the history of the polis after it deviates from the monarchic model of government. In section 2 I tackle the problem of the politeia's intelligibility inside the polis understood as a “community of interpretation”3. Finally, in section 3 I address the politeia as an expression of the unity of the polis and discuss its quality to unify actions (praxeis) aimed at a common goal. Here I argue that it is the politeia's “unifying quality” that highlights the causal connections underlying actions that regard the polis. The politeia helps to unmask historical causation between the actions. Within the context of the politeia, the historical account of the polis connects actions which outside the framework of the politeia do not appear to be so closely related.