Study Guide

The Nicomachean Ethics Book 8, Chapter 10 (1160a35-1161a9)

By Aristotle

Book 8, Chapter 10 (1160a35-1161a9)

To continue a discussion of community, Aristotle moves on to the issue of rule.
He names three types of regimes: 1) kingship; 2) aristocracy; 3) timocracy, a type of rule of the people.
There are also three ways these regimes can go wrong. For kingship, it's tyranny.
A tyrant seeks only his own advantage, while a true king looks out for his subjects. Since a king needs nothing for himself, he works for the good of his people.
Aristocracies can crumble into oligarchies—a despotic system where a group of the most powerful people runs the government.
Aristotle says that the rise of oligarchies happens when there's an unjust distribution of goods on the part of the ruling class. In this system, wealth—not the common good—rules.
A timocracy can morph into—gasp!—a democracy. Aristotle thinks that a democracy is the least corrupt of these deviant regime types because it's still a rule of the people.
Why does Aristotle bring all this political stuff up? Because it's reflected in the microcosm of daily life.
So we're meant to see each of these types of rule—and the relationships that pop up in them—even down to the level of an individual household.
The community of a father and his family = kingship (or tyranny, depending on the dad); husband/wife = aristocracy (ruling class); brothers = timocracy (since all are equal).
Democracy happens in households when there's no proper master around to keep everyone in line. This is a horror in Aristotle's eyes.