9. The Mixed Regime and the Rule of Law: Aristotle's Politics, VII

Introduction to Political Philosophy (PLSC 114)

This final lecture on Aristotle focuses on controlling conflict between factions. Polity as a mixture of the principles of oligarchy and democracy, is the regime that, according to Aristotle, can most successfully control factions and avoid dominance by either extreme. Professor Smith asserts that the idea of the polity anticipates Madison's call for a government in which powers are separated and kept in check and balance, avoiding therefore the extremes of both tyranny and civil war.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Polity: The Regime that Most Successfully Controls for Faction
07:30 - Chapter 2. The Importance of Property and Commerce for a Flourishing Republic
12:28 - Chapter 3. The Aristocratic Republic: A Model for the Best Regime
26:50 - Chapter 4. What Is Aristotle's Political Science?
35:21 - Chapter 5. Who Is a Statesman?
37:54 - Chapter 6. The Method of Aristotle's Political Science

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Fall 2006.