Aristotle’s Political Philosophy in its Historical Context: A New Translation and Commentary on Politics Books 5 and 6

Books 5 and 6 of Aristotle’s Politics are concerned with a practical problem: why constitutions break down and how regimes try to preserve themselves. Andrew Lintott presents a new translation and historical commentary on these books, where democracy, oligarchy, faction and revolution are treated as problems rooted in the experience of the Greek city-states.

Lintott places Aristotle’s arguments within the conflicts and institutions of the fourth-century BCE Greek world, including the growing importance of Macedonian monarchy. His introduction and detailed commentary keep political theory tied closely to the historical conditions that made constitutional change such an urgent subject for Aristotle.