Explanatory Causes in Aristotle’s Constitutional Theory

Abstract

This article defends the thesis that the theory of explanatory causes plays a substantive and nontrivial role in Aristotle’s constitutional theory. The Aristotelian πολιτεία, I contend, is the formal cause of the polis and it is determined by the conception of εὐδαιμονία prevalent among the dominant or ruling political group in the polis. Section 1 defends the general claim that Aristotle’s constitutional analysis is informed by his theory of explanatory causes and the specific claim that the πολιτεία is a formal cause. Section 2 then connects the status of the πολιτεία as a formal cause to the diverse conceptions of εὐδαιμονία which determine regime-types and their laws.