Aristotle on the Rule of Law and Particularism: Politics 3.15–16

Abstract This article disentangles the dialectic in Politics 3.15–16 to show that Aristotle endorses the rule of law over the rule of an absolute king. Even in principle, it is better for the law to rule than for the most virtuous individual to rule as absolute king. Examining this back-and-forth exchange allows us to attribute two arguments to Aristotle. The first argument addresses an analogy between the ruler and the crafts practitioner. The second argument grants that applying the law requires making equitable exceptions but denies that the law is ineffective in exceptional cases because the law provides for its own exceptions. So, making exceptional judgments should be understood as following the law. This reading of Politics 3.15–16, and especially the second argument, should lead us to reject an inference to the view that Aristotle was a particularist about political wisdom, and, perhaps, about practical wisdom, too.