For they that are discontented under Monarchy, call it Tyranny; and they that are displeased with Aristocracy, called it Oligarchy: So also, they which find themselves grieved under a Democracy, call it Anarchy...(240)
While reading Part II, I couldn't help but notice strong similarities between Hobbes' method of explaining the Common-wealth and that of Aristotle in his discussion of regimes in Politics. Both identify three ideal forms of government: rule by one, rule by part, and rule by all. There are, in Aristotle's words, "deviations" from each of these forms. Hobbes refers to these as "the same Formes misliked" (240). The only discrepancy comes in their thoughts on rule by all. For Aristotle, Polity, a mixture of Oligarchy and Democracy, is the best regime and Democracy is a deviation of it. As the quotation above tells us, Hobbes believes that Democracy is the proper form. I find it interesting that what was a "deviation" for Aristotle is the best form of rule in Hobbes' time. What happened to the idea of Polity? How did Democracy become and remain the ideal form?
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