“ A government is good when it aims at the good of the whole community, bad when it cares only for itself. There are three kinds of government that are good: monarchy, aristocracy, and constitutional government (or polity) ; there are three that are bad: tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy. ”
Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy (1945). copy citation
| Author | Bertrand Russell |
|---|---|
| Source | A History of Western Philosophy |
| Topic | tyranny democracy |
| Date | 1945 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/History%20of%20Western%20Philosoph... |
Context
“Some men, he says, think this desirable, on the ground that all revolutions turn on the regulation of property. He rejects this argument, maintaining that the greatest crimes are due to excess rather than want; no man becomes a tyrant in order to avoid feeling the cold.
A government is good when it aims at the good of the whole community, bad when it cares only for itself. There are three kinds of government that are good: monarchy, aristocracy, and constitutional government (or polity) ; there are three that are bad: tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy. There are also many mixed intermediate forms. It will be observed that the good and bad governments are defined by the ethical qualities of the holders of power, not by the form of the constitution. This, however, is only partly true.” source
A government is good when it aims at the good of the whole community, bad when it cares only for itself. There are three kinds of government that are good: monarchy, aristocracy, and constitutional government (or polity) ; there are three that are bad: tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy. There are also many mixed intermediate forms. It will be observed that the good and bad governments are defined by the ethical qualities of the holders of power, not by the form of the constitution. This, however, is only partly true.” source
