Rule of law is better than rule of men. Comment

Aristotle has compared rule of law with the rule of philosopher king/person and has established the superiority of rule of law. The context of Aristotle's theory is the criticism of the institution of philosopher king. Plato has given absolute powers to the philosopher king. In Plato's words, "no law or ordinance is mightier than knowledge." The rule of men is the best form of government. Plato gave the organic view of the state like families have a father similarly state have a king.

Aristotle is the greatest disciple as well as the greatest critique of Plato. If Plato talks about best, Aristotle talks about the best practicable. According to Aristotle, it is utopia to think that we can find the philosopher king and even if we find a philosopher king there is no guarantee that he will act with reason only. For Plato, the philosopher king create a just state because he has a just soul and that soul is dominated by reason. Aristotle argues that even the reason dominate but appetite exists and may dominate someday.

According to Aristotle, law and reason are the same. They are two sides of the same coin. The purpose of both is to guide man about right and wrong. Law is an outward manifestation of reason. If the reason is in the soul, the law is in the book of law. Not only both are the same. Law comes with additional security and benefits.

Law is reason without passion. Law does not change according to person. It is impersonal. It represents the collective wisdom which is preferable to the wisdom of one person. It represents the wisdom of ages and it could not be wise to challenge the collective wisdom of ages in the name of ultimate knowledge. The inherited message of Aristotle is to not sacrifice good for the sake of the best.