Politics

Contents

1. I Book I 56 min 20

   Aristotle begins from the city as the highest community, aiming at the highest good. Tracing its growth from household and village, he argues that the city exists by nature and that man is by nature a political animal, marked out by speech and a sense of justice. He then examines the household: the rule of master over slave, defended by the theory of natural slavery; the distinction between natural acquisition for household needs and unlimited money-making through trade and usury; and the different rule of husband over wife and father over children, each with its own kind of virtue.

2. II Book II 1 h 27 min 12

   Before describing the best state, Aristotle examines proposals and constitutions already admired. He criticises Plato’s Republic: excessive unity destroys a city, common wives and children dilute affection, and common property breeds neglect and quarrels, so property should be private but its use common. He then reviews Plato’s Laws, Phaleas’ equalisation of property, Hippodamus’ planned city and his proposals for law, and the constitutions of Sparta, Crete and Carthage, faulting their treatment of serfs, women, land and offices. A survey of lawgivers, from Solon to Pittacus, closes the book.

3. III Book III 1 h 27 min 13

   Aristotle asks what a city and a citizen are, defining the citizen as one who shares in judging and office, and asks whether the good man and the good citizen are the same. He classifies constitutions as true or perverted by whether they serve the common interest, giving six forms, and argues that oligarchy and democracy really differ by wealth and poverty. He weighs rival claims to rule, defends the collective judgement of the many, discusses ostracism, and examines five kinds of kingship, concluding that law should generally rule, though a person of overwhelming virtue might be king.

4. IV Book IV 1 h 22 min 15

   Aristotle turns from the ideal to the actual. Political science must know the best constitution, the best one possible under given conditions, and how to preserve any constitution. Constitutions vary because cities are made of different classes; democracy is rule of the free poor, oligarchy of the rich, whatever their numbers. He distinguishes five democracies and four oligarchies, ending with lawless rule by decree, and defines polity as a mixture of the two. The best practicable state rests on a large middle class that neither covets nor is coveted. The book ends by analysing the deliberative, executive and judicial parts of government.

5. V Book V 1 h 35 min 23

   Book V studies revolution and the preservation of states. Every constitution rests on some idea of justice as equality, and faction breaks out when groups think their share unjust. Aristotle lists the motives and occasions of change, then traces how democracies fall through demagogues, oligarchies through exclusion and quarrels, and aristocracies and polities through bad mixing. States are preserved by obedience to law, by moderation, by honest offices and by education suited to the constitution. Monarchies fall through hatred and contempt; tyrants survive by repression or by imitating kings. The book ends by criticising Plato’s cycle of constitutions.

6. VI Book VI 37 min 7

   Book VI turns the analysis of Books IV–V into practical advice on organising democracies and oligarchies. Aristotle sets out the democrats’ principle of liberty (ruling and being ruled in turn, living as one likes) and its institutions: the lot, pay for office, short terms. He proposes a property-weighted majority to reconcile rich and poor, ranks democracies by the occupation of their people (farmers best, the urban crowd worst), and advises on preserving each kind: endowing the poor rather than distributing surplus, and matching military forces to regimes. He ends with a catalogue of the offices any city needs.

7. VII Book VII 1 h 21 min 17

   Book VII begins the account of the best state. Happiness is virtuous activity, for city and individual alike, and a city aimed at conquest mistakes means for ends. Aristotle then sets out the material conditions: a population small enough to know itself, a defensible self-sufficient territory with a controlled port, Greek citizens combining spirit and intelligence. Farmers, artisans and traders are necessary but not citizens; the land is worked by slaves or serfs, and citizens are soldiers when young, rulers and priests when old. The book closes with rules for city planning, marriage, procreation and the rearing of young children.

8. VIII Book VIII 34 min 10

   Book VIII, unfinished, treats the education of citizens in the best state. Education must be public and uniform because citizens belong to the city, and it must be liberal, avoiding paid and vulgarising work. Aristotle discusses the four customary subjects, criticises Sparta’s brutal training, and gives most of the book to music. Music serves amusement, character and the noble use of leisure; boys should learn to perform but not professionally, avoid the aulos, and be trained chiefly in ethical modes such as the Dorian. He criticises Plato’s choice of modes, and the text breaks off mid-discussion.