- 01City as the highest political society
- 02Natural origins of household, village, and city
- 03Man as a political animal and the gift of speech
- 01Speech, justice, and the natural origin of the city
- 02Household government and the master-slave relation
- 01The slave as a living instrument
- 02Whether slavery is natural or just
- 01Natural rule and subjection
- 01Slavery by law and by nature
- 01Herile and political government
- 02Money-getting and household provision
- 01Natural acquisition and domestic economy
- 02Pecuniary acquisition, barter, and money
- 03Wealth, trade, and the limits of acquisition
- 01Natural household money-making versus retail trade
- 01Domestic management and profitable livestock
- 02Money-making through exchange and labor
- 03Practical arts, lowly trades, and Thales' olive-press speculation
- 01Monopoly and the acquisition of wealth
- 02Domestic government: wife and children
- 01Virtue in household government
- 02Different virtues of slaves, women, and children
- 03Virtue suited to each station
Politics
by Aristotle · c. 330 BCE · 8 chapters · 24/7 tutor
Citizenship, constitutions, and political community.
8Chapters
96Lessons
219Topics
Certificate of completion included
This course was produced by Cavua from a public-domain text.
Skills this course leaves you with.
- Explain Aristotle’s account of citizenship and the political community.
- Compare monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy as forms of government.
- Analyze the role of constitutions, magistrates, and the deliberative power.
- Summarize Aristotle’s arguments on the best practical political arrangement.
- Describe historical examples of Sparta, Crete, Carthage, and Solon’s legislation.
Curriculum
The full table of contents.
Every chapter, every lesson, every topic — laid out before you enroll. Click any chapter to expand it.
- Chapters
- 8
- Lessons
- 96
- Topics
- 219
- 01Virtue of slaves and household relations
- 02Community in the best constitution
- 03Critique of Plato's community of wives
- 04Why a city must remain diverse
- 01Critique of making the city too much one
- 02Common property and common children
- 01Objections to community of children and kinship confusion
- 02Social harms of shared wives and children
- 01Community of wives and children
- 02Private property and common use
- 03Critique of Socrates's community of goods
- 01Critique of Socrates’ communal wives and property
- 02Critique of the magistracy and happiness in the Republic
- 03Plato’s Laws: division of inhabitants and education
- 01Plato's Laws and the limits of community of goods
- 02Property, population, and civic balance
- 03Mixed constitution and magistrate selection
- 01Phaleas’s equal-property proposal
- 02Education, honors, and causes of sedition
- 03Military preparedness and the limits of wealth
- 01Phaleas’s equality of property and civic order
- 02Hippodamus’s three-part city and legal scheme
- 03Critique of Hippodamus’s civic divisions and courts
- 04Rewards for informers and the case for changing laws
- 01Slavery and the management of helots
- 02Women, luxury, and civic discipline
- 01Women, property, and population in Sparta
- 02The ephors and the senate
- 03Kings, public meals, and political balance
- 01Critiques of Spartan public meals, naval command, and war-centered laws
- 02Cretan constitution and its Spartan origins
- 03Cretan public meals and the kosmoi
- 01Carthage compared with Sparta and Crete
- 02Mixed constitution, magistracies, and popular appeal
- 03Shift toward oligarchy and constitutional faults
- 01Solon's mixed constitution and judicial reforms
- 02Later democratic changes and other legislators
- 01Lawgivers and their laws
- 02What a city is
- 03Who counts as a citizen
- 01Citizen as participant in judicial and executive power
- 02Descent-based definitions of citizenship
- 01What counts as the city's act
- 02When a city is the same or different
- 01Virtue of the citizen and the good man
- 02Command, obedience, and civic education
- 01Who Counts as a Citizen
- 01Forms of government and civic rule
- 01Forms of government and their corruptions
- 01Nature of tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy
- 02Wealth, poverty, and the true distinction between regimes
- 03Proper limits of oligarchy and democracy
- 01Justice, equality, and unequal persons
- 02The true purpose of civil society
- 03Law, virtue, and what makes a city
- 01The city as a community for living well
- 02Who should hold supreme power?
- 01Supreme power in the many
- 02Public judgment and officeholding
- 01Justice as equality in civil society
- 02Merit, equality, and public offices
- 01Qualifications for holding office
- 02Claims of rich, noble, and virtuous citizens
- 03Law, equality, and the exceptional citizen
- 04Ostracism and the removal of overmighty citizens
- 01Four sorts of kingly government
- 02Absolute monarchy and the polity question
- 01Good man versus good laws
- 02Limits of kingly power and magistrates
- 01Qualifications for kingly, aristocratic, and democratic government
- 01Best government and practical statesmanship
- 01Legislators must adapt laws to each constitution
- 02Regular governments and their excesses
- 01Varieties of free states and corruption
- 02Why governments have many forms
- 01Kinds of government and political analogies
- 02Defining democracy and oligarchy by class and freedom
- 03Parts of the city and civic functions
- 04Classes of people and species of democracy
- 01Demagogues and lawless democracy
- 02Species of oligarchies
- 01Causes of democratic and oligarchic mixtures
- 02Four species of democracy
- 01Four species of oligarchy
- 02Aristocracy and related mixed governments
- 01Free state and tyranny among governments
- 02Free state as a mixture of democracy and oligarchy
- 03Laws, virtue, riches, and liberty in constitutions
- 01Blending democracy and oligarchy into a state
- 02Three methods of combining the two governments
- 03Lacedaemon as a mixed constitution
- 01Tyranny as a form of government
- 02The best state and the middle class
- 01Middle rank as the stabilizing element
- 02Oligarchic and democratic manipulations of civic participation
- 03Military citizenship and the rise of republics
- 01Public assembly and state offices
- 02Forms of deliberative power in democracy and oligarchy
- 03Mixed arrangements and legal safeguards
- 01What counts as a magistrate
- 02Magistrates in large and small states
- 03Differences in appointing magistrates
- 01Judicial courts and their eight kinds
- 01Kinds of judges and courts
- 02Causes of sedition and constitutional change
- 01Causes of sedition and revolution
- 02Ill-treatment and profit as causes of sedition
- 01Causes of sedition and revolution
- 01Causes of sedition in mixed and unequal cities
- 02Quarrels among leading citizens
- 03Power shifts and political equality
- 01Causes and methods of revolutions
- 02Democratic revolutions from demagogues
- 01Causes of democratic revolutions
- 02Causes of oligarchic revolutions
- 01Causes of oligarchic revolutions
- 02Revolutions in aristocracies and free states
- 01Preserving governments through law and moderation
- 02Balancing classes, offices, and public money
- 01Qualifications for the highest offices
- 02Preserving constitutions through moderation and civic education
- 01Monarchy and tyranny contrasted
- 02Causes of monarchical corruption and conspiracy
- 01Causes of the destruction of monarchies
- 02Moderation in kingship and the preservation of kingdoms
- 03Methods for preserving tyrannies
- 04The three aims of tyranny
- 05How a tyrant should govern and appear
- 06Tyrannical rule by appearing as a king
- 01Examples of short-lived tyrannies
- 02Critique of Plato's account of political change
- 01Critique of theories of constitutional change
- 02Supreme council, magistrates, and judicial department
- 01Varieties and combinations of governments
- 02Liberty as the foundation of democracy
- 03Democratic offices, selection, and pay
- 01Equality by census and majority
- 02The best democracy of husbandmen
- 01Democratic stability and legal safeguards
- 02Public revenues, assemblies, and relief for the poor
- 01Founding an oligarchy by opposition to democracy
- 02Census classes and magistrate selection
- 03Preserving oligarchies and military classes
- 01Principles for establishing democracy and oligarchy
- 02Market, building, and revenue magistrates
- 03Courts, prisons, and military officers
- 04Supreme council and religious offices
- 01Best government and the best way of life
- 01Virtue as the basis of civic happiness
- 02Individual and city happiness compared
- 03War, conquest, and the legislator's duty
- 01Virtue, citizenship, and political life
- 01Establishing the ideal city
- 02Proper size and population of the city
- 01Proper size and limits of a city
- 02Country size, situation, and access
- 01Advantages and dangers of a seaport city
- 01Natural disposition of citizens: courage and intelligence
- 02Why Greeks combine courage and understanding
- 03Courage, friendship, and severity in character
- 01Necessary parts of a city
- 02Distribution of civic employments
- 01Ancient origins of social and civic arrangements
- 02Division of land, husbandmen, and common meals
- 01Division of the countryside and slave labor
- 02City site, health, water, and fortifications
- 01City walls, towers, and public buildings
- 01Public squares, markets, and civic buildings
- 02Happiness as the aim of government
- 03How citizens become worthy through education
- 01Governors and governed in turn
- 02Education for obedience and command
- 03The proper end of political education
- 04Critique of war-centered legislation
- 01Virtues needed for peace and rest
- 02Nature, custom, and reason in education
- 01Marriage timing and parental ages
- 01Marriage, childbearing, and parental fitness
- 02Early childhood care and play
- 03Home education and moral protection
- 01Public education as a civic duty
- 01Useful knowledge and liberal education
- 02Children's studies: reading, gymnastic exercises, music, and painting
- 03Leisure, play, and happiness
- 01Music as liberal education for leisure
- 02Useful instruction and gymnastic training
- 01Gymnastic training and bodily development
- 02Why music belongs in education
- 03Music's moral influence and harmonies
- 01Children learning music as practical training
- 02Proper musical instruction and instruments
- 01Flute, ancient instruments, and freemen's musical training
- 02Harmony, rhythm, and the educational uses of music
- 01Ethic melody and harmony for education
- 01Political community, citizenship, and household foundations
- 02Index entries on government, citizenship, and social order
01How many chapters are in the Politics course?
The Politics course has 8 chapters, each with its own lessons and topics.
02How many lessons are in the Politics course?
There are 96 lessons across the course, and you can ask your 24/7 tutor about any of them.
03Can I see what the Politics course covers before I start?
Yes. The full curriculum is listed on this page, beginning with "Book I".
04Do I get a certificate for the Politics course?
Yes. Finishing the course earns a personal Cavua certificate of completion.
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