Book 2: Chapter 1, Property, States & Plato's Laws Summary and Analysis

In these sections Aristotle addresses a number of very important political basics. This chapter shows how some issues have remained constant for millenia.

One of the first of these issues is the distribution of property within a politically organized body of people. This is criticized based upon observations of Aristotle's era and previous eras. One thinker famed for bringing this into a forum was Phaleas of Chalcedon. Here it was proposed that property be distributed rather evenly. A secondary suggestion is that each city-state or nation should ensure that there is no more than a fivefold disparity in property and land possession between the richest and poorest within the system. This permits variety but it is intended to help ensure that everyone gets something and that there is an upper limit...