11 h 26 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 26 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What makes a city worth living in—and who gets to decide?
In Politics: A Treatise on Government, Aristotle asks what people need to live well together. He moves from the household to the city, testing questions of citizenship, wealth and rule against the constitutions of Athens, Sparta, Crete and Carthage. The stakes are concrete: who holds power, whose interests count, and what keeps a government standing.
Throughout the work, Aristotle examines six kinds of government, challenges Plato’s plans for an ideal city, and argues for a strong middle class. His aim reaches beyond safety and trade toward the good life. His defence of slavery and low view of women also demand scrutiny: this is an argument to weigh, not simply accept.
What you’ll discover
- The purpose of government Explore Aristotle’s claim that a city should help people live well, not merely survive.
- Citizenship under examination Follow the argument beyond where people live to the question of who should rule.
- The strength of the middle Consider why Aristotle places a strong middle class at the heart of political stability.
- Why governments fall Trace how clashing ideas of fairness can unsettle a constitution and drive revolt.
- Education and shared life Examine his case for shared education that shapes citizens’ character toward a common aim.
Who will love it
This is for readers who enjoy ideas about how societies work: students of philosophy and politics, citizens curious about the roots of constitutions, and anyone who likes seeing a sharp mind test real laws.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The city grows from nature, and humans belong in it
- Wealth serves the household and has natural limits
- A city made too unified stops being a city
- Real constitutions show what lasts and what breaks
- A citizen is someone who shares in judging and ruling
- Governments are right or wrong by whom they serve
- Law is safer than any single ruler
- A strong middle class keeps a state steady
- Revolutions grow from small quarrels and unequal claims
- The best city exists for leisure, virtue and education
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Politica
by Aristotele
Aristotle weighs the constitutions of Sparta, Crete and Carthage and asks what keeps a city alive.
Challenging5–10 hours to readItaliano
Learn a language with challenging classicsSpagnoloFranceseTedescoItalianoGiapponesePortogheseIngleseHow we measure levels
Excellent
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In short
What keeps a city alive? Aristotle does not answer from an armchair.
Politica in breve
- Tempo di lettura
- Circa 6 h 20 min5 h fast, 7 h 30 min slow
- Durata
- 90.100 parole
- Livello nella biblioteca
- Impegnativo long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- Prima pubblicazione
- circa 350 a.C.by Aristotele
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Quanto tempo ci vuole per leggere i classici · Aggiornato
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The city grows from nature, and humans belong in it
Aristotle opens by asking what a city is. Every community aims at some good, and the city aims at the highest good and holds all the others inside it. So a city differs in kind from a household, and not merely in size.
Households join into villages, and villages join into a city. It begins so that people may live, and it continues so that they may live well.
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Quale edizione fa per me
- 15-minute summary
- Le idee principali dell’intero libro in circa 14 minuti. Per un primo sguardo o per rinfrescare la memoria.
Dettagli
- Language
- Italiano
- Reading time
- 7 h 25 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cita questa edizione
Aristotle. Politics: A Treatise on Government. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/politics-a-treatise-on-government.
Aristotle. (2026). Politics: A treatise on government. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/politics-a-treatise-on-government (Original work published ca. 350 B.C.E.)
Aristotle. Politics: A Treatise on Government. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/politics-a-treatise-on-government.
@book{aristotle2026politics,
author = {Aristotle},
title = {Politics: A Treatise on Government},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/politics-a-treatise-on-government},
note = {First published ca. 350 BCE}
}
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What is Aristotle's Politics about?
It studies how cities are formed and governed. Aristotle looks at households, citizens, the kinds of constitution, the causes of revolution, and the best city, comparing the laws of Sparta, Crete, Carthage and Athens with ideal plans.
What does Aristotle mean by man is a political animal?
He means that humans have speech and a sense of justice that make life in a community natural to them. A person who needs no city, he says, must be a beast or a god.
What are the six forms of government in Politics?
Aristotle names three right forms, kingship, aristocracy and polity, which serve the common good. Their corrupt forms are tyranny, oligarchy and democracy, which serve only the ruler, the rich or the poor.
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