Book I

Aristotle establishes that every city is a society founded on the principle of achieving some good, and the city in particular aims at the best possible good and encompasses all other societies.

Aristotle corrects the view that political, regal, family, and slave governments differ only in size, arguing instead that they differ fundamentally in their nature and constitution.

To understand the city properly, one must decompose it into its constituent parts down to the most fundamental elements, just as with any inquiry into natural subjects.

Male and female must unite by natural impulse for reproduction, not by choice, in order to perpetuate their kind.

By nature, beings with mind and forethought rule while those with merely bodily excellence serve, a relationship that benefits both parties mutually.

Nature creates different instruments for different purposes, so the female differs naturally from the slave; yet among barbarians the distinction collapses because none are naturally fit to govern.

The household is the first natural society established for daily support, composed of male-female pairing and later including servants and possessions.

Villages arise from the union of multiple families descended from one ancestor, and are originally governed by kings because families are governed by elders.

When many villages unite completely into one society, it becomes a city, which is the final and perfect form of political community.

The city must be a natural production if the original male-female pairing is natural, since all subordinate societies tend toward the city as their end and final cause.

Man is naturally suited to political community; whoever is naturally unfit for society is either subhuman or superhuman, as exemplified by the solitary man without law or family.

Man alone possesses speech, which enables him to express concepts of justice and injustice, setting him apart from other social animals and forming the foundation of family and city.

The city must be prior to the individual because the whole necessarily precedes the parts; an individual cannot compose a perfect government by himself and is only a part of the city.

All humans have a natural impetus to associate politically, and whoever established civil society achieved the greatest good, for man is excellent with justice but worst without it.

A complete family consists of both free persons and slaves, with its smallest parts being the master-slave pair, the husband-wife pair, and the father-child pair.

Some believe the master's power over slaves derives from superior knowledge, while others argue slavery is contrary to nature and based merely on law or force rather than justice.

Property is an instrument necessary for life and living well, with slaves being animated instruments; just as tools require their proper instruments to complete work, families require property.

A slave by nature is a being who is nothing of himself but entirely belongs to another and exists for use; he is an instrument separate from the body yet human.

Governance of some by others is necessary and useful in nature; from birth some are marked for ruling and others for being ruled, with the quality of government reflecting the quality of those governed.

The soul naturally governs the body as the master governs the slave, and the mind governs appetite; this shows it is natural and beneficial for body to be ruled by soul.

Men who are as inferior to others as the body is to the soul should naturally be governed and enslaved, as their excellence consists in bodily strength alone.

A natural slave is one qualified to be another's chattel, having just enough reason to perceive reason exists but incapable of using it, unlike animals who lack reason entirely.

Nature intends slave bodies to be robust for labor and free bodies to be erect for civil life, though these intentions are not always fulfilled in practice.

Just as superior bodies should enslave inferior bodies, it is even more just when the superior is a matter of soul rather than body, though soul's beauty is harder to perceive.

Slavery can arise two ways: by nature or by law/conquest. Legal slavery through conquest is disputed among the wise since force can succeed through superior abilities.

Disagreement persists about whether slavery from warfare is just, with some basing it on law and others questioning whether the powerful should rightfully rule.

Some argue that slavery from war is legally just since law makes it so, though the war itself might be unjust, and they refine this by saying only barbarians should be enslaved.

Some people are naturally slaves everywhere, while noble status and freedom vary by place; barbarians are respected only at home, suggesting these distinctions are not universal.

Those who distinguish slave from free by virtue rather than birth believe good men beget good men, as nature intends, though this frequently fails.

Some are not slaves by nature and others are not free by nature; in some cases slavery is mutually beneficial and just, particularly when natural, while legal slavery from conquest often fails to align with nature.

Slave government differs from political government: the former is monarchical rule suited to slaves, while the latter is rule among free and equal persons.

A master is called such not because he knows how to manage slaves but because he is a master; similarly, slave and free have their designations from their nature.

A slave's knowledge concerns household tasks and services, while a master's knowledge involves properly employing slaves; this is not a great accomplishment, so those who can employ stewards do so.

Money-getting differs from economy and requires examination; it may be a part of economy or something subservient to it, like tool-making to weaving.

Animals subsist differently based on nature: some hunt, some herd, some farm; men similarly have various modes of living determined by what they can obtain.

Nature supplies nourishment to all animals immediately at birth and later at maturity, either through the womb or milk, showing that nature intends provision.

Nature creates plants for animals and animals for men, both tame for use and wild for provision or clothing, so all exists for human benefit.

War against unwilling natural slaves is naturally just, and hunting is a natural part of acquisition; true natural acquisition includes only necessary possessions.

True riches consist of necessities for life, and their acquisition has natural bounds unlike unlimited art instruments, making natural economy finite.

Another type of acquisition—pecuniary or trade-based—seems to have no bounds, leading to endless wealth accumulation unlike natural economy.

Things have a natural use and an exchange use; shoes are worn or traded, but exchange use is not the original intention.

When some have surplus and others lack necessities, barter naturally arises; it is innocent exchange suited to nature, not money-getting.

Money was invented to solve the problem of distance and inconvenience in trade, replacing barter by providing a portable, valuable medium of exchange.

Money was first valued by weight or size, then marked with a stamp to express its value and save the trouble of weighing.

Once money was established, trading and money-getting emerged as ways to accumulate profit through buying and selling.

Many suppose wealth consists in the quantity of money one possesses, since money conducts all trade, though others hold money has no natural value.

A person may possess abundant money yet lack food, showing money is not real wealth; the myth of Midas illustrates how money cannot provide genuine needs.

Real riches are objects of economy found in nature, not money; trade procures money through exchange but money is merely the means, not the end of economy.

Like medicine with health, trade has no natural bounds because its end is money, not real goods; the arts lack boundaries when their end is unlimited.

While arts seek unlimited ends, the means available to pursue those ends are limited, so these limits bound how far the art can proceed.

Acquiring riches is not economy's business; economy has bounds though wealth-getting does not, yet people confuse them and pursue unlimited wealth.

Because economy and wealth-getting use wealth as a common object, some mistake wealth accumulation as economy's purpose, hoarding money without end.

Those intent on merely living, rather than living well, have boundless desire, so they seek boundless means; those seeking pleasure-based living pursue money endlessly.

Courage, medicine, and military service have proper ends like fortitude and health, but some redirect these entirely to money-getting against their nature.

Unnecessary wealth-getting differs from necessary economy; natural economy providing food is limited in extent, while unlimited acquisition has no bounds.

Though not strictly money-getting's business, the household manager must manage provisions properly, as the politician receives people from nature and puts them to purpose.

The weaver uses yarn but does not make it; similarly the household master uses provisions but need not make them, though he must judge quality.

Just as medicine is not the household master's business though health is necessary, so money-getting is partly his business and partly the servant's.

Nature supplies all offspring with food where they are produced, so natural riches arise from fruits and animals.

Money-making serves either household management (necessary and commendable) or retail trade (unjustly censurable and unnatural).

Usury, breeding money from money itself rather than using it for exchange, is most against nature, as shown by its name implying offspring.

Household management requires practical skills: knowing which animals are profitable, where they thrive, and understanding agriculture, bees, fish, and birds.

Merchandise can be conducted by sea or land transport or local sale, each differing in profitability and safety.

Besides merchandise, money-making includes usury, wages for labor, and mixed methods involving natural products not bearing fruit like timber and metals.

The best arts involve least chance and preserve the body; mean arts corrupt the body; servile arts require only strength; illiberal arts require least skill.

Thales used astrology to predict olive abundance, monopolized oil works cheaply, then sold them at high profit, proving philosophers can be rich but prefer wisdom.

Monopolizing commodities is profitable for both cities and individuals, as shown by the Sicilian who bought all iron and doubled his investment.

Political leaders should understand wealth-making techniques since states need revenue as much as families do, and some officials specialize in fund-raising.

Family government comprises three parts: master-slave relation, husband-wife relation, and father-child relation, each deserving separate examination.

The wife should be treated as a free citizen but in a different way than men, since the male is naturally superior to the female as the elder to the younger.

In free states, governors and governed naturally alternate places as nature prefers equality; when one rules, distinctions appear in forms and honors.

Children are under kingly government, as the father's power rests on affection and seniority; Homer rightly calls Zeus the father-king since rulers are of the same kind as the ruled.

Proper family government prioritizes the virtue of members—especially the free—over riches and possessions.

It is unclear whether slaves possess higher virtues like temperance and justice or only bodily qualities, creating a puzzle about their difference from free persons.

If those who govern lack virtue they cannot govern well, and if those governed lack it they cannot be governed well; both must possess virtue though differently.

Governing and being governed are different in kind, not merely in degree, so differences cannot arise from possessing virtues in different amounts.

Ruler and ruled have different virtues because the soul contains both governing and submitting principles, like the difference between rational and irrational being.

Nature contains various beings that govern and are governed: freemen govern differently than slaves, males than females, and men than children.

All these beings have mental parts but in different ways: slaves lack the power of determination, women have weak capacity, children have imperfect capacity.

All must possess moral virtue, but not in the same manner—it should suit each person's employment and station in life.

The ruler must be perfect in moral virtue because his work is entirely architectural, directed by reason, while others need only sufficient virtue for their station.

Male courage means commanding, female courage means obeying; Sophocles notes that silence ornaments a woman but not a man.

Those who define virtue as good disposition or right action deceive themselves; enumeration of specific virtues as Gorgias did is more accurate.

A child's virtue is not for his present incomplete state but for his future complete state and his preceptor's instruction.

The slave's virtue exists in service to the master; few virtues are needed beyond diligence and lack of idleness.

Though artificers might neglect work through idleness, they differ greatly from slaves because they serve for a limited time and are not naturally what they are.

The master should train the slave to virtues befitting his station, not deprive him of reason; slaves need more instruction than children.

Since each family is part of the city and each individual part of a family, the virtue of parts must correspond to the virtue of the whole.

Both wives and children must be instructed to suit the city's nature, since the wives are half the free population and children become future citizens.

Having determined the principles of family government, Aristotle concludes this section and transitions to examining different forms of political government.