Analytical Paper #3: Book 7, Ch. 4 Aristotle
In this chapter it is Aristotle's goal to explain the ideal size of a city-state, and the proper multitude of people to inhabit that city-state. Aristotle argues "most people suppose that a happy city-state must be a great one" (line 7). This thought is wrong, he concludes, claiming that it is not the number of inhabitants that makes a city-state great, but its "ability". "For a city-state has a task to perform, so that the city-state that is best able to complete it is the one that should be considered greatest" (line 13).
Aristotle's second claim is that in order to have an ideal city-state, one must have the ideal inhabitants within that city-state. Typically, in large city-states a great number of the inhabitants are "slaves, resident aliens, and foreigners", this makes for a densely populated city-state. The great city-states are the ones who have the most people that are "a part of it". Meaning a city-state in which a......
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Approximate Word Count: 481
Approximate Pages: 2 (260 words per double-spaced page) |