Book 1: Chapter 2, Preface through vii inclusive Summary and Analysis

Here is where the text of the Politics begins. The author takes over through the translators. The discussion of the topic begins with communication about the basic political structures that occur at the various levels of organization within society. There are the state, the village, the family and the pair. Aristotle describes the pair and the family in relation to the household and then brings up a very sensitive subject: slavery.

Slavery was a standard component of the cultures in which Aristotle lived. Although Macedon was a monarchy, Athens was a free and independent democratic city-state at the time of Aristotle's writing. However, many of the adult residents of the city-state were not citizens, and amongst these were the numerous slaves.

Household slaves held the places in society that would later...