Book 2 — What Has Been Proposed

Book 2 opens with the central question of political design: should citizens have all things in common, some things, or nothing? Aristotle begins with Plato's radical proposal in the Republic — communism of property, wives, and children for the guardian class. He objects on three grounds. First, communism of property destroys the pleasure of generosity and the virtue of liberality, since both require private ownership. Second, what is held in common is cared for by no one — "the greatest number of owners means the least amount of care." Third, communism of wives and children dilutes affection to the point of disappearance: a son who belongs to everyone is no one's son.

Plato's Laws receives a more sympathetic reading — its proposal for private property with restricted use is closer to Aristotle's own view — but still falls short. Aristotle then turns to the proposals of Phaleas of Chalcedon, who thought equal property would eliminate political conflict, and Hippodamus of Miletus, who divided the city into three classes and proposed a system of communal deliberation. Both are criticized for misunderstanding where political conflict actually comes from: not property inequality alone, but the desires of men for more than they need.

The second half of Book 2 examines actual constitutions: Sparta, praised for its mixed structure but criticized for its treatment of women, its demographic collapse, and the excessive power of the ephors; Crete, similar to Sparta in design but more haphazard; Carthage, the one non-Greek constitution Aristotle takes seriously. Each case demonstrates that stability depends not on any single institutional design but on the balance of classes and interests within the city. The survey ends with a brief note on earlier legislators — Solon, Charondas, and others — whose reforms are partial evidence of what a good constitution might look like.