Book 7 — The Best State

Book 7 opens with the claim that political inquiry cannot proceed without settling the prior question: what is the most eligible life? Aristotle begins his answer by dividing goods into three kinds — goods of the soul, goods of the body, and external goods — and arguing that happiness consists in having all three, though goods of the soul matter most. The happy person has virtue, wisdom, and enough external goods to exercise them. The same holds for cities: the best city is the one that enables its citizens to live and act in the best way, which means enabling virtue, not merely survival or wealth.

From this foundation Aristotle specifies the conditions of the best city. Size: large enough to be self-sufficient, small enough for citizens to know one another — since elections require knowledge of the candidates and courts require knowledge of the litigants. Territory: fertile enough for provision, but not so rich as to produce idleness; with access to the sea for trade, but not so dependent on maritime commerce as to produce a large and turbulent sailor class. Population: divided into the classes necessary for the city's functions — farmers, artisans, warriors, the wealthy, priests, and judges — but with citizenship restricted to warriors and those who deliberate.

The second half of Book 7 addresses city planning — orientation, water supply, wall placement, the agora — and the beginning of the education discussion. The best city is aimed not at war and domination but at peace and the use of leisure, and its institutions must reflect this aim. The greatest failure of Sparta, Aristotle repeats, is that it optimized for war and produced citizens excellent at conflict and useless at everything else. The best city forms citizens capable of the full range of human excellence, not just the martial virtues. Book 7 ends in the middle of the education discussion, which continues in Book 8.