Aristotle's views on political life, its character and organization, structured theoretically on one hand and based on historical experience on the other. Books I, II: Definition and structure of the state, its constitution from a historical perspective. Man as 'political animal'. Relationship between family and political community. Position of women, children, slaves. The ideal state. Views of Plato, Phaleas, Hippo. The constitutions of Sparta, Crete, Carthage. Lawgivers of the past.

Aristotle, son of the physician Nichomachus, was born in Stagia in 384 BC. There is very little information about the early years of his life. At the age of seventeen, he went to Athens to study at the Platonic Academy. He stayed there for twenty years, from 367 to 348 BC, until Plato died. At that point, Aristotle left for Assos in Troas and after a three-year stay there, went to Lesbos and then to Macedonia, where he took on the education of the royal child Alexander.

When his student ascended the throne, Aristotle settled in Athens and founded his school, the Lyceum. After the death of Alexander (323 BC), the philosopher's stay in Athens became difficult. He was forced to seek refuge in Chalcis, his mother's homeland, where he died in 322.

A universal spirit, Aristotle created a large body of philosophical and scientific work of great extent and value. Epistemology, logic, theology, physics, biology, psychology, ethics, political philosophy, aesthetics are the main fields of knowledge he explored and studied. The Alexandrian Hermippus counted Aristotle's works at 400. To this day, lists have survived that include 143 titles of his works.

Diogenes Laertius estimated the number of lines in Aristotle's writings to be 440,000. The influence of his work on the formation of global thought has been strong for centuries, and it remains so.