The first five chapters of the second book of Aristotle's Politics contain a series of criticisms leveled against Plato's Republic. Despite the many studies on Aristotle's Politics, these chapters have largely been neglected; there has been no book-length study of them this century. In this new book, Robert Mayhew fills this unfortunate gap in Aristotelian philosophy. Mayhew demonstrates that in Politics II 1-5 Aristotle is presenting his views on an extremely fundamental issue: the unity of the city.

Indeed, he states, almost all of Aristotle's criticisms of the Republic focus on this subject in one way or another. Only by understanding Aristotle's views on the proper unity of the city, Mayhew explains, can we adequately discover his view on the proper relationship between the individual and the city. Students and scholars of classical political philosophy will be greatly interested in this innovative book.