By "the collected political systems" (Nicomachean Ethics X.9.1181b17), Aristotle means a collection of constitutional histories of 158 Greek city-states which Aristotle had prepared as a basis for his lectures on politics; by comparison, the United Nations currently recognizes only 174 independent nation-states on earth today. Of the 158 constitutional histories, only one, the Constitution of Athens, survives; scholars think that it was written by Aristotle himself. ... [COMMENTS: (1) This premiss is basic to Aristotle's understanding of nature; it occurs in several places in his writings...

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