Phaleas of Chalcedon ( grc-gre, Φαλέας ὁ Χαλκηδόνιος; fl. likely in early 4th century BCE) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

statesman of antiquity, who argued that all citizens of a model city should be equal in property and education. The only surviving reference to Phaleas of

Chalcedon Chalcedon ( or ; , sometimes transliterated as ''Chalkedon'') was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor. It was located almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari (modern Üsküdar) and it is now a district of the cit ...

appears in Book II of

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

's ''

Politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

''. A contemporary of

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

, Phaleas was one of the utopian thinkers who flourished during a turbulent period of Athenian democracy. Like

Hippodamus of Miletus Hippodamus of Miletus (; Greek: Ἱππόδαμος ὁ Μιλήσιος, ''Hippodamos ho Milesios''; 498 – 408 BC) was an ancient Greek architect, urban planner, physician, mathematician, meteorologist and philosopher, who is considered to b ...

, he called for an equal division of land holdings and education. He saw it as a solution to the serious economic crisis that the Greek society was experiencing after the destruction caused by the

Persian Wars The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the ...

. According to Aristotle, Phaleas argued that an equal division of land and equal education for all citizens would eliminate civil strife. Although Phaleas recognized that such a radical constitution would be difficult to implement in established cities, he believed it would be practicable in newly founded cities. In established cities, Phaleas recommended setting up dowries for the rich to give to the poor in order to level property ownership over time. In addition to equality of land and education, Phaleas proposed that all artisans be publicly owned slaves. Aristotle criticized several aspects of Phaleas' proposed

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

. Aristotle argued that while leveling land ownership would appease the poor, it would lead to insurrection among the rich who were to be dispossessed and who viewed their wealth as a right of nobility. Rather, in order to eliminate civil strife, society must educate the populace in such a way as to control want and greed; the poor must be taught to accept their station and the rich not to become overly greedy. Aristotle further argued that equal distribution of land does not achieve equality of property, as other assets, such as cattle, furniture and slaves, are also of value; if property were to be regulated, one should regulate all types of property.Aristotle
''Politics'', 1267b10–14

References

{{Authority control 4th-century BC Greek people Political philosophy in ancient Greece Political philosophers Ancient Chalcedonians

See also

References