The Nicomachean Ethics

by Aristotle, J. A. K. Thomson (Translator), Hugh Tredennick (Revised by), Jonathan Barnes (Introduction)

Overview

"One swallow does not make a summer; neither does one day. Similarly neither can one day, or a brief space of time, make a man blessed and happy" 

Previously published as Ethics, Aristotle's The Nicomachean Ethics addresses the question of how to live well and originates the concept of cultivating a virtuous character as the basis of his ethical system. Here Aristotle sets out to examine the nature of happiness, and argues that happiness consists in 'activity of the soul in accordance with virtue', including moral virtues, such as courage, generosity and justice, and intellectual virtues, such as knowledge, wisdom and insight. The Ethics also discusses the nature of practical reasoning, the value and the objects of pleasure, the different forms of friendship, and the relationship between individual virtue, society and the State. Aristotle's work has had a profound and lasting influence on all subsequent Western thought about ethical matters. 

This Penguin Classics edition is translated from the Greek by J.A.K. Thomson with revisions and notes by Hugh Tredennick, and an introduction and bibliography by Jonathan Barnes. 

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780140449495
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/30/2004
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	20,618
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Aristotle was born in 384BC. For twenty years he studied at Athens at the Academy of Plato, on whose death in 347 he left, and some time later became tutor to Alexander the Great. On Alexander's succession to the throne of Macedonia in 336, Aristotle returned to Athens and established his school and research institute, the Lyceum. After Alexander's death he was driven out of Athens and fled to Chalcis in Euboea where he died in 322. His writings profoundly affected the whole course of ancient and medieval philosophy.

Table of Contents

The Nicomachean EthicsPreface
Chronology
Introduction
Further Reading
A Note on the Text
Synopsis

The Nicomachean Ethics
Book I: The Object of Life
Book II: Moral Goodness
Book III: Moral Responsibility: Two Virtues
Book IV: Other Moral Virtues
Book V: Justice
Book VI: Intellectual Virtues
Book VII: Continence and Incontinence: THe Nature of Pleasure
Book VIII: The Kinds of Friendship
Book IX: The Grounds of Friendship
Book X: Pleasure and the Life of Happiness

Appendix 1: Table of Virtues and Vices
Appendix 2: Pythagoreanism
Appendix 3: The Sophists and Socrates
Appendix 4: Plato's Theory of Forms
Appendix 5: The Catagories
Appendix 6: Substance and Change
Appendix 7: Nature and Theology
Appendix 8: The Practical Syllogism
Appendix 9: Pleasure and Process
Appendix 10: Liturgies
Appendix 11: Aristotle in the Middle Ages

Glossary of Greek Words
Index of Names
Subject Index

Editorial Reviews

The Nicomachean Ethics remains the most compelling of all works on the good human life, and readers can now enjoy ready access to it through David Reeve's fluent new translation. Accompanied by illuminating commentary and an exceptionally rich index, the volume is an ideal companion for those aspiring to learn their way around this classic text.--David Sedley, The University of Cambridge

C. D. C. Reeve's masterful new translation of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics will become a classic: it is clear and readable; its interpretive implications are far-reaching; it is philosophically illuminating. Reeve's scholarly notes--with detailed textual cross-references to the rest of Aristotle's works--integrate the ethics with the metaphysics, the politics, and the philosophy of mind. The book is an invaluable resource, useful to students and scholars alike.--Amelie Rorty, Tufts University and Harvard Medical School

From the Publisher