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2006
ἄνευ γὰρ φίλων οὐδεὶς ἕλοιτ᾽ ἂν ζῆν, ἔχων τὰ λοιπὰ ἀγαθὰ πάντα Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics VIII 1 (1155a) In Homage to José García López φιλίας χάριν Summary: The paper aims to raise certain questions of Aristotelian Ethics focusing mainly on the Nicomachean Ethics, it being the author's purpose to "contextualize" Aristotle's ethical thought and his writings on it. In the first place the structure and the links between the different books, which prove a late conflation of NE, are analyzed. Secondly, regards content, the sources of Aristotle after his rejection of Platonic Ethics are taken into consideration: these reveal a partial return to the aristocratic morals in the concepts both of eudaimonia and areté, and through the catalogue of virtues in Book IV. Finally, problems both lexical and semantic of Aristotle's ethic vocabulary are raised.
Review of the contents of the Proceedings of the Symposium Aristotelicum on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics VII in Venice 2007. Published in Rhizai VIII, 1, pp. 99-109. (2011)
Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2021
This new edition of the Nicomachean Ethics for Penguin Classics replaces the long-in-print translation by J. A. K. Thomson (1953), later revised by Hugh Tredennick (1976) and introduced by Jonathan Barnes (1976; updated 2004). To a fresh translation and introduction, Beresford adds 150 pages of endnotes and a twentypage guide to further reading, organizing major Anglophone scholarship through 2017.[1] It may seem a crowded market, with at least eight other standalone English translations of the NE available in paperback. But only two of those editions, Terence Irwin's and C. D. C. Reeve's (both published by Hackett), compare with the new Penguin in both affordability and wealth of apparatus.[2] While each has its specific virtues, Beresford has produced a translation that is uniquely fluid and lively, with commentary that is no less rigorous for its novel perspective on perhaps the most studied of Greek ethical works.
Parergon, 1989
Aristotelian Ethics before the Nicomachean Ethics: Alternate Sources of Aristotle's Concept of Virtue in the Twelfth Century* I Among the myriad of classicd influences exercised upon the intellecud life of the Latin Middle Ages, perhaps the most pronounced and dramatic impression was left by Aristotle. 1 During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries dmost the entirety of the Aristotelian corpus returned to circulation in the West dter an absence of more than five hundred years. But not all of Aristotle's writings were dforded the same reception. Some of his treatises, like those comprising the Organon, were readily and uncontentiously embraced by the mdnstream of the Christian tradition. 2 Other texts, such as the libri naturales (which may have been construed broadly to include De anima and perhaps the Metaphysics, as well as more strictly naturalistic tracts), were repeatedly condemned and prohibited by ecclesiasticd statute. 3 In short, the reception of Aristotle's philosophicd system by the Western Middle Ages was not uniform and thereby resists An earlier version of the present essay was read at the Ninth Conference of Australian Historians of Medieval and Early Modem Europe, held at the University of Auckland, 24-29 August 1987. 'Dante's judgment that Aristotle was 'maestre di color che sanno' expressed most eloquently the sentiments of the whole medieval period (Inferno, ed. J.D. Sinclair, Oxford, 1961, Canto IV, 1, 131). More recently, P.O Kristeller has explained the unique nature of the Aristotelian contribution in the following terms: 'Aristotle was not studied as a "great book", but as a textbook mat was the starting point for commentaries and questions and supplied a frame of reference for all trained philosophical thinkers even when they ventured to reinterpret him, or to depart from his doctrine, according to their own opinions. The Aristotelianism of the later Middle Ages was characterized not so much by a common system of ideas as by a common source material, a common terminology, a common set of definitions and problems, and a common method of discussing these problems', Renaissance Thought: The Classical, Scholastic and Humanist Strains, New York 1961, 31-32. 2 Aristotle's role at the centre of the discipline of logic during the Middle Ages is examined by M.
Polis: A Journal of Ancient Greek Political Thought, 2013
Fates no more! Reflections on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, 2024
As a course diary I develop my thoughts throughout the reading of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics over time, where I followed the structure of the 10 books of the NE, with some deviations due to the topic complexes that are covered over several books. Due to the length, or rather shortness, of this work, it was obviously not possible to cover all the topics. Instead, I have limited my reflections to a few topics in each book and concentrated on them. Most notable I found that Aristotle’s ambiguity of the concept of phronesis allows an interpretation of a two-folded ergon, where the first has a pure techne-resembling meaning of providing means for reaching a telos. While in a wider sense, phronesis provides the orthos logos in prescribing the right action in a given situation: Orthos Logos informs moral subjects about the (assumed) best course of action in a particular situation – which is obviously something else than merely providing means. Truth here is obtained when the decided telos (in the soul) corresponds with the realised telos (in the world), when all human faculties function excellent in tandem. Hence humans are their own masters of life and happiness throughout their lives.
IAFOR Journal of Ethics, Religion & Philosophy
This paper will discuss and analyze specific arguments concerning moral virtue and action that are found within the ten books of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Eudaimonia, i.e. well-being, or happiness, is the highest good for people, and in order to achieve this, a virtuous character is necessary. A virtuous character is cultivated, and the life of a virtuous human is a life that is lived well, and is lived according to moral virtues which are developed through proper habits. It is through this development and practice of moral virtues by which one achieves eudaimonia, for this well-being is achieved by partaking in actions that are virtuous. The study of ethics for Aristotle is a practical science. Although through the study of ethics one may acquire theoretical knowledge, it is practical knowledge, or practical wisdom, that is most important for Aristotle when engaged in a search to define and cultivate a life that is well-lived. The topics and arguments contained within this paper will be of interest and relevance to both those who are interested in ancient Greek philosophy and to those that are concerned with ethics in the modern world. For this paper will also present situations from the modern world that are either examples of virtuous activity or its opposite. Such a study into Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics will offer insightful perspectives on proper action and virtue that is rooted in ancient Greek philosophy and remains relevant in our modern world.
Herausgegeben durch die Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Dieser Band wurde im Rahmen der gemeinsamen Forschungsförderung von Bund und Ländern im Akademienprogramm mit Mitteln des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung und der Senatsverwaltung für Wissenschaft, Gesundheit, Pflege und Gleichstellung des Landes Berlins erarbeitet.
2010
This thesis is an investigation into the foundations of Aristotle’s ethics. Those foundations consist of two arguments: The Three Lives argument and the ergon argument. These two arguments work together, shaping the structure of the argument as a whole. Firstly, the Three Lives argument explains why certain goods are treated in the ethics and gives the work its structure. Those goods around which the structure is built are the three goods which belong to the soul: phronesis (prudence), arete (virtue), hedone (pleasure). Each of the Three Lives is dedicated primarily to one of these goods. Secondly, the ergon argument provides the basis upon which (a) to sustain that structure and (b) to allow the parts of that structure to be able to be brought together in the conclusion. (a) The definition of Happiness provided by the ergon argument is wide enough to include any of the three individual goods of the soul and to take into account the subsequent development of the argument which narrows and combines those goods of the soul into manifestations of one good (viz. phronesis or nous). (b) The ergon argument allows for the conclusion – the common element of all three goods of the soul is that each has or is an ergon. These seem at first to be three separate erga, but become reduced in the end to different manifestations of one ergon: the being-at-work of the nous (or phronesis in its broad sense). This structure is clearly discernible in the Protrepticus, prominently displayed in the Eudemian Ethics, and underlies the Nicomachean Ethics. As a consequence, this thesis is a successive examination of these works, focusing on the form and content of the arguments. The variation between the works will be seen to be not as fundamental as their shared basis.
This paper is an attempt to work out the understanding of truth implicit in Aristotle’s discussion of the intellectual virtues in book six of the Nicomachean Ethics. The basic thesis is that Aristotle is working from a fundamentally Socratic conception of wisdom, namely, that the fundamental wisdom is knowledge of ignorance. The paper takes its interpretational bearings from Heidegger and Strauss, and seeks to make sense of Aristotle’s statement that art, science, prudence, wisdom, and intellect are all modes of “attaining truth,” whether scientific (that is, pertaining to what does not admit of being otherwise) or calculative (namely, pertaining to what does admit of being otherwise). In this pursuit, the various ambiguities of Aristotle’s account of these five modes of attaining truth are explored and subjected to critical examination. This critical examination culminates in an analysis of the distinction—or lack of distinction—between “making” and “doing” so central to Aristotle’s thought; it is argued that this distinction ultimately breaks down, and that this breakdown comes to the fore in Aristotle’s discussion of prudence.
Classical Quarterly Volume 62, 2012 , pp. 541-552 ON THE TEXT OF SOME DISPUTED PASSAGES IN ARISTOTLE'S ETHICA EUDEMIA Emendations to the text of Aristotle's Ethica Eudemia The text of Aristotle’s Eudemian Ethics (EE) is generally held by scholars to be in an unusually poor state, and to stand in need of considerable emendations. Advances toward this end have been made over the years by many scholars and we also now have, besides Susemihl’s old edition, the new Oxford Classical Text. The OCT is much to be welcomed but it has its flaws. Further, it indulges, as did also Susemihl, in a number of emendations that, on closer consideration, are not at all necessary, for the manuscript readings can be shown to be both grammatically and philosophically acceptable as they stand. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the fact with respect to a number of such proposed emendations. The text of the EE, despite lingering problems, is in better shape than scholars are wont to believe.
Journal of Ancient Philosophy, 2009
This paper discusses some issues concerning the definition of moral virtue in Nicomachean Ethics 1106b 36- 1107a 2. It is reasonable to say that a definition must give a complete enumeration of the relevant features of its definiendum, but the definition of moral virtue seems to fail in doing this task. One might be tempted to infer that this definition is intended by Aristotle as a mere preliminary account that should be replaced by a more precise one. However, the context of the argument Aristotle develops in Book II of his Nicomachean Ethics gives us some help. I argue that the definition of moral virtue, once considered in the light of its context, is far from being an incomplete and provisional account: it rather introduces coherently the same notion of moral virtue that Aristotle assumes in other texts (as in Nicomachean Ethics VI 13).
Classical Quarterly, 2019
A discussion of the nature of the common books of Aristotle's EE and EN as found in EE manuscripts, and speculations on the significance of the differences in the EE version. This paper is an unpublished and unrevised version with fuller discussion of Ashburner's work. The version published in Classical Quarterly omits most of that discussion and is otherwise shorter and tighter..
Listy filologické, 2021
The article shows a difference in Aristotle’s ethical theory between the Protrepticus and Eudemian Ethics on the one hand and the Nicomachean Ethics on the other. The difference is explicated by means of the interpretation of the concept of ὅρος (standard) in these writings. The Protrepticus and Eudemian Ethics present ethical theory as an expertise which – together with other sciences – has a standard for decisions and actions taken from nature and the divine. The ethical theory presented in the Nicomachean Ethics does not entail such a strong concept of ὅρος and it treats ethics in contrast to other, more exact, sciences. Finally, the article presents a tentative suggestion as to why it seems that the Nicomachean Ethics VI,1 raises hopes that it will provide a detailed account of ὅρος when in fact there is no discussion of it.
This paper examines Aristotle's structuring of a science in the Posterior Analytics, and how this applies to his work in the Nicomachean Ethics.
Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, LV, 2018
Excerpts from Austin's 1938 NE lectures, feeding into a new analysis of Aristotle's account, with discussion of recent proposals by J. Mueller, H. Lorenz, and D. Charles.
2022
This essay was originally designed for a Nicomachean Ethics reading subgroup of the Goodreads.com online discussion group “Political Philosophy and Ethics” (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/137714-political-philosophy-and-ethics), of which I am the founder and moderator. I revised the essay on July 16, 2018, in order to make it suitable for any reader interested in the Nicomachean Ethics. The present edit makes several changes to the format and style of the paper as well as some substantive revisions. — Alan E. Johnson, February 16, 2022
Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 45.2, 103-148, 2013
ABSTRACT: This paper is distinctly odd. It demonstrates what happens when an analytical philosopher and historian of philosophy tries their hand at the topic of reception. For a novice to this genre, it seemed advisable to start small. Rather than researching the reception of an author, book, chapter, section or paragraph, the focus of the paper is on one sentence: Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics 3.5, 1113b7-8. This sentence has markedly shaped scholarly and general opinion alike with regard to Aristotle’s theory of free will. In addition, it has taken on a curious life of its own. Part one of the paper examines the text itself. Part two explores its reception from antiquity to the present day, including present-day popular culture, later ancient, Byzantine, Arabic, Latin Medieval, Renaissance, Victorian and contemporary scholarship. There are some surprises on the way. (The paper also serves as an introduction to the reception of the Nicomachean Ethics from its beginnings to the present.)
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