I Read Books: The Ethics Of Aristotle
The Ethics Of Aristotle
The J A K Thomson 1957 translation of Nichomachean Ethics. The introduction, of how these are probably Aristotle’s lecture notes rather than designed for publication, and their survival is very interesting. Still, I’m not reading a history of Aristotle here. What does he have to say for himself?
He works through a series of questions, circling one previously asked by Socrates and Plato, how is it best to live? He believes that this is a practical question, more than a theoretical one, so begins with beliefs of those with experience, good reputation and good upbringing. He also brings in ideas from theory as well though.
His standard suggestion is that virtue is in moderation, in finding the mean. Too brave makes you reckless, not brave enough a coward. In the middle is the right place to be. But where to find the extremes, and what are the characteristics we should seek moderation in? And how might we cultivate them?
As might be expected for a teaching text, he works through examples, using them to illustrate his point. Grinding them down to try and learn, what is the good life, how do we act virtuously. And what are the pitfalls along the way. As might be expected not all of his suggestions are relevant 2,300 years later, and some seem to have been completely disproved. Yet here at the start of Western ethical thought, there remains much of interest, and maybe even use.
Read This: Deep dive into Aristotle’s ethical ideas and
ancient Greek thought and culture
Don’t Read This: Maybe we need some new ethics for the 21st
Century
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