Aristotle's theory of virtue ethics grounded in natural philosophy and human teleology
First page of a 1566 edition of the Aristotolic Ethics in Greek and Latin
The Nicomachean Ethics (/ˌnaɪkɒməˈkiən,ˌnɪ-/; Ancient Greek: Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια, Ēthika Nikomacheia) is among Aristotle's best-known works on ethics: the science of the good for human life, that which is the goal or end at which all our actions aim.[1]: I.2 It consists of ten sections, referred to as books, and is closely related to Aristotle's Eudemian Ethics. The work is essential for the interpretation of Aristotelian ethics.
The text centers around the question of how to best live, a theme previously explored in the works of Plato, Aristotle's friend and teacher. In Aristotle's Metaphysics, he describes how Socrates, the friend and teacher of Plato, turned philosophy to human questions, whereas pre-Socratic philosophy had only been theoretical, and concerned with natural science. Ethics, Aristotle claimed, is practical rather than theoretical, in the Aristotelian senses of these terms. It is not merely an investigation about what good consists of, but it aims to be of practical help in achieving the good.[1]: II.2 (1103b)
It is connected to another of Aristotle's practical works, Politics, which reflects a similar goal: for people to become good, through the creation and maintenance of social institutions. Ethics is about how individuals should best live, while politics adopts the perspective of a law-giver, looking at the good of a whole community.
The Nicomachean Ethics had an important influence on the European Middle Ages, and was one of the core works of medieval philosophy. As such, it was of great significance in the development of all modern philosophy as well as European law and theology. Aristotle became known as "the Philosopher" (for example, this is how he is referred to in the works of Thomas Aquinas). In the Middle Ages, a synthesis between Aristotelian ethics and Christian theology became widespread, as introduced by Albertus Magnus. The most important version of this synthesis was that of Thomas Aquinas. Other more "Averroist" Aristotelians such as Marsilius of Padua were also influential.
Until well into the seventeenth century, the Nicomachean Ethics was still widely regarded as the main authority for the discipline of ethics at Protestant universities, with over fifty Protestant commentaries published before 1682.[2] During the seventeenth century, however, authors such as Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes argued that the medieval and Renaissance Aristotelian tradition in practical thinking was impeding philosophy.[3]
Interest in Aristotle's ethics has been renewed by the virtue ethics revival. Recent philosophers in this field include Alasdair MacIntyre, G. E. M. Anscombe, Mortimer Adler, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and Martha Nussbaum.
^ abAristotle. Andronicus (ed.). Nicomachean Ethics. ( This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.)
^Sytsma, David (2021). "Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Protestantism". Academia Letters. 1650: 1–8. doi:10.20935/AL1650. S2CID 237798959.
^For Bacon see for example Novum Organum; for Hobbes, De Cive.
and 28 Related for: Nicomachean Ethics information
The NicomacheanEthics (/ˌnaɪkɒməˈkiən, ˌnɪ-/; Ancient Greek: Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια, Ēthika Nikomacheia) is among Aristotle's best-known works on ethics: the...
excellent conduct (Greek praxis). As Aristotle argues in Book II of the NicomacheanEthics, the man who possesses character excellence will tend to do the right...
quality—reason—as the soul's most proper and nourishing activity. In his NicomacheanEthics, Aristotle, like Plato before him, argued that the pursuit of eudaimonia...
before the NicomacheanEthics, although this is controversial. The Eudemian Ethics is less well known than Aristotle's NicomacheanEthics, and, when scholars...
NicomacheanEthics. ( This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.) Sytsma, David (2021). "Aristotle's Nicomachean...
eudaimonia in ancient Greek ethics are often conducted independently of any supernatural significance. In his NicomacheanEthics (1095a15–22) Aristotle says...
moral philosophy that incorporated this new usage, it was in the NicomacheanEthics of Aristotle that the doctrine of arete found its fullest flowering...
Greek words for love: philia, storge, agape and eros. In Aristotle's NicomacheanEthics, philia is usually translated as "friendship" or affection. The complete...
students. His most important treatises include Physics, Metaphysics, NicomacheanEthics, Politics, On the Soul and Poetics. Aristotle studied and made significant...
the notion of the practical syllogism within his treatise on ethics, his NicomacheanEthics. A syllogism is a three-proposition argument consisting of a...
William Wollaston argued that all religion ultimately reduces to ethics and all ethics reduces to honesty (The Religion of Nature Delineated, 1722). “[E]very...
viz. the NicomacheanEthics and the Eudemian Ethics. There is some debate as to whether they follow more closely the Eudemian or the Nicomachean version...
metaphilosophy and ethics, metaethics is the study of the nature, scope, and meaning of moral judgment. It is one of the three branches of ethics generally studied...
Aristotle used to analyze motion, causality, ethics, and physiology in his Physics, Metaphysics, NicomacheanEthics, and De Anima. The concept of potentiality...
virtues of intellect: episteme, techne, phronesis, sophia, and nous. In NicomacheanEthics, Aristotle wrote that techne not only meant craft but also production...
The ethics of care (alternatively care ethics or EoC) is a normative ethical theory that holds that moral action centers on interpersonal relationships...
they would have been like, if they had a Y chromosomes. The book NicomacheanEthics, Book VIII written by Aristotle in 350 B.C.E., offers a way in which...
terrifying being who hunted and killed the children of others. Aristotle's NicomacheanEthics (vii.5) refers to the lore of some beastly lifeform in the shape of...
Book IV, 426-435. Aristotle expounded them systematically in the NicomacheanEthics. They were also recognized by the Stoics and Cicero expanded on them...
stressors. Much earlier, Aristotle states the same principle in the NicomacheanEthics (Book 2): Again, it is possible to fail in many ways (for evil belongs...
through experience is ancient. Around 350 BC, Aristotle wrote in the NicomacheanEthics "for the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by...
("chastise, reprimand, correct"), with a reference to Aristotle's NicomacheanEthics: "Chastity takes its name from the fact that reason 'chastises' concupiscence...
acknowledging that we intuitively believe in akrasia, devoted book VII of the NicomacheanEthics to a more empirical approach to the question. He distanced himself...
links virtue, habituation, and ethos most succinctly in Book II of NicomacheanEthics: "Virtue, then, being of two kinds, intellectual and moral, intellectual...
Virtues About virtues Endowment Moral character NicomacheanEthics Positive psychology Trait theory Virtue ethics Virtue families Bodhipakkhiyā dhammā Brahmavihārās...
Global Information
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.)
