Feineigle.com - Nicomachean Ethics

Home · Book Reports · 2017 · Nicomachean Ethics

Published: January 31, 2017
Tags:  Philosophy



The book in...
One sentence:
A dense examination of such human characteristics and timeless questions including virtues, means, ends, friendship, happiness, justice, nature, and nurture among others.

designates my notes. / designates important.


Thoughts

This is a rather difficult read. Not because of the language, this translation seemed very easy to read, but because of how much you are forced to considered much of what is said. The most basic of human traits, that everyone will be familiar with, are discussed in great detail. It reminds me of the old saying along the lines of “an unexamined life is a life not worth living.” This work will help examine a life. Even still, it should not be taken as gospel but as a starting point and a feast for thought.



Table of Contents


· Book 1

Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
  1. Pleasure
  2. Political (seeking honor)
  3. Contemplative
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:

Most noble is that which is justest, and best is health; But pleasantest is it to win what we love. For all these properties belong to the best activities; and these, or one – the best – of these, we identify with happiness.

Chapter 9:
Chapter 10:
Chapter 11:
Chapter 12:
Chapter 13:

· Book 2

Chapter 1:
Chapter 2-
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:
Chapter 9:

· Book 3

Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:
  1. First comes the courage of the citizen-soldier; for this is most like true courage.

  2. Experience with regard to particular facts is also thought to be courage; this is indeed the reason why Socrates thought courage was knowledge.

  3. Passion also is sometimes reckoned as courage; those who act from passion, like wild beasts rushing at those who have wounded them (Those creatures are not brave, then, which are driven on to danger by pain or passion.)

  4. Nor are sanguine people brave; for they are confident in danger only because they have conquered often and against many foes.

  5. People who are ignorant of the danger also appear brave, and they are not far removed from those of a sanguine temper, but are inferior inasmuch as they have no self-reliance while these have.

Chapter 9:
Chapter 10:
Chapter 11:
Chapter 12:

· Book 4

Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:
Chapter 9:

· Book 5

Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:
Chapter 9:
Chapter 10:
Chapter 11:

· Book 6

Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:
Chapter 9:
Chapter 10:

Hence it [understanding] is about the same objects as practical wisdom; but understanding and practical wisdom are not the same. For practical wisdom issues commands, since its end is what ought to be done or not to be done; but understanding only judges.

Chapter 11:
Chapter 12:
Chapter 13:

· Book 7

Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:
Chapter 9:
Chapter 10:
Chapter 11:
Chapter 12:
Chapter 13:

Pleasure, then, is necessarily a good.

Chapter 14:

· Book 8

Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:

Therefore those who love for the sake of utility love for the sake of what is good for themselves, and those who love for the sake of pleasure do so for the sake of what is pleasant to themselves, and not in so far as the other is the person loved but in so far as he is useful or pleasant. And thus these friendships are only incidental; for it is not as being the man he is that the loved person is loved, but as providing some good or pleasure. Such friendships, then, are easily dissolved, if the parties do not remain like themselves; for if the one party is no longer pleasant or useful the other ceases to love him.

Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:
Chapter 9:
Chapter 10:
Chapter 11:
Chapter 12:
Chapter 13:
Chapter 14:

· Book 9

Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:
Chapter 9:
Chapter 10:
Chapter 11:
Chapter 12:

· Book 10

Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:
Chapter 9: