Nicomachean Ethics

Aristotle

Mar 2012 · Courier Corporation

About this ebook

Hailed by Dante as "the master of those who know," the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 B.C.) surveyed every field of learning known to the ancient world and pioneered the sciences of psychology and logic. A disciple of Plato and the tutor to Alexander the Great, Aristotle was a prolific writer, although many of his works have been lost. His treatises, used by the students of his famous Athenian school, the Lyceum, exerted a profound and lasting influence on Western thought.
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is one of the world's great books. Identifying happiness as the goal of life, he rejects pleasure, fame, and wealth as means to it. The summit of human achievement is attainable only through the contemplation of philosophic truth, because this practice exercises the virtue peculiar to the human being, the rational principle.
This inexpensive edition of a philosophical landmark will prove an invaluable resource to students and general readers alike.

About the author

Aristotle, 384 B.C. - 322 B. C. Aristotle was born at Stagira, in Macedonia, in 384 B.C. At the age of 17, he went to Athens to study at Plato's Academy, where he remained for about 20 years, as a student and then as a teacher. When Plato died in 347 B.C., Aristotle moved to Assos, a city in Asia Minor, where a friend of his, Hermias, was ruler. After Hermias was captured and executed by the Persians in 345 B.C., Aristotle went to Pella, the Macedonian capital, where he became the tutor of the king's young son Alexander, later known as Alexander the Great. In 335, when Alexander became king, Aristotle returned to Athens and established his own school, the Lyceum Aristotle's works were lost in the West after the decline of Rome, but during the 9th Century A.D., Arab scholars introduced Aristotle, in Arabic translation, to the Islamic world. In the 13th Century, the Latin West renewed its interest in Aristotle's work, and Saint Thomas Aquinas found in it a philosophical foundation for Christian thought. The influence of Aristotle's philosophy has been pervasive; it has even helped to shape modern language and common sense. Aristotle died in 322 B.C.