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Nicomachean Ethics
Nicomachean Ethics is one of Aristotle’s most influential works, focusing on the nature of ethics, virtue, and the pursuit of happiness. In this foundational text, Aristotle explores the concept of eudaimonia, often translated as “flourishing” or “well-being,” and argues that it is the ultimate goal of human life. He emphasizes the importance of virtue, which he defines as a mean between extremes—what he calls the "Golden Mean." Key topics include the role of reason in moral actions, the significance of friendship, and the connection between ethics and politics. Nicomachean Ethics continues to be a cornerstone of moral philosophy, shaping how we think about ethics, character, and human flourishing today.
- GenresPhilosophyClassics
384 pages, Hardcover
Published August 25, 2026
About the author
Aristotle
4,268 books5,903 followersAristotle (Greek: Αριστοτέλης; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, and the arts. As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum in Athens, he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science.
Little is known about Aristotle's life. He was born in the city of Stagira in northern Greece during the Classical period. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At 17 or 18, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of 37 (c. 347 BC). Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, tutored his son Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC. He established a library in the Lyceum, which helped him to produce many of his hundreds of books on papyrus scrolls.
Though Aristotle wrote many treatises and dialogues for publication, only around a third of his original output has survived, none of it intended for publication. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. His teachings and methods of inquiry have had a significant impact across the world, and remain a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion.
Aristotle's views profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. The influence of his physical science extended from late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, and was not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics were developed. He influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophies during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology, especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church.
Aristotle was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as "The First Teacher", and among medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas as simply "The Philosopher", while the poet Dante Alighieri called him "the master of those who know". His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, and were studied by medieval scholars such as Pierre Abélard and Jean Buridan. Aristotle's influence on logic continued well into the 19th century. In addition, his ethics, although always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics.
Little is known about Aristotle's life. He was born in the city of Stagira in northern Greece during the Classical period. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At 17 or 18, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of 37 (c. 347 BC). Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, tutored his son Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC. He established a library in the Lyceum, which helped him to produce many of his hundreds of books on papyrus scrolls.
Though Aristotle wrote many treatises and dialogues for publication, only around a third of his original output has survived, none of it intended for publication. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. His teachings and methods of inquiry have had a significant impact across the world, and remain a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion.
Aristotle's views profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. The influence of his physical science extended from late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, and was not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics were developed. He influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophies during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology, especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church.
Aristotle was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as "The First Teacher", and among medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas as simply "The Philosopher", while the poet Dante Alighieri called him "the master of those who know". His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, and were studied by medieval scholars such as Pierre Abélard and Jean Buridan. Aristotle's influence on logic continued well into the 19th century. In addition, his ethics, although always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics.
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September 28, 2026“Best of all is one who understands everything on his own,
Though he too is good who follows sound advice.
But worthless is one who lacks understanding and still fails
To listen to others and take the advice to heart.” -p.6 (Hesiod)
“But it must surely be better, and a duty, especially for a philosopher, to discard even what's dear to him if the consequence is the preservation of truth. When both friends and the truth are dear, it's only right and proper to prefer the truth.” -p.8
“Virtuous activity is naturally pleasing, and this is what makes it pleasant to these people as well as in its own right. So the life of such people has no need of pleasure as a decorative accessory, so to speak; it is intrinsically pleasant. For it must also be said that anyone who finds no pleasure in acting in an admirable way doesn't even count as a good person.” -p.17
“In short, dispositions come from activities of a similar kind. That's why we must do the best we can, because differences in our dispositions are the consequence of differences in our activities. So it makes no slight difference—a huge difference, in fact all the difference in the world—whether we're habituated from an early age in one way or the other.” -p.32~33
“Moreover, what we wish for is an end, a result, whereas what we choose is a means to an end; we wish for health, for example, but we choose things that will make us healthy.” -p.57
“We take it that nature, necessity, and chance are causes, but so are intellectual acumen and human agency in general. Whatever the situation, people deliberate about things that are achievable by their own efforts.” -p.59
“No one deliberates about their ends. It's rather the case that, having established the end, they consider how and by what means to achieve it.” -p.60
“The point is that a good person correctly identifies every object of wishing and in every case his view is the truth, because what is found honorable or pleasant depends on one's disposition, and the main way in which a good person is presumed to differ from others is that he always sees what actually is the case; he is, so to speak, a standard and a measure of the facts. But most people seem to be duped by pleasure, which appears to be a good when it isn't, and so they choose pleasure as good and avoid pain as bad.” -p.62
“So unless their desires are obedient and let themselves be governed by some superior authority, they'll get out of hand, because in nonrational beings the desire for pleasure is insatiable and is fueled by everything, and because the gratification of appetite strengthens their innate tendency toward pleasure. And once desires become powerful and intense they expel a person's ability to think rationally.” -p.81
“It's not easy to impress a great-souled person, because to him nothing is extraordinary. He doesn't hold grudges, because storing up memories, especially of bad things, simply isn't something that a great-souled man does; if he's been wronged, he's more likely to overlook it. He's not a gossip; he doesn't talk about himself or anyone else, because hearing himself praised or others denounced is of no interest to him. He also isn't given to praising others, and that's why he doesn't speak ill of others either, even if they re his enemies, unless provoked by their insolence.” -p.99
“Coined money, then, is a kind of unit of measure that makes goods commensurate and equalizes them. There can be no cooperation without exchange, and no exchange without equality, and no equality without commensurability.” -p.127
“As affirmation and denial are to thought, so pursuit and avoidance are to desire.” -p.146
“Let's assume that the faculties that enable the psyche to arrive at truth by affirmation or denial are five in number: technical skill, knowledge, practical wisdom, theoretical wisdom, and intellectual acumen. Not suppositions or beliefs, because they can be false.” -p.148
“Now, induction starts from what's already known and leads to the universal, while deduction proceeds from universals.” -p.148~149
“What necessarily follows for practical wisdom, then, is that it's a disposition accompanied by right reason, a disposition that's guided by the truth, and a disposition to act in the sphere of what's good for human beings.” -p.152
“Moreover, a person with practical wisdom isn't concerned only with universals; he must also recognize particulars, because he's a man of action, and action takes place in the realm of particulars. That's why there are some people—especially people with considerable experience of the world—who may lack knowledge of general principles, but are more effective in the world than those who do know such things.” -p.155
“Practical wisdom tends to issue instructions, since its end is what should or shouldn't be done, whereas understanding is purely evaluative. The point here is that to understand anything is to understand it well; anyone who understands something understands it well.” -p.160
“Everything that we do takes place in the realm of particulars and of the final steps of deliberation. It's particulars that a person of practical wisdom has to know, and understanding and kindness are also exercised in the field of what people do—that is, in the realm of particulars. And intellectual acumen is of the extremities at both ends, given that both the first terms and the final terms are the objects of intellectual acumen rather than reason. That is, the kind of intellectual acumen that's operative in logical demonstrations has as its objects the first, immutable terms, and the kind that's involved in practical issues has as its objects the final, contingent term and the minor premise. For, given that universals are reached from particulars, these final terms are the starting points for attaining one's goal. So it's necessarily perception that gives us our awareness of these particulars, and this perception is intellectual acumen.” -p.161~162
“Virtue gives us our goals, while practical wisdom guides us through the steps that lead to our goals.” -p.167
“The reasons given for dismissing pleasure altogether from the category of ‘good’ are as follows. First, every kind of pleasure, they say, is a perceptible process of change toward our natural state, but the end of a process is always different in kind from the process itself, just as the process of building is different in kind from a house. Second, moderate people shun pleasures. Third, intelligent people don't seek pleasure but freedom from pain. Fourth, pleasure hinders prudent thinking, and the more intense the pleasure the more it does so. Consider sexual pleasure: It's impossible for any rational thought to take place at the time. Fifth, there's no skill involved in being pleased, but everything good is the product of skill. And sixth, children and animals seek pleasure.” -p.195
“Friendship between two morally good people, when the degree of their goodness is comparable, is complete friendship. Insofar as they are good, and because they're inherently good people, they equally wish each other well. And it's those who wish the best for their friends for their own sake who are friends in the fullest sense, since they feel the way they do because of who their friends really are, not for any incidental reason. So friendship between two good people lasts as long as they remain good—and goodness is a durable quality. Each of them is both good in an unqualified sense and good for his friend, because good people are both unqualifiedly good and supportive of each other. Likewise, they're also pleasing to each other, because good people are both unqualifiedly pleasing and pleasing to each other. After all, everyone finds his own behavior and behavior that's similar to it pleasing, and the behavior of good people is the same or similar.” -p.210
“What we find pleasant is activity in the present, the anticipation of further activity in the future, and memories of past activity. But what we find most pleasing, and what we hold most dear, is what we achieve by our own activity.” -p.251
“It seems plausible to think that the universal desire for alo pleasure is an aspect of the universal desire for life. Life is a sort of activity, and each of us actively engages with those objects that he likes most by means of the faculties that he likes most. If you're musically inclined, for example, you use your faculty of hearing to actively engage with tunes; if you love learning, you use your mind to actively engage with ideas; and so on for each and every one of us. Pleasure completes and perfects the activities and therefore life as well, and we all desire a perfect life. So it makes sense for us to desire pleasure as well, since it completes each of our lives and life is worth having.” -p.277
——————
8/10.
Though he too is good who follows sound advice.
But worthless is one who lacks understanding and still fails
To listen to others and take the advice to heart.” -p.6 (Hesiod)
“But it must surely be better, and a duty, especially for a philosopher, to discard even what's dear to him if the consequence is the preservation of truth. When both friends and the truth are dear, it's only right and proper to prefer the truth.” -p.8
“Virtuous activity is naturally pleasing, and this is what makes it pleasant to these people as well as in its own right. So the life of such people has no need of pleasure as a decorative accessory, so to speak; it is intrinsically pleasant. For it must also be said that anyone who finds no pleasure in acting in an admirable way doesn't even count as a good person.” -p.17
“In short, dispositions come from activities of a similar kind. That's why we must do the best we can, because differences in our dispositions are the consequence of differences in our activities. So it makes no slight difference—a huge difference, in fact all the difference in the world—whether we're habituated from an early age in one way or the other.” -p.32~33
“Moreover, what we wish for is an end, a result, whereas what we choose is a means to an end; we wish for health, for example, but we choose things that will make us healthy.” -p.57
“We take it that nature, necessity, and chance are causes, but so are intellectual acumen and human agency in general. Whatever the situation, people deliberate about things that are achievable by their own efforts.” -p.59
“No one deliberates about their ends. It's rather the case that, having established the end, they consider how and by what means to achieve it.” -p.60
“The point is that a good person correctly identifies every object of wishing and in every case his view is the truth, because what is found honorable or pleasant depends on one's disposition, and the main way in which a good person is presumed to differ from others is that he always sees what actually is the case; he is, so to speak, a standard and a measure of the facts. But most people seem to be duped by pleasure, which appears to be a good when it isn't, and so they choose pleasure as good and avoid pain as bad.” -p.62
“So unless their desires are obedient and let themselves be governed by some superior authority, they'll get out of hand, because in nonrational beings the desire for pleasure is insatiable and is fueled by everything, and because the gratification of appetite strengthens their innate tendency toward pleasure. And once desires become powerful and intense they expel a person's ability to think rationally.” -p.81
“It's not easy to impress a great-souled person, because to him nothing is extraordinary. He doesn't hold grudges, because storing up memories, especially of bad things, simply isn't something that a great-souled man does; if he's been wronged, he's more likely to overlook it. He's not a gossip; he doesn't talk about himself or anyone else, because hearing himself praised or others denounced is of no interest to him. He also isn't given to praising others, and that's why he doesn't speak ill of others either, even if they re his enemies, unless provoked by their insolence.” -p.99
“Coined money, then, is a kind of unit of measure that makes goods commensurate and equalizes them. There can be no cooperation without exchange, and no exchange without equality, and no equality without commensurability.” -p.127
“As affirmation and denial are to thought, so pursuit and avoidance are to desire.” -p.146
“Let's assume that the faculties that enable the psyche to arrive at truth by affirmation or denial are five in number: technical skill, knowledge, practical wisdom, theoretical wisdom, and intellectual acumen. Not suppositions or beliefs, because they can be false.” -p.148
“Now, induction starts from what's already known and leads to the universal, while deduction proceeds from universals.” -p.148~149
“What necessarily follows for practical wisdom, then, is that it's a disposition accompanied by right reason, a disposition that's guided by the truth, and a disposition to act in the sphere of what's good for human beings.” -p.152
“Moreover, a person with practical wisdom isn't concerned only with universals; he must also recognize particulars, because he's a man of action, and action takes place in the realm of particulars. That's why there are some people—especially people with considerable experience of the world—who may lack knowledge of general principles, but are more effective in the world than those who do know such things.” -p.155
“Practical wisdom tends to issue instructions, since its end is what should or shouldn't be done, whereas understanding is purely evaluative. The point here is that to understand anything is to understand it well; anyone who understands something understands it well.” -p.160
“Everything that we do takes place in the realm of particulars and of the final steps of deliberation. It's particulars that a person of practical wisdom has to know, and understanding and kindness are also exercised in the field of what people do—that is, in the realm of particulars. And intellectual acumen is of the extremities at both ends, given that both the first terms and the final terms are the objects of intellectual acumen rather than reason. That is, the kind of intellectual acumen that's operative in logical demonstrations has as its objects the first, immutable terms, and the kind that's involved in practical issues has as its objects the final, contingent term and the minor premise. For, given that universals are reached from particulars, these final terms are the starting points for attaining one's goal. So it's necessarily perception that gives us our awareness of these particulars, and this perception is intellectual acumen.” -p.161~162
“Virtue gives us our goals, while practical wisdom guides us through the steps that lead to our goals.” -p.167
“The reasons given for dismissing pleasure altogether from the category of ‘good’ are as follows. First, every kind of pleasure, they say, is a perceptible process of change toward our natural state, but the end of a process is always different in kind from the process itself, just as the process of building is different in kind from a house. Second, moderate people shun pleasures. Third, intelligent people don't seek pleasure but freedom from pain. Fourth, pleasure hinders prudent thinking, and the more intense the pleasure the more it does so. Consider sexual pleasure: It's impossible for any rational thought to take place at the time. Fifth, there's no skill involved in being pleased, but everything good is the product of skill. And sixth, children and animals seek pleasure.” -p.195
“Friendship between two morally good people, when the degree of their goodness is comparable, is complete friendship. Insofar as they are good, and because they're inherently good people, they equally wish each other well. And it's those who wish the best for their friends for their own sake who are friends in the fullest sense, since they feel the way they do because of who their friends really are, not for any incidental reason. So friendship between two good people lasts as long as they remain good—and goodness is a durable quality. Each of them is both good in an unqualified sense and good for his friend, because good people are both unqualifiedly good and supportive of each other. Likewise, they're also pleasing to each other, because good people are both unqualifiedly pleasing and pleasing to each other. After all, everyone finds his own behavior and behavior that's similar to it pleasing, and the behavior of good people is the same or similar.” -p.210
“What we find pleasant is activity in the present, the anticipation of further activity in the future, and memories of past activity. But what we find most pleasing, and what we hold most dear, is what we achieve by our own activity.” -p.251
“It seems plausible to think that the universal desire for alo pleasure is an aspect of the universal desire for life. Life is a sort of activity, and each of us actively engages with those objects that he likes most by means of the faculties that he likes most. If you're musically inclined, for example, you use your faculty of hearing to actively engage with tunes; if you love learning, you use your mind to actively engage with ideas; and so on for each and every one of us. Pleasure completes and perfects the activities and therefore life as well, and we all desire a perfect life. So it makes sense for us to desire pleasure as well, since it completes each of our lives and life is worth having.” -p.277
——————
8/10.
November 11, 2025
Not for the weak. Took me too long to finish, but wanted to take my time.
March 25, 2026
The best Aristotle translation I've read by far, makes Aristotle's works approachable and enjoyable without sacrificing the strength of arguments
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews