Nicomachean Ethics
Decide its fate
The record
Time
An eveningA season329 pages, about 7 hours: about the length of a typical book on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climbBook One argues that every action aims at some good and that happiness, reached through virtuous activity, is the highest good.
What it gives
Plot and actionIdeas to live byIn 10 reviews from critics and book blogs, none credit the plot and 9 credit the ideas or a change in how they live.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else doesIGC Publishing weighs the doctrine of the mean against Kant’s categorical imperative, and Dusty Reviews points to Marcus Aurelius.
The case for it
on the mean
“is the most insightful, and the most useful, standard of ethical behavior”
five stars · a book blog on the translation
“comprehensible and easy to follow”
a Substack review on the friendship books
“I had considered them the most valuable sections of the whole treatise”
a Substack review on life advice
“This book is a 2,500 year old text on philosophy and life advice”
a book blog
The case against
on Sachs’s translation
“might begin to wonder whether it wouldn’t be easier just to learn Greek”
Susan D. Collins · Claremont Review of Books, 2003 on the ruling class
“Aristotle’s work on ethics is focused on the virtues of the ruling class”
a book blog on the second half
“the remainder of the book became more of a chore than a joy to read”
a book blog on the length
“the book needs to be boiled down, perhaps to as little as one fifth”
a book blog
