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The Nicomachean Ethics
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by Aristotle,
Translated by J.E.C. Welldon
Prometheus Books
Due/Published
November 1990, 358 pages,
paper
ISBN
0879753781
In The Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle sets out to discover the good life for man: the life of happiness or eudaimoniaHappiness for Aristotle is the activity of the soul in accordance with virtue. Virtue is shown in the deliberate choice of actions as part of a worked -out plan of life which takes a middle course between excess and deficiency. This is the famous doctrine of the golden mean- courage, for example, is a mean between cowardice and rashness, and justice between a man's getting more or less than his due. The supreme happiness, according to Aristotle, is to be found in a life of philosophical contemplation; but this is only possible for the few, and a secondary kind of happiness is available in a virtous life of political activity and public magnificence. |
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