Nikomachean Ethics (3 volumes)

The Nicomachean Ethics is Aristotle’s important and ever-relevant work on moral teaching. It is the work in which the great philosopher poses and examines the question: “What is it that makes a person truly happy?”

The Nicomachean Ethics is a work of moral philosophy and ethical instruction. Its subject matter focuses on the concepts of the “good and virtuous life,” moral virtue, justice, and happiness, as defined by this preeminent thinker.

In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle develops the doctrine of the mean, according to which the right measure lies between two extremes. Thus, courage is defined as avoiding both cowardice and recklessness; temperance is achieved by finding the middle ground between insensibility and debauchery; and generosity is the mean between stinginess and wastefulness.

The Happy Life

Aristotle declares that the good and virtuous life is also a happy life. He calls happiness (eudaimonia) “the highest of all practical goods”—that is, the supreme good humans can achieve through their actions (a form of individual eudaimonism). According to Aristotle, human beings can attain happiness through intellectual and moral virtues: the intellectual virtues are acquired through teaching, while the moral virtues arise through practice and habituation. Therefore, for Aristotle, happiness is a state that all people can achieve, since all are capable of learning and training themselves.

The Division of the Soul

From the very first book, the reader is introduced to Aristotle’s view of the division of the soul. The human being functions in two ways:
a) according to reason, and
b) in ways that have no relation to reason.

The Concept of Justice

In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle focuses extensively on justice and related notions. It is no coincidence that the later separation of powers in all forms of political systems finds its roots in Aristotle and in this very treatise.

He distinguishes between:

• Distributive justice,

• Corrective justice, and

• Reciprocal justice.

Aristotle also differentiates between natural law and positive (or legal) law. The latter is a product of human initiative, expressed through laws, while the former is unwritten and self-evident.

In the conflict between justice and injustice, Aristotle identifies equity (epieikeia) as the central virtue that should guide us in addressing possible contradictions or gaps in positive law.

The Nicomachean Ethics is a bundle of three volumes that includes the ancient Greek text, a Modern Greek translation, introduction and commentary.