Nicomachean ethics translated by terence irwin pdf

ARISTOTLE

NICOMACHEAN ETHICS

Translated with Introduction, Notes, and Glossary, by

TERENCE IRWIN

Second Edition

Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis /Cambridge

Copyright© 1999 by Terence Irwin

All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Aristotle.

[Nicomachean ethics. English] Nicomachean ethics I Aristotle : translated, with introduction,

notes, and glossary by Terence Irwin.-2nd ed. p. em.

Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-87220-465-0-ISBN 0-87220-464-2 (pbk.) 1. Ethics. I. Irwin, Terence. II. Title.

B430.A5N5313 1999 171 '.3-dc21

ISBN-13: 978-0-87220-465-2 (cloth) ISBN-13: 978-0-87220-464-5 (pbk.) Adobe PDF ebook ISBN: 978-1-60384-567-0

99-26709 CIP

N I COMAC H EAN ETH I CS Book I , Chapte r 4 §5

cated in that area, and the unqualifiedly good judge is the person edu- 1 095a cated in every area.

This is why a youth is not a suitable student of political science; for he lacks experience of the actions in life, which are the subject and premises of our arguments. §6 Moreover, since he tends to follow his feelings, his study will be futile and useless; for the end [of political science] is action, 5 not knowledge.* §7 It does not matter whether he is young in years or immature in character, since the deficiency does not depend on age, but results from following his feelings in his life and in a given pursuit; for an immature person, like an incontinent person, gets no benefit from his knowledge. But for those who accord with reason in forming their desires 10 and in their actions, knowledge of political science will be of great benefit.

§8 These are the preliminary points about the student, about the way our claims are to be accepted, and about what we propose to do.*

4

[Co m mon Be l iefs]

Let us, then, begin again.* Since every sort of knowledge and decision* pursues some good, what is the good that we say political science seeks? 15 What, [in other words,] is the highest of all the goods achievable in action?

§2 As far as its name goes, most people virtually agree; for both the many and the cultivated call it happiness, and they suppose that living well and doing well are the same as being happy.* But they disagree 20 about what happiness is, and the many do not give the same answer as the wise.*

§3 For the many think it is something obvious and evident-for instance, pleasure, wealth, or honor. Some take it to be one thing, others another. Indeed, the same person often changes his mind; for when he has fallen ill, he thinks happiness is health, and when he has fallen into pov­ erty, he thinks it is wealth. And when they are conscious of their own ignorance, they admire anyone who speaks of something grand and 25 above their heads. [Among the wise,] however, some used to think that besides these many goods there is some other good that exists in its own right and that causes all these goods to be goods.*

§4 Presumably, then, it is rather futile to examine all these beliefs, and it is enough to examine those that are most current or seem to have some 30 argument for them.

§5 We must notice, however, the difference between arguments from principles and arguments toward principles.* For indeed Plato was right to be puzzled about this, when he used to ask if [the argument] set out from the principles or led toward them*-just as on a race course the path 1095b may go from the starting line to the far end,* or back again. For we should

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Book I, Chapte r 4 §5 AR I STOT LE

1095b certainly begin from things known, but things are known in two ways;* for some are known to us, some known without qualification. Presum­ ably, then, we ought to begin from things known to us.

5 §6 That is why we need to have been brought up in fine habits if we are to be adequate students of fine and just things, and of political ques­ tions generally. §7 For we begin from the [belief] that [something is true]; if this is apparent enough to us, we can begin without also [know­ ing] why [it is true].* Someone who is well brought up has the begin­ nings, or can easily acquire them.* Someone who neither has them nor

10 can acquire them should listen to Hesiod:* 'He who grasps everything himself is best of all; he is noble also who listens to one who has spoken well; but he who neither grasps it himself nor takes to heart what he hears from another is a useless man.'

5

[T he T h ree L ives]

But let us begin again from the point from which we digressed.* For, it would seem, people quite reasonably reach their conception of the good,

15 i.e., of happiness, from the lives [they lead]; §2 for there are roughly three most favored lives: the lives of gratification, of political activity, and, third, of study.*

The many, the most vulgar, would seem to conceive the good and hap­ piness as pleasure, and hence they also like the life of gratification.

20 §3 In this they appear completely slavish, since the life they decide on is a life for grazing animals.* Still, they have some argument in their defense, since many in positions of power feel as Sardanapallus* felt, [and also choose this life].

§4 The cultivated people, those active [in politics], conceive the good as honor, since this is more or less the end [normally pursued] in the political life. This, however, appears to be too superficial to be what we

25 are seeking;* for it seems to depend more on those who honor than on the one honored, whereas we intuitively believe that the good is something of our own and hard to take from us.* §5 Further, it would seem, they pursue honor to convince themselves that they are good; at any rate, they seek to be honored by prudent people, among people who know them,

30 and for virtue. It is clear, then, that-in their view at any rate-virtue is superior [to honor].

§6 Perhaps, indeed, one might conceive virtue more than honor to be the end of the political life. However, this also is apparently too incom­ plete [to be the good]. For it seems possible for someone to possess virtue

1096a but be asleep or inactive throughout his life, and, moreover, to suffer the worst evils and misfortunes. If this is the sort of life he leads, no one would count him happy, except to defend a philosopher 's paradox.*

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N I COMAC H EAN ETH I CS Book I , Chapte r 6 §4

Enough about this, since it has been adequately discussed in the popular 1 096a works* as well.

§7 The third life is the life of study, which we shall examine in what 5 follows.*

§8 The moneymaker 's life is in a way forced on him [not chosen for itself];* and clearly wealth is not the good we are seeking, since it is [merely] useful, [choiceworthy only] for some other end. Hence one would be more inclined to suppose that [any of] the goods mentioned earlier is the end, since they are liked for themselves. But apparently they are not [the end] either; and many arguments have been presented 10 against them.* Let us, then, dismiss them.