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Castro, John Vincent V. August 23, 2014

BSA II-3 / PHILO 11-5 Professor Dino Tristan Cabrera

NICOMACHEAN ETHICS by ARISTOTLE

The Nicomachean Ethics is the name normally given to Aristotle’s best-known work on ethics. The work which plays a pre-eminent role in defining Aristotelian ethics, consists of ten books, originally separate scrolls, and is understood to be based on notes from his lectures at the Lyceum, which were either edited by or dedicated to Aristotle’s son, Nicomachus.

The Nicomachean Ethics has 10 books. The FIRST BOOK is all about defining the subject matter itself and justify the method which has been chosen. As part of this, Aristotle considers common opinions along with the opinions of poets and philosophers. The SECOND BOOK: CONCERNING EXCELLENCE OF CHARACTER OR MORAL VIRTUE is all about virtues. Aristotle says that virtue of thinking needs teaching, experience and time, virtue of character comes about as a consequence of following the right habits. According to Aristotle the potential for this virtue is by nature in humans, but whether virtues come to be present or not is not determined by human nature. The THIRD BOOK: MORAL VIRTUES(FIRST SET OF EXAMPLES) deals separately with some of the specific character virtues, in a form similar to the listing at the end of the second book, starting with courage and temperance.

The FOURTH BOOK: MORAL VIRTUES(SECOND SET OF EXAMPLES) involves getting the balance of one’s behavior right in social or political situations, leading to themes that become critical to the development of some of the most important themes. The FIFTH BOOK: JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS represents the special discussion on justice which was already foreseen in earlier books, and which covers some of the same material as Plato’s Republic although in a strikingly different way. The SIXTH...