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The Eudemian Ethics of Aristotle PDF

432 Pages·2013·3.07 MB·English
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Copyright © 2013 by Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New Jersey. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Con- ventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Transaction Publishers, Rutgers—The State University of New Jersey, 35 Berrue Circle, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854-8042. www.transactionpub.com This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library M aterials. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2012018214 ISBN: 978-1-4128-4969-2 Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Aristotle. [Eudemian ethics. English] The Eudemian ethics of Aristotle / translated with explanatory comments and accompanying translation of Aristotle’s On Virtues and vices [by] Peter L. P. Simpson. p. cm. 1. Ethics. 2. Virtues. 3. Vices. I. Simpson, Peter, 1951– II. Aristotle. De virtutibus et vitiis. English. III. Title. B422.A5S56 2012 171’.3–dc23 2012018214 To my Students and Colleagues at the City University of New York Contents Introduction ix Analytical Outline 1 Translation of the Eudemian Ethics Book One 7 Book Two 21 Book Three 49 Book Four 67 Book Five 91 Book Six 109 Book Seven 137 Book Eight 175 Translation of On Virtues and Vices 189 Commentary on the Eudemian Ethics Book One 195 Book Two 233 Book Three 287 The Common Books in General 305 Book Four 307 Book Five 321 Book Six 327 Book Seven 335 Book Eight 379 Bibliography 395 Index 401 Introduction Reason for the Translation and the Accompanying Commentary Of the works on ethics in the Aristotelian corpus that have come down to us from antiquity there is now no significant dispute among scholars that the Nicomachean Ethics [NE] and Eudemian Ethics [EE] are authentic.1 Of these the best known and most read and studied, by scholars as well as by general readers, is the Nicomachean. The Eudemian has, at least in recent years, come to be read and used by scholars as a helpful support and confirmation and sometimes foil for NE.2 However, for all the attention recently paid to it, EE remains a largely neglected work in the study of Aristotle’s ethics, both among scholars and among moral philosophers. Reasons are not far to seek. EE is more concentrated, even crabbed, in style and argumentation, and it is less adorned with engaging descriptions or enlarged by leisurely explanations. More, and worse, the Greek text is plagued with problems both of grammar and translation, whereas the text of NE is relatively free of them. Recent scholarly work has done much to help clear up these problems but more needs to be done. Further, translations of EE (in any language) are few and largely incomplete. For EE shares three books in common with NE (Books 4–6 of the former being the same as Books 5–7 of the latter), and these com- mon books are usually found in translations only of NE and not in those of EE.3 Finally, the particularities of doctrine in EE, because its argumentation is so concentrated and elliptical, are not easy to decipher, especially in com- parison with the more expansive NE. Further, because the work as a whole has attracted less attention, these particularities have remained without the extensive commentary and explanation that NE has long enjoyed and that have rendered its doctrine and argumentation more open to view. The translation and commentary offered here are meant to contribute toward rectifying this state of affairs. To begin with, the translation includes the common books. Second, it provides an analytical outline of the whole, together with summaries (not Aristotle’s, of course, but the translator’s) of each individual section, so as to make the overall structure and the detailed ix

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Among the works on ethics in the Aristotelian corpus, there is no serious dispute among scholars that the Eudemian Ethics is authentic. The Eudemian Ethics is increasingly read and used by scholars as a useful support and confirmation and sometimes contrast to the Nicomachean Ethics. Yet, it remains
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