ETHICS

Summary There is an old saying that we should call no man happy as long as he is alive. This is a paradox because it implies that a man can be happy after he is dead. The words also imply that happiness is subject to the changes experienced in life, […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapter X – Can a Man Be Called Happy within His Lifetime?

Summary What then is the source of happiness? Is it learning, discipline, reason, divine dispensation, chance, or something else? Certainly, if anything comes to man from the gods, it must be happiness, for it is the best of all human things. Yet, though happiness is divine, it is attained through […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapter IX – How Happiness Is Acquired

Summary The first principle we have arrived at (the definition of happiness given above) must be tested logically, as a conclusion drawn from premises, and also in the light of generally held opinions on the nature of happiness, for something that is true will be found to be in harmony […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapter VIII – Confirmation of Our View in Popular Ideas on Happiness

Summary What then is the good? Its specific character seems to vary in different arts and different activities, yet in all it appears to be that for the sake of which everything else is done — the end or purpose of the particular activity in question (e.g., health in the […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapter VII – Definitions of the Good and Happiness

Summary One of the dominant theories in the study of ethics is Plato’s conception of the universal good, the doctrine of forms. He said that there exists an absolute good which is the source of all goodness of whatever form or kind in the universe. It is difficult to criticize […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapter VI – The Platonic View of the Good

Summary It is generally assumed that a man’s idea of happiness and the good is derived from the kind of life he leads. There are three main kinds of life: The life led by the masses of men, in which happiness (the good) is identified with sensual pleasure. This is […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapter V – Varying Views of the Good Life

Summary All knowledge, activity, and choice is directed toward some good. The aim of politics (i.e., the highest good attainable by action) is generally called “happiness.” All people agree on giving it this name, but there is much disagreement as to its definition. Even the same man may define happiness […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapter IV – Varying Views of Happiness and the Good – More Discussion on Method

Summary The degree of precision and certainty that can be sought in the study of any subject is dependent on the nature of the particular subject. Some subjects allow more precision in the conclusions to be drawn than do other subjects. The questions of what is noble and what is […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapter III – Limitations on the Study of Politics and Ethics

Summary If there should exist an end which is desirable for its own sake, which determines and motivates all other actions and choices, this end would be that which is absolutely good. Knowledge of this good would be of great value, for it would provide an aim for life and […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapter II – Politics Is the Study of the Good

Summary All human actions and choices aim at some good, which may be defined as the end or object of that action or choice. There are as many kinds of ends as there are kinds of activity and the ends may vary, depending on the particular activity being studied (e.g., […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapter I – The Aim of All Action Is the Good