Every art and every investigation, and likewise every practical pursuit or undertaking, seems to aim at some good: hence it has been well said that the Good is That at which all things aim. (It is true that a certain variety is to be observed among the ends at which the arts and sciences aim: in some cases the activity of practising the art is itself the end, whereas in others the end is some product over and above the mere exercise of the art; and in the arts whose ends are certain things beside the practice of the arts themselves, these products are essentially superior in value to the activities.) But as there are numerous pursuits and arts and sciences, it follows that their ends are correspondingly numerous: for instance, the end of the science of medicine is health, that of the art of shipbuilding a vessel, that of strategy victory, that of domestic economy wealth.
— from the translation by H. Rackham
To start the new year we will be reading Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics.
Greek text: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Perseus Digital Library
English translations: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Perseus Digital Library and Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Internet Archive
As always you may read any translation that you desire.
For reference:
On Wikipedia: Wikipedia Nicomachean Ethics and Wikipedia Aristotelian Ethics
On Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: IEP Aristotle Ethics
On Britannica: Britannica Nicomachean Ethics
Discussion will start and continue in the Forums, and we will meet via Zoom on Tuesday, March 25th at 11 a.m. EDT.
See also: Open House with Susan Sauvé Meyer, University of Pennsylvania, ‘How to Flourish’: A new translation of the Nicomachean Ethics.