'Happiness, then, is the best, noblest, and most pleasant thing in the world.'

In the Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle's guiding question is: what is the best thing for a human being? His answer is happiness, but he means, not something we feel, but rather a specially good kind of life. Happiness is made up of activities in which we use the best human capacities, both ones that contribute to our flourishing as members of a community, and ones that allow us to engage in god-like contemplation. Contemporary ethical writings on the role and importance of the moral virtues such as courage and justice have drawn inspiration from this work, which also contains important discussions on responsibility for actions, on the nature of practical reasoning, and on friendship and its role in the best life.

This new edition retains and lightly revises David Ross's justly admired translation. It also includes a valuable introduction to this seminal work, and notes designed to elucidate Aristotle's arguments.

Features

• This new edition of one of the founding texts of moral philosophy combines David Ross's classic translation, lightly revised by Lesley Brown, with a new and invaluable introduction and notes to aid readers in their understanding of Aristotle's intricate arguments
• Widely admired translation, sparingly revised to retain its qualities while paying special attention to key terms, enhancing understanding, eliminating unintentional ambiguity, and incorporating the latest scholarly thinking
• Invaluable introduction covers Aristotle's life and writings, the key notions in the Ethics and how they work together in Aristotle's theory; the relevance of the work to modern ethical theory, showing its influences and differences
• Explanatory Notes elucidate meaning, allusions, and Aristotle's arguments
• Glossary of Key Terms
• Index

New to this Edition

• Classic translation by David Ross, completely reset and lightly revised by Lesley Brown, retaining its justly admired qualities while standardizing certain key phrases, removing ambiguity, and correcting the few instances where scholarship has provided a new rendering.
• New and thorough Introduction.
• New, up-to-date bibliography.
• New notes, glossary, and index.

ABOUT THE SERIES

For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Cover
Copyright Page
Title Page
Contents
Introduction
Translation
Bibliography
Chronology
Outline of The Nicomachean Ethics
THE NICOMACHEAN ETHICS
BOOK I
BOOK II
BOOK III
BOOK IV
BOOK V
BOOK VI
BOOK VII
BOOK VIII
BOOK IX
BOOK X
Explanatory Notes
Glossary
Index
Footnotes

Aristotle

Translated by David Ross and Edited by Lesley Brown, Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy, Somerville College Oxford.

Sir David Ross (1877-1971) was Provost of Oriel College and Deputy Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford.  He was General Editor of the complete Oxford Translation of Aristotle.

Lesley Brown has published articles on ancient philosophy, contributed introductory material to Plato, Selected Myths (OWC, 2004) and introduced Plato's Protagoras and Meno for Penguin Classics.