Anyone interested in theories of moral or human practice will find in Aristotleâs Nicomachean Ethics one of the few basic models relevant through to today. At the centre of his analysis, both sober and cautious, are such concepts as happiness, virtue, choice, prudence, incontinence, pleasure and friendship. Aristotleâs arguments are by no means of merely historical interest, but continue to exert a key influence on present-day ethical debate. The thirteen contributions in this volume present the foundations of Aristotleâs investigation, along with the modern background of its reception.
Otfried Höffe: Introduction; Otfried Höffe: Ethics as practical philosophy â methodological considerations; John L. Ackrill: Aristotle on eudaimonia; Hellmut Flashar: The critique of Plato; Ursula Wolf: The sense of Aristotleâs doctrine of the mean; Christof Rapp: Free will, choice, and responsibility; Günther Bien: Aristotle on justice; Theodor Ebert: Phronêsis â notes on a concept of Aristotleâs Ethics; Richard Robinson: Aristotle on akrasia; Friedo Ricken: The value and nature of pleasure; Anthony Price: Friendship; Wolfgang Kullmann: The contemplative and the political forms of life; Otfried Höffe: Prospect: Aristotle or Kant â against a simple alternative.