Chapter

Note on the text

Aristotle's life and work

For rhe sakeof having one standard systemwhich all scholars use, refeLences to any work of Aristotleare alwaysgiven according to the columnandline in Bekker'sBerlin Editionof 1831. .oage. This edition ilas th great advantage that each reference is quite unique.Thus, ll4?bl0 refersto line l0 of the second columnon page ll47 of tsekker. Evenwith no mentionof the title of the work, this is unambiruouslya reference to the Nicomachaean E rics, Book VII, chapter l. In this book I have given the standard references, but have also inciuded the Book and chapter of the Ethicsas an additional helpto a refelence in its context. Piacine The tmnsiations hreare my own. But sinceit is alwaysuseful lc comparedifferent translations of any ancientauthor,the reader night $ ish to consultthe other translations given at the startof the Bibliography. To maketbe sense clearerI haveoccasionally inserted rn square bmckets a word which doesnot occurin the Greek,but can be deduced frotnthecontext.

An outline of his life and times to Athensin 367 BcE at the ageof 17, Aristotle came to go to university.'University' in this casemeant school foundedby the Academy, the philosophical geat who had been a discipleof the Plato, himself wast/reculturalcentleofthe MediterSocrates. Athens for wouldhavehadtwo reasons ranean, andits citizens not being immediately impressedby the young fuistotle.He camefrom the far north of Greece,from a countryboy, then, thecity of Stagira in Macedonia; lackingin cultural refirement.In this, the doubtless Both prejudice would havebeenmisleading. Athenian with a long parents came from families Aristotle's ofmedicine,andhis fatherwas tradition ofthe practice physician III ofMacedon. Court court to King Amyntas werenot uncivilized, andthe value circles in Macedon is demonstrated by thevery fteyplaced uponeducation fact of their sendingAristotle to Athns. There was, would havehad reason Athenians however, a second with wholly open arms. Aristotle for not welcoming

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with the royal family of Macedon,and Macedon He llas connected had military arnbitions. AmyntasJs son Philip II embarked on a proofmany grannreof militaristexpansion which, much to the resentment and much of Greece, led to domination over Athenians, his i-.lominent evenlually to th subjugation of Athens itseli Still. for twenty years Aristotle remained at the Academy, stud)-ing,debaring, writing and teaching. Unfortunately, most of his ivrirings from that time have been lost, and we are able to do iittle about precisely what he studied,and inore than make educatedguesses ,,r,here his own interests lay. But as those years went by, the political situatiorbrought about by the policies of Philip of MacedonrapidJy worsened.and the climate in Athens became more and more nervous in Aristotle,whose legal status and hostile.Against this background, with suspF alien,found himselfregarded Athenswas tbat ofa resident the city ofOlynthus, one ciorr.Finally the c sis came.Philip battered and, a few months later,in of Athens'sclose allies, into submission; j,17, Plato died. a nephewof Aristotle was thus doubly isolated.Speusippus, Aristotle have hoped the Would took as head of Academy. Plato. over ! job? getting it depend got the Did his not that he himself might have upon the fact that Speusippuswas a relative of Plato, or on the fact : in the prevailingI tl'rat ro appointAristotlewould have beenimpossible pcliticalcli:nate? that Aristotle'sown philosophical Or was it perhaps ;: .. rieu's r.veLe by this time somewhat out of tune with the prevailing tone in the Academy? Whatever the academic reasons may hav given the hostilepolitical thoughtit prudent,especially bccn.A.ristotle He went to join a group tc leave and the Academy. siiiration. Athens i the north Aegean coast of what is of Platonists at Assos, a city on r nori Turke],. The local monarch, Hermias, was himself interestedin I him to fulfil the Platonic phiiosophy. encoumged and the philosophers ideal of becoming a philosopher-king. Aristotle was later to write a irl,rnn lamenting his untimely death (he was murdered) and praising his lersonal qualities 'for which he will be raised by the Musesto inmonalit-r,'. Before that, though, Aristotle had himself manied Pythias,and ihcy lrere again on the move. Philip II invited him to retum to Alexanderlaterwas \lrcedonia to becometutor to his son Alexander.

conquests to becomeknown as 'the Great' becauseof his amaztng Ti:rkey' is now what across Empire which extendedthe Macedonian Aristotle Perhaps India on into Eg)?t, much of Western Asia, and throne' but hopid to in"ulcat" Plato's ideals in the young heir to the campaigning in the light of the brutality of some of Alexander's his oie may wonderjust how completeAristotle's influence on tactics,

was. pupll

in the east,ard Aristotleonce left for his campaigns Alexander of Antipater' the protection under to Athens,in 334, retumed again was one of who and ,f,. r.g.n, whom Alexanderhad appointed, in Macetime his during friends.At somepoint closest Aristotle's was bom' mother' afterher calledPythias daughter, Aristotle's donia, to probably in childbirth'It was his wiie died,perhaps but,tragically, manied' either that'A'ristotle ater his infantdaughter hap*i-ttttoot<ing Herpyllis point)' the on differ sources (the ancient or lived with was will Aristotle his was, in with her his legalrelationship Whatever provi careful to make and him, to warml! of her devotion to speak child' the rrotherof his second Shealsobecame fo, he, support. sion timea sonwhomhe calledNicomachus' 0ris own Upon his anival back in Athens,Aristotle foundedhis The the Lyceum park called in a publicexercise school philosophicat of custom thet fiom known as 'periPatetics' th"r" became ,tudant, their as they discussed up and down (in Greek,Peripatein) walking Aristotle taught and Lyceum his in Here researches. ptrllosoiptricat years lt wasthe eleven next the for happily p*ru"d hi, o*n research mostenduring of his time the and periodof his life, productive most Alexander struck disaster political though, Onceagain, achievements. at at the young age of 32 The Athenians once saw diedsuddenly regent'ln a waveof ofthe Macedonian io rid themsel-v;s chance their Aristotle with'impiety" the feeling,they charged anti-Macedonian two executron offencewhich had led to Socrates's catch-all same it is OnceagainAristotlehadto leave,remarking' earlier. generations against sin a second commit iuia,tnutn" did so'lest the Athenians He suwivedonly a year in exile, and died at the ageof philosophy'.
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background His.works and philosophical

that ethicsand politics had ultimatelyto rest on more agreed Plato and metaphysicsThere are of epistemology considerations seneral often on Aristotles philosophywere Ptatoandhis F ilso somesimilarities in method Plato, following Socrates' The r\,.osrearinfluences and students' the biology of animals. o.,r n research into biology, especially by elicitingthe views of one of his his dialogues starts Plato must have been a hard act to follow. He had developed then goingon to seehow far thoseviews will standuP to criticism' and transfomred the philosophical method of Socratesand appliedit similarly,Aristotlehabituallytakesas his startingpoints Somewhat immonality the including wide range of problems, tc an arnazingly opinions'.By lhis term Aristotlemeansto include received endo:ra, justice, the and or at leastby mostpeople'aswell of the soul. the nature of virtue, the meaning of whichareheldby everyone, views justification for We shouldstart,then'with what cornmon thory of truth. He had atteltlptedto give a tbeoretical heldby the wise.2 asthose havethought' .,rhat he regarded as the right way to live both as an individual and or with what earlierphilosophers mightsuigest, sense Aristotleis more thoseviewsto critical assessment rs a member of the city-state.In so doing, he had been forcedto thensubject and seek for the foundations of ethics and politics by developing s),rnpathetic ihan Plato to the thoughtthat most people cannotbe highil- original views in tnetaphysicsand in the theory of knowledge. wholly mistaken. to Aristotleis thathe rejected ascribed The very scopeand stvle of philosophyitself were those which had ihe viewmostpopularly was to all at in Plato's Academy. The framework 'Theoryof Forms'.Certainly one time Plato did believe established treconre Plato's 'good' were genuine appealances firmly established. Was there any room for tlat, if wordslike 'beauty'or 'courage'or 'equaliry' or Formscorresponding the they mustpoint to o fi ginalit y ? anymeaning, to have are there if Only properties of these instances perfect, Recall that Aristotle studied and debatedin Plato's Academyfor exisiing, really any be there itsell will years, from the age of 17 until he was 37. He must surely have t\\'er'rq' ,u.h Fo*, as Beautyitself, or Goodness the beauty we understand which in way not merely by Plato'smethodand by the ofthe beenenonrously influenced explanation satisfactory whiclr Plato and his studentsbelieved to be beyond andgoodness .L-rnch,rsions of this-worldlythings,imperfectas they are Only if were recog- thesJ disnuie. but alsoby the placesat which Plato'sarguments Formsexist will therebe any solid basisfor morality' perfect matter ofdispute is still a itsell So' the popularview has it' Aristotle oiien by Plato himsell [t nizerlas cieficient, for knowledge or irdeed and madea radical speculations, the young Aristotle startcdoflby being more in agreement hadno time for suchmetaphysical 'r i'.ciher First' Plato .r ith Platoand endedup being much more critical;or whetherhe was This view is a grossoversimplification' with Plato. break Theoryof the modified moie criticaj in his earlier years and only later began to seethat there laterin his life at leastconsiderably himself the Phaedo' in views the kind of viewsadvanced nls pe:hapssome$'hattnore to be said for his old teacher's if by thatis meant Foms, rhan he used to think. It may also be true that the brilliant young Aristotleis perfectlywilling to talk about forms' and on Besides, up in shows this influence and that his teacher. prruil influenced evenendedup by holding a view of forms not interpratations some truthbehindthe overthings are reasonably someof Plato'slater uorks.r Still, at leastsome Still,thereis an impoftant Plato's. unlike wholly politics, biology'.which and like interest.in. in ethicsand Plato'sinterests clear.Arislotleretained The clue lies in Aristotle's simplification. medicalbacktheir with by his parents first aroused hadbeen perhaps and his Aristotle doneby Much of the research with certainty gouni practice. by the factthal we cannot Theprr'blerris nol madearryeasier "nO of andclassification the examination worksevento the extentof clearlydistinguishing r]:ue nranyof Aristotle's itudrnr,.onrirt.d in the meticulous
laterffom lhe earlier.In any casemanyof Aristotle'sworksare knownto be of sayingan)'thing on the problems lcst For a sholt andjudiciouscomment ch l' $5, seeT. H. Invin [1988]' development, s philosophical rborr Arislolle to in lrwin'snotesrefered DD. Il lJ. andlheanicles fish and insects,and in the attempt to explain why they were animals, 1l43bll-]!4' ll45b2-'7 Ethics Nicohachaean seealso 'Iopicsl00b2l;

as the) \\'ere, and why they behaved as they behaved. Aristotle was convinced that the explanations were to be found not in some supersensibleworld of Platonic Forms, but in the intemal organization of tle organisms tbemselves. Their patteros of growth, development and behaliour were directed by an inbuilt purposiveness, different for each species,the nature of which could be called the 'form' of that orsanism.and could be discoveredby patient study and inquiry. i\'lore generaliv, perhaps the nature of every kind of thing could be drscovered in a similar way. This quest for the naturesof things for the p/rasrsof each kind of thing - is what Aristotle called Pilsics; and the further underlying truths about explanation in general, upon ri hich such inquiries ultimately rested, were what he discussedin his .\.1eta ohtsics.3 Here, then, is the original contriburion which Aristotle believed he could make towardshandling the questions that Plato had raised. lnsteadof looking to an abstmctdiscipline such as mathematics to provide the ultimate explanation of things, as did the Platonistsin the Academ).,, A stotle proposed to study in detail the world around him, and to deal with tbe philosophical implications of that study in an integrated\r'a-v. W}tat, he asks, must be the fundamentalcharacteristicsof a iuorld if inquiry into the naturesof things in that world is to be possible at all? Like Plato, then, Aristotle seeksto know the ultimate explanaiions ofthings; unlike Plato,he thinksthat questions aboutultimate explanations must arise out of, rather than dispense with, rurun,Jane questionsabout how we are to explain the shapesand movements and growth of animals, and the regular behaviour of the inanirnatepads of nature. ln particular, looking at how the different speciesof organisms are by nafure impelled to pursue what is good for them, rve can begin to see how values are central to the behaviour of iiving things. Once we learn to look at ourselvesas animals, and to understand how animals function, we can begin to glimpse how biolocy,with its inbuilt values,can in the caseofthinking animalslike ouriel\'eslead on to ethics. 'i'vleta-Ph)rsics probabJy (meto relers to an inquirywhich.ofiesaJTer in Greek) tle directinquiryjnto the natures of things,whenthe inquirersees thardeeper oue\rior,s rnust with. be dealt

Aristotle would have thought it astonishingif thinking animals like ourselveshad no way of expressingto themselveswhat was good for them. So, at many points n the Ethics, he starts by considering what people usually or frequently think about va ous questrons with norality, on the assumptionthat their views must either connected be right or at least contain some considemblekemel of truth which would explain why people hold them. But is this assumptiona reasonable one to make? Might an entire society not be blind to the rights of women, or acceptracist beliefs quite uncritically? Quite in general, doesAristotle's method not amount to little more than repeating the ofhis own culture? Aristotle assumptions prejuilicesand unquestioned might reply to this that he has no intention of merely repeating the views of the ordinary person,nor of the wise, without criticizing and them. If one asks how this criticism is to proceed' Aristotle assessing would reply that a good first step would be to bring into the open any hidden inconsistenciesin common beliefs, and try to sort those out' But, the cdtic might press the point, even if that results in a coherent account,mere coherencedoesn't guaranteelnl&. A person might be consistently rucist or sexist and still be simply mistaken' surely? Aristotle might reply to this that even if it is comparatively easy to be within a limited area of one's beliefs (say, about the rights consistent of women), it is much harder to be consistentacrossa wide spectrum of one's beliefs. One would have to integrate ethics and psychology, physiology, sociology and the rest; and once one t es to do this' at some point the hidden inconsistencieswill reappear. Achieving an overall 'fit' between one's experienceand one's beliefs is not at all easy;and when it has been achieved, that is as close as one is ever likely to come to the truth. This is a very complex issue,and we shall haveto see as we go along whether Aristotle's method seemslikely to deliver what he is looking for. For the moment, at least, this much can be said. Like Plato, Aristotleis concemedto get behind what people might happento thint their views, to examine their foundations and their in order to assess justification. Like Plato, Aristotle is concemed with how individuals oughtto live, and how they ought to contribute to their communities. He.too. is concernedwith the nature ofmoral virtues,justice, personal resoonsibilitvand moral weakness.Like Plato, he believesthat ethics

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r'nust be rooted in a view of the humansoul. But unlike Plato,his fiom biology, conception of what a soul is derivesin the first instance and reincamaratherthan from religiousviews aboutthe incamation true self And this differencehas profound ricn of a disembodied for morality. irnlrlications

Chapter

Style, structure
and aim of the Ethics

Ethics The Nicomachaean

gt}ics is so calledeitherbecause TheNicomachaean the work to his youngson,or, more dedicated Aristotle himself who it was Nicomachus probably, because gave final form someyears it its the work and edited wrote another afterhis father'sdeath.Aristotle also Elhics,which theEudemian on moralphilosophy, book of our presentstudy we may leave for the purposes to one side.l I shall here be dealingjust with the I shallrefer Ethics,andfor convenience Nicomachaean to it simply as the Ethicswhen thereis no dangerof confusion. We know that Aristotlewrote stylishdialogues for the general intended andotherworkson philosophy
rNot only are there the two works: to complicate matters further,three of the eight books of the Eudemian Ethics arc identicalwith three of the ten books of the Nicomochaean Et ics. The more widcly held view is that the EudemianEthics waswritten first. How to explain the duplicatebooks?Perhaps lhrec of the books were losl from one of the two works, and werereplacedby the three p3rallel books from the other work (which probably w^s the Eudemianttrl.J). However, there is

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lrublic. Unfonunately,only some fragmentsof thesehave survived,. and in any case most of these probably date fi'om Aristotle's first stay in Athenswhen he was working in Plato's Academy.The surviving \rorl(s. in contrast, were not intended for the wider public, and most of them could not be described as polished literary creations. More probably.they contain Aristotle's own notes for lectureshe was giving, 0i topics he was working on. The Ethics most likely dates from the pcriodafterAristotiehad retumedto Athensand foundedthe Lyceum. Likc er erlthing else we have from this period, in some places the ri,riting is extremely condensed,and would, presumably, have been er1-.iaincd more at length in the course of the lecture. In other places, more and the text could havebeendelivered thesiyie js more elaborate Did he perhaps oi lessas it stands. Thereare alsosomeinconsistencies. revise rvhat he wanted to say iD some places, but did not get round to making the conesponding corrections elsewhere? Altematively, it rright u'ell be that Nicomachus or some later editor was responsible whatevernraterialshad come down to him from Aristotle, lbr alTalrging and fitredsomebis in as best he could. lvhat has come down to us ls rt leasi ro solrle extent a record of work in progress,and we should fead it in fiat spirit. lt should encourage us to think about the problrrrrs as Aristotle hinself was thinking about them. Rather than being rjaunrrC by a great man's finisheddefinitivework, we might perhaps or the contributions we night put to a lecturer, thiLrk of the questjons ric rri3ht tr1 to rnaketo a seminar. -llrc Ctirics will strike the modem rcader as, if not exactly chaolic.irt lcnstrathcr looselywritten. For a start,the traditionaldiviand not A l i stotl e' s, a l m o s tc e rta i nl y .ro n lnt o B ook s 'a n d ' c h a p te rs ' i s $e shouldnot allow it to distEct us.?Sontetopicsrun over from one book to anotlrer(as for example, friendship straddlesthe divrsion tumson datingof the rwo works.The question no llgrec-llrent aboutthe relative thetwo woiks,and between ofthe differences oncs estinrate of thesignificance cascfor asa revision of theother.A powerful \rlrichis moreplausibly regarded Ethicswas writtenfirst has qucslioning the comnon view that the Eudemiah ar to be foundin bernput by AnthonyKenny 09781i his funherreflections I. Kcnny ll992l,Appendix oftext whichwould thata Bookconsisted of theamount I1hilshccnsuggesled lir onro i single roll of papyrus. l0

in Books BooksVIII andIX, andthe moralvirtuesaretreated between often chapters ll andIV andV). Within a singlebook,too, successive To waming' to hop from one topic to anotheralmostwithout seem the extentthis is the result of the editing,but it also reflects some which issues asit doesseveral comprising nature ofethicsasa subject, Still, interlocking than tightly rather to another related one areloosely later that of a or Aristotle's it is Whether not exaggerate. we should of sequence intelligible andan thereis at leastsomestructure, editor, alongthe following lines: topics, I What do we aim at in life? what is it that would make A worthwhilelife mustsurelyinvolve living worthwhile? to the humancharacteristics specifically our developing reflecUpon those are? what out we find full. How could human tion,we canseethatwhatis mo$ characteristically all colours thought which aboutounelvesis the way in our but also pursuits, our lives - not just our intellectual andrelationships' our choices feelingsandemotions, the ways in which thought So rve start by considering which contributeto those tmits of character influences are thesetraits? What life. fulfllled wonhwhile, a living do our charAnd how thcm? possess to we come How do in life' we make which choices the in turn influence actcrs andfor which we are held responsible? in more We needto thinli aboutchoiceandresponsibilify and also for all our behaviour, detail.Are we responsible we havedeveloped? for the character

II

III

these of individualvirtuesto illustrate Wc canusethe examples .., points, of virtue' moreexamples of several Miscussion quite like the others)' Thevirtueofjustice(whichis not V not only thatwe havea life requires Vl Livinga wonhwhile but alsothatwe have character, andbalanced well-rounded dcvelopcdthe intellectualskills neededto gmsP which choiceswe necdto make as we go along What is it to havea goodmoraljudgement?
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Horv can people responsiblymake wrong choices?The connection between good and bad choices and virtues and vices. Pleasureas a possible source of temptation The preceding topics might give the impression that a wortlrwhile huuran life fright be lived entirely on one's own. On the contrary humans are naturally inclined towatds various kinds of friendsltip' N4oreou iiiendship: its justification and its importance' Pleasureagain; for surely a worthwhile life must somehow be fulfiliing and enjoyable? This leads on to a final discussion of the ingredients of fulfilled life' both for the individual. and for the individual as a member ot a comn.runity.

Aristotle's aim in writing the Ethics work on moralitywashis RepablicIt included mostambitious Plato's how an individualshouldlive' but' much about notsimplydiscussions picture ror. urntitloutty,integntedthat view into a comprehensive way best the and good citizenship' morality, of theidealstatePersonal Erhics the writing in aim Aristotle's all fit together. a state to organize of He hopedto providean account diiferent. rvas no Politiu urndih" strucbe how the goodpersonshouldIive, and how societyshould io make suchlives possible Adstotledid not believe in o'rder rured wasto give peoplea true for moraleducation thatall thatwasneeded of what was goodand nobleand morally worthwhile' understanding is not enoughwithout motivation'which knowledge Understandirig of moral to give an account ulon..unnot irouide. SoAristotlesetsout this can all of discussion as *ell us moraltheory.A detailed training will serveto texts 4, but the followingtwo rait uitil lat"r, in Chapter outlineof what he is trying to do: giveus a preliminary It is well said,then' that it is by doingjust acts that someone acts that they become just, and by doing temperate becomes haveany chance would no one Withoutdoingthese, temperate. actrons these perform do not good.But mostpeople ofbecoming plilosobut tuke,eiulc in theory,thinkingthat they are being a bitlike goodin thisway'Theybehave phers andwiii become of the none do but doctors' to their who listencarefully patients well made be will not latter the ihing, th.y weretold to do. As be not will the former in tiOy ty sucha nethod of treatment,

lX X

So Aristotle's train of thought goes more or less like this: To lire a fullilled life, we need to be guided by errotions which are and by habltsof thoughtwhich enableus to seewhat is and balrnced, thesebalanced and why. In developing to our decisions' ;s not relevant acting responpresumably are we rntotions and disceming choices, said to be properly be we can u'hat lriblvi so \\'e need to know examples various the on eiaborate here,to for. (Digression rcs1.'tonsible into the fitted can be which rcsponses and unbalanced ol Lralanced of the notion on Now much of the foregoingdepends ibor c schenre.) made' are how suchchoices choice:so we needto discuss ir disceming obviously Again, presuppose they of knowledge rundwhat kinds for wrong choices But how pcopleare otien held responsible cnough, they should not do? At know they ..n *,n"on. knowingly do what the qualitiesofthe discussed of a leap: we have Ihis point. something to others? gooj indi"ldual, but what of the individual'srelationships to a contribute and how do they with such relationships, \ihi Lrother we thosequestlons' can lirlfilledlife for rte? When we have answered try to sultl up. Ethics has to say something about the fulfilled life' and about tbe kind of community in rvhich personsleading such a life nrighthope lo functionbest.Just a sketchof this last point here' since aftef the Erllcs conles tlle PoliticJ.

t" on'iilllli;*r_,r, anapproach bysuch weliinsoul made

inquiry (unlike our othets)is not aimedat theoretOur present our inquiry in ordeJto We are not conducting ical knowleclge. good'otherofvirtue,but in orderto become knowthedefinition aboutwhat think wiseit would not benefitus at all so we must actionsandhow we oughtto performthem ' concems 01, 2, I 103b26-31)

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Aristotle's (1): Why do we do anything at all? Prelace

are hierarchicallyordered:we read a book to leam about Reasons Adstotle;and we want to leam about Aristotle becausewe want to get Aristotle tellsusthattheflrstthree chapters of theEthics areby way a degrce, perhaps;and we want to get a degreebecause. . . and so on. of being a prefaceto the work as a whole (1095a12). In thesechap- Now, most of the things that we do involve know-how. We need to ters. he gives an outline of his approach, indicates the results which leam how to read, and, indee4 how to read Aristotle; know-how is might be expected, and describes the kind of student for whom his needed for making a ship, or a CD. These various bodies of knowlecturs are designed. just as our reasons are. actions for individual arestructured, ledge presupare Ethicsand politics are concemed or electronics with what we shouiddo. If we Practical such as marine engineering sciences do something (as distinct from have sonethinghappento us, or from posedby the scienceof commerce (which needs ships) or the music a piece of purely reflex behaviour), we do it for a reason.So Aristotle industry(which needs CDs), and these in tum have their own aims. itans off his introduction by making somegeneral observations on the His point is that these second-levelaims explain why the firstlevel reasons ra,e might give for doing anything. The observationsare indeed aims arc important to us. He then raises this question: is there some practical scienceto which all the others are subordinate? very general:and that is becausehe wants to get back to the most basic highest-level there its end will be the highest of all ends, and to understandit is, asslunptionsinvolved in ethics. We commonly try to think out prob- lf to lems such as 'Should mother come and live with us. or would she would be understandhow ever'4hing else fits together, and why in the end we do an)4hing at all. His answer (in l, 2) is that there is indeed a plausible candidate for the position ofhighest-level practical science- politics. To seewhv he saysthis, we need to grasp two points. The first concems the way ofpolitics. The word 'politics' in whichAristotlethinksofthe science doesnot have for him the somewhat ambiguous overtones it might have for us, where to be a politician might suggest being adePt at wheelingand dcaling, manipulating the levers of power, and so on Nor doeshe mean what we might mean by 'political science', which Sonretimes we moL:e things (such as a statue,or a chair), ano is a theoreticel study of how political institutions work and interact. sometimes*'e simply do things (like walking, or discussing Like Plato, Aristotle had a noticn of politics which was at once more philosophy). idealistic and more practical. The science of politics consists in Some of the things we do, we do for their own sake(listening knowinghow to organizethe community for the best.3'Politics' is allto music, or keepinga promise,for instance). involving all the many ways in which we should interact embracing, Sor,relimes,we do something, or make something, for the sake with one anothcr in a community. The people whose task it is to orgaof something else that we want (we read a book in order to leam nizethe community are the ones who in the end decide what is to be about Aristotle; we paint a picture in order to enjoy looking at it: we make CDs in order to eam a living). I 'Community'. thatat thisperiodthepolitical to remember sinceit is inrportant Somerimes we do things both lor their own sake and because as therehad smallcity - a polis - andsuchempires unitwasa ccrmparaiively the),ale meansto achievingsomething else as well. (We go for becn even cities, of individual thought ofas alliances werenevefiheless in Greece was partner (asAthens l \talk bccause hadoncebeen,andMacedon we enjoy walking, and in any casethe exercise if there werca dominant rc DCCOme.) is gcrodfor our health.)

be better where she is?', or 'Can we really blame him for what he rlid?' and so on. k is nruchmore rarely that we ask 'What shouldI be cloingu ith rry life?', and even more rarely that we ask 'What is the b.st wav to livel' Aristotlethinks that to deal with the more everyday problcnrs. we have in the end to deal with the very general, but very 'Why do anythingat all?' is indeeda strange lundarncltalissues. quesrron:but it might provide a clue to what is needed in orderto answer lhc others.So, he begins: rl)

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tir0!jtt aod to whom, how money is to be spcni, what laws are to be scientificlaws have no exceptions,whereasmoral principles, such as cn3crcd.$trat p)ays and festivals to be celebrated, which types of 'You shouldnot tell a lie' surely have all kinds ofexceptions. Someone belriri iour to be encoumged, and which not. plato toot it for iianted, might even wish to argue that, whereas the truths of physics should :ud.{risiotle u,ouid not have disputed,that all thesepracticaldeci_ beaccepted by anyone,different individuals or culturesneednot accept sionshave as rheir ultimatepurposerhe wel)-beingof the citizens, as the sameethical principles at all. Despite what he has just said about indiyidu3ls and as a community.Ifwe could understand how to achieve uffeasonable expectationsin ethics, Aristotle would neverthelessat rhatgoal. rhen, saysAristotle, we could seehow each action of each this pointurge caution until we see tums howtheinquiryintoethics irrdiyidual might be gocd for that personand might also conu.ibute ro out. Ethics and politics are indeed different from physics. Aristotle a flourishing community.Ethics and politics are alike concemed with admits that in contrastwith the naturalworld 'noble and just actions, $l]at is most importantto us; ethics looking at it from the point of which arc the subject matter of politics, differ and vary so much that irc.x of the individual. and politics from the point of view of the it night appearas if rhey dependsimply upon hunan convention rather ronrnrunitl, as a whole. The Ethics,then,will attemptto answerques_ thannature'(1094b14-16). So it might seem.But, as we shall se, tiorisabout \,vhat each of us should do by showing how thc answen Aristotle docs not in fact endorsethat conclusion. While ethics and crinbc found;and answers can be found by considcring what it is thal politics may be inexactby comparison with the physical sciences, it i:r Ultinlarely irnponantto us. doesnot follow that there are no natural limits to what should be regarded as morally or politically admirable, or that ethics cannot in any sense be regardedas a scientiflc discipline. We shall have to wait Aristotle's (2): Realistic Preface expectations andsee. \\ iil lhc sludy of ethics tell us exactly what we should do in every srruirrron in which we find ourselves? Certainly not, says Aristotle. (3): Suitablestudents Aristotle'sPreface onl)' s()rtrcoue rvhohad no knowledgeofthe subject would expectthat . f , lc r r ilc dc la rrry . 1 ... . ,.1 As we saw, Aristotle's aim in w ting the Ethics is not just to teach theory,it is to help peopleto becomegood. While in a way Ilrc discussion will be quite sufficientif it attainsto as much people fair enough (though perhapsthe emphasisis not one which clafiry as the subject allows. Detailed accuracyis not to be thatseems lookcd lbr equally in all discussionsany more than in the various would always be found in moml philosophy lecturesnowadays!), one mightbe forgiven for thinking that there is neverthelesssomething of thlngsu,e can make. a paradoxhere. If, by Aristotle's own account, attending a course on fl . 3, t094bl t-t2) moralphilosophywill not guarantee that the studentswill end up being In talking about what we should do, we must not expect the morallygood, then why should reading Aristotle's Ethcs or listening prcciston that we might expect in, say, mathematics, or in the phys- to his lecturesbe any more effective? It's not enough for him simply icol scicnccs. Only the ill-infonned would expectthe samedegreeof to r4_v that hjs aim is not just theoretical but pmctical. How is that liqt.rur. Once again,Aristotle is here making an introductoryremark, supposed to work out? lLrrNhich he u ill give his detailedreasons later (partlyin Book Il, and Aristotle would tahe the point. No more than a contemporary panlv in Book VI). Now, it might not strikeus as too surprising to say lecturer in moral philosophy rvould Aristotle have thought it his busithal ethics{or-poiitics) is nor an exact sciencein the way in which nessto provide the kind of good moral training one might look for pn\stcj or astronotly are. We might be inclined to say that moral fromparcnls or schools. Such traininghas to slan in early childhood, piincil:,les ale very diflerent from scientific laws. At least idealtv. so that the young person acquiresbabits of good behaviour.Still, 17

STYL E ,s T RUCT URE AN D AIM OF T H E E T H l C S

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what Aristotleis trying to do, someonewho has been weil brought up will typically come to wonder of why they shouldhavebeenbroughtuP as they were' 1r'/n they have been trained to behave in this way rather than tbat explanation of how an adultis to go aboutmakinggooddecisions' anaccount InGeedthey might well question whether their upbringing has been and thatwhathe hasto saywill havethepractical effectof crysalong the right lines at all. Doubtless there were rebellious adolescentr Hhopes andways of thinkingwhich they haveas for them attitudes in Arhe)rs too. Rather than geting hold of them at once, however, tallizing were His lectures orjustify for themselves' ableto explain Aristotle rvould have consideredthem as still too young to profit fron yetnotbeen to be or' education; of moral the final stagof a process his lectures. The rebellious adolescent simply does not as yet havr io provide of process backingto a they wereto give the theoretical enough experience of life and its complexities to be able to forn ror. "*r.,, In-l doing' which hadilreadybeenlargelycompleted' training rrature moral judgements. So Aristotle consideredas prerequisitesfor moral -produce would be good who adults thoughtful morally to iris course fiat people should have been well brought up, and, further he aimed community' the of andgoodmembers Ihat they should already have had some experienceof life and of the people, ' ' chaptersthat follow, I shall not adhere strictly to tfte in complex problems which life presentsone with. He remarks that: Aristode's) l shall try

an then,is to give his students

(if indeedit is orderof exposition Aristotle's Wlile young men become geometricians and mathematicians to explain the key pans of it 6rst' and then fill in the sufioundings and very adept at such subjects [we might includc being marvel. t"t"r.i *outa sugieit thata goodplanto follow wouldbe to readfairly of the text which are dealtwith in each sections lous at dealing with computersl,it is commonly believedthat quickly through-the then a young man does not leam practical wisdom. ... A young ctraoter ottnis Uoot,which aregivenat the startof eachchapter: to the text as man has no experience.for it is length of time that gives read carefully,following up the references the chapter expetience. yougo along.
(V I, 8. I l 42al l -15) tlere is a fonhright descriptionof the krnd of studenthe does

.\ young rnan is not a suitable person to take a course on hov tr-'run a city, for he is inexperiencedin the affairs of life (which are tt e starting point and subject-matterof the course). Besides, since he tends to be led by his feelings. attending the course wili be porntlessand unprofitable, since the aim of the course is nol knouiedge but action. [t makes no difference whether he is young in years, or immature in character.The problem is nor a mafter of time, but a life-style which pursues one kind of thing :ftcr another as feelings dictate. To people like this knowledge is Ito use, any more than it is to people who lack self-control But for those whose desires and actions are directed in a wellordered way, it would be very helpful to have knowledge about such topics. (1, 3, 1095a2-ll ) 18 19