Aristotle's Ethics: Critical Essays(Critical Essays on the Classics Series)

The ethics of Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), and virtue ethics in general, have seen a resurgence of interest over the past few decades. No longer do utilitarianism and Kantian ethics on their own dominate the moral landscape. In addition, Aristotelian themes fill out that landscape, with such issues as the importance of friendship and emotions in a good life, the role of moral perception in wise choice, the nature of happiness and its constitution, moral education and habituation, finding a stable home in contemporary moral debate. The essays in this volume represent the best of that debate. Taken together, they provide a close analysis of central arguments in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. But they do more than that. Each shows the enduring interest of the questions Aristotle himself subtly and complexly raises in the context of his own contemporary discussions.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 Introduction Part 2 Acknowledgements Chapter 3 1 Permanent Happiness: Aristotle and Solon Chapter 4 2 Aristotle on Virtue and Happiness Chapter 5 3 Aristotle on Eudaimonia Chapter 6 4 Aristotle on the Human Good: An Overview Chapter 7 5 A False Doctrine of the Mean Chapter 8 6 Virtue and Reason Chapter 9 7 The Discernment of Perception: An Aristotelian Conception of Private and Public Rationality Chapter 10 8 Aristotle on Akrasia, Eudaimonia, and the Psychology of Action Chapter 11 9 Aristotle on Learning to Be Good Chapter 12 10 The Habituation of Character Chapter 13 11 Being Properly Affected: Virtues and Feelings in Aristotle's Ethics Chapter 14 12 Friendship and the Good in Aristotle Chapter 15 13 Feminism and Aristotle's Rational Ideal Part 16 Suggested Readings Part 17 Authors

About the Author :
Nancy Sherman is professor of philosophy at Georgetown University and the inaugural holder of the Distinguished Chair in Ethics at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Review :
These are wonderful essays that every scholar of Aristotle, Aquinas, virtue theory, or the ethics of character will want to have. The book is valuable for displaying the breadth of issues taken up by contemporary scholars over the past twenty-five years in the English-speaking world. An excellent contemporary collection of essays on the Ethics, covering all major dimensions of the work. An excellent selection. I hope to use it within the next few years. There is more than enough here to whet the appetites of upper-division undergraduates and beginning graduate students.