TheEudemian Ethics (Greek:Ἠθικὰ Εὐδήμεια;Latin:Ethica Eudemia[1] orDe moribus ad Eudemum) is a work ofphilosophy byAristotle. Its primary focus is onethics, making it one of the primary sources available for study ofAristotelian ethics. It is named forEudemus of Rhodes, a pupil of Aristotle who may also have had a hand in editing the final work.[2] It is commonly believed to have been written before theNicomachean Ethics, although this is controversial.[2][3]
TheEudemian Ethics is less well known than Aristotle'sNicomachean Ethics, and, when scholars refer simply to theEthics of Aristotle, the latter is generally intended. TheEudemian Ethics is shorter than theNicomachean Ethics, eight books as opposed to ten, and some of its most interesting passages are mirrored in the latter. Books IV, V, and VI of theEudemian Ethics, for example, are identical to Books V, VI, and VII of theNicomachean Ethics, and as a result some critical editions of the former include only Books I–III and VII–VIII (the omitted books being included in the publisher's critical edition of the latter).
The translator for theLoeb edition, Harris Rackham, states in the Introduction to that edition that "in some placesThe Eudemian Ethics is fuller in expression or more discursive thanThe Nicomachean Ethics." Compared to theNicomachean Ethics, Rackham mentions, for example in Book III, which discusses the virtues and some minor graces of character:
Book VII is concerning friendship, discussed in greater length and detail in theNicomachean Ethics than it is here. Book VIII discusses the epistemological aspect of virtue, which as Rackham notes is treated in Book I section 9 ofNicomachean Ethics, and also discusses good luck. Then there is a section concerningkalokagathia, the beautiful and good nobility of a gentleman, a virtue which implies all the moral virtues as well as good fortune. This has no parallel in theNicomachean Ethics. And then finally there is some discussion of speculative wisdom or "theoria".
AlthoughNicomachean Ethics is better known thanEudemian Ethics today, German philologist Dieter Harlfinger suggested that in factEudemian Ethics were the common book transmitted in early days.[4] This opinion is also supported by British philosopherAnthony Kenny,[5][6] that the complete eight-book ofEudemian Ethics was the standard text on Aristotelian ethics for over four hundred years until the time of Aspasius, Aristotle commentator in the first half of second century AD.[6]
Works related toEudemian Ethics at Wikisource
Ethics public domain audiobook atLibriVox
