Aristotle on the Human Good Richard Kraut.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kraut, Richard, 1944-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Aristote--Morale.

Aristote. Éthique à Nicomaque.

Happiness.

Good and evil.

Bonheur--Histoire.

Bonheur.

Bien--Histoire.

Bien.

Happiness--History.

Good and evil--History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 379 pages)

Edition:

1st pbk ed.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1991, 1989.

Summary:

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, which equates the ultimate end of human life with happiness (eudaimonia), is thought by many readers to argue that this highest goal consists in the largest possible aggregate of intrinsic goods. Richard Kraut proposes instead that Aristotle identifies happiness with only one type of good: excellent activity of the rational soul. In defense of this reading, Kraut discusses Aristotle's attempt to organize all human goods into a single structure, so that each subordinate end is desirable for the sake of some higher goal. This book also emphasizes the philosopher's hierarchy of natural kinds, in which every type of creature achieves its good by imitating divine life. As Kraut argues, Aristotle's belief that thinking is the sole activity of the gods leads him to an intellectualist conception of the ethical virtues. Aristotle values these traits because, by subordinating emotion to reason, they enhance our ability to lead a life devoted to philosophy or politics.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

INTRODUCTION 3 1. Consistency, Hierarchy, Inclusivism, 3. 2. Egoism, 9. 3. An Overview, 11

CHAPTER ONE Two Lives

CHAPTER TWO Self and Others

CHAPTER THREE Philosophy and Other Goods

CHAPTER FOUR The Hierarchy of Ends

CHAPTER FIVE Inclusivism

CHAPTER SIX Function, Virtue, and Mean

Bibliography

General Index

Index of Passages

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691225128

0691225125

9780691073491

069107349X

OCLC:

1273305809