Aristotle's Ethics

Abstract

Aristotle's moral philosophy is a pillar of Western ethical thought. It bequeathed to the world an emphasis on virtues and vices, happiness as well-being or a life well lived, and rationally motivated action as a mean between extremes. Its influence was felt well beyond antiquity into the Middle Ages, particularly through the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. In the past century, with the rise of virtue theory in moral philosophy, Aristotle's ethics has been revived as a source of insight and interest. While most attention has traditionally focused on Aristotle's famous Nicomachean Ethics, there are several other works written by or attributed to Aristotle that illuminate his ethics: the Eudemian Ethics, the Magna Moralia, and Virtues and Vices. This book brings together all four of these important texts, in thoroughly revised versions of the translations found in the authoritative complete works universally recognized as the standard English edition. Edited and introduced by two of the world's leading scholars of ancient philosophy, this is an essential volume for anyone interested in the ethical thought of one of the most important philosophers in the Western tradition.

Holobionts and the ecology of organisms: Multi-species communities or integrated individuals?

“…Immunologists and physiologists must be able to distinguish between an individual and its environment. Organisms have long been the paradigm of individuality-a horse, a tree, a human--both within and outside of biology (Aristotle 1984). Extensive experimentation and theoretical advances in biology, especially within the last century, have changed our understanding of how individuals can and did evolve (Buss 1987, Maynard Smith and Szathmáry 1995, Michod 1999.…”

The Ethics and Ontology of Synthetic Biology: a Neo-Aristotelian Perspective

“…The telos of an organism is quite different, both belonging to the thing itself and originating in it: hence 'immanent'. This kind of telos, according to Aristotle, pertains both to the 'natural organized body' [12] and its being 'moved by intellect, imagination, purpose, wish, and appetite' [13]. Clearly not all of the latter features are true of every living being-plants surely cannot 'wish'-but basic non-conscious purposes are nevertheless identifiable across the living world.…”

“…Such entities have intrinsic value as the valuing itself comes from within. 12 What kinds of value belong to synthetic organismsinstrumental, extrinsic, or intrinsic? It seems that almost anything can have instrumental or extrinsic value, since these simply depend upon the purposes and perspective of a valuing agent.…”

What Is a Form-of-Life?: Giorgio Agamben and the Practice of Poverty

“…whose lives remained tethered to the labour required for survival, and therefore to the oikos, and so it is not surprising that it is from out of their ranks that the polis first encounters its antithesis, that is to say, the poor-the name we give to the appearance of biological necessity within the borders of the state. It is with this in mind that Aristotle tells us, 'poverty is the parent of revolution and crime', 8 for under conditions of material scarcity the legal order gives way to the demands of biological need, giving full meaning to the Latin adage, often repeated in medieval legal literature, 'necessity knows no law' (necessitas dat legem non ipsa accipit).…”