The Routledge Guidebook to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics introduces the major themes in Aristotle's great book and acts as a companion for reading this key work.

A clear introduction to Aristotle's Nicomachaean Ethics. Covers Aristotle's life, the background to the text, and Aristotle's continuing key role in philosophy and ethical thought.

Written by one of the most important founding figures of Western philosophy, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics represents a critical point in the study of ethics which has influenced the direction of modern philosophy. The Routledge Guidebook to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics introduces the major themes in Aristotle’s great book and acts as a companion for reading this key work, examining: The context of Aristotle’s work and the background to his writing Each separate part of the text in relation to its goals, meanings and impact The reception the book received when first seen by the world The relevance of Aristotle’s work to modern philosophy, its legacy and influence. With further reading included throughout, this text is essential reading for all students of philosophy, and all those wishing to get to grips with this classic work.

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is one of the most important ethical treatises ever written, and has had a profound influence on the subsequent development of ethics and moral psychology. This collection of newly-commissioned essays, written by both senior and younger scholars in the field, presents a thorough and close examination of the work. The essays address a broad range of issues including the compositional integrity of the Ethics, the nature of desire, the value of emotions, happiness, and the virtues. The result is a volume which will challenge and advance the scholarship on the Ethics, establishing new ways of viewing and appreciating the work for all scholars of Aristotle.

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, based on lectures that he gave in Athens in the fourth century BCE, is one of the most significant works of moral philosophy ever written. Aristotle, though of course influenced by the works of Plato, diverges sharply from his predecessor by making the practice, rather than the possession, of virtue the key to human happiness. By converting ethics from a theoretical to a practical science, and by introducing psychology into his study of behaviour, Aristotle both widened the field of moral philosophy and simultaneously made it more accessible to anyone who seeks an understanding of human nature. The theory of 'Virtue Ethics' Aristotle put forward still continues to be a major position of ethical thought to this day, his influence being strongly present in the work of Elizabeth Anscombe, Phillipa Foot and Alisdair McIntyre.

Plato, often cited as a founding father of Western philosophy, set out ideas in the Republic regarding the nature of justice, order, and the character of the just individual, that endure into the modern day. The Routledge Guidebook to Plato's Republic introduces the major themes in Plato's great book and acts as a companion for reading the work, examining: The context of Plato's work and the background to his writing Each separate part of the text in relation to its goals, meanings and impact The reception the book received when first seen by the world The relevance of Plato's work to modern philosophy, its legacy and influence. With further reading included throughout, this text follows Plato's original work closely, making it essential reading for all students of philosophy, and all those wishing to get to grips with this classic work.