Aristotle's Dialogue with Socrates: On the "Nicomachean Ethics"

ISBN: 0226080528

Author: Burger, Ronna

Condition: New

What is the good life for a human being? Aristotles exploration of this question in the Nicomachean Ethics has established it as a founding work of Western philosophy, though its teachings have long puzzled readers and provoked spirited discussion. Adopting a radically new point of view, Ronna Burger deciphers some of the most perplexing conundrums of this influential treatise by approaching it as Aristotles dialogue with the Platonic Socrates.Tracing the argument of the Ethics as it emerges through that approach, Burgers careful reading shows how Aristotle represents ethical virtue from the perspective of those devoted to it while standing back to examine its assumptions and implications.This is the best book I have read on Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics. It is so well crafted that reading it is like reading the Ethics itself, in that it provides an education in ethical matters that does justice to all sides of the issues.-Mary P. Nichols, Baylor University