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Single Idea 2681

[from 'Nicomachean Ethics' by Aristotle, in 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / c. Value of happiness ]

Full Idea

Aristotle shows an indecision between an intellectualist and a comprehensive account of eudaimonia. …It is because he is not sure who we are that he finds it difficult to say unequivocally in what our eudaimonia consists.

Gist of Idea

Aristotle is unsure about eudaimonia because he is unsure what people are

Source

comment on Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE]) by Thomas Nagel - Aristotle on Eudaimonia p.8

Book Reference

'Essays on Aristotle's Ethics', ed/tr. Rorty,Amélie Oksenberg [University of California 1980], p.8


A Reaction

Aristotle is quite right to be unsure about what people are, given the fluidity of human nature, in comparison with other animals. He needs a stable core to human nature, and I think that exists.