2. INTRODUCTION
• Aristotle’s Nicomachean ethics is teleological
• Aristotle was born in 384 BC
• When he was 7 he went to study at Plato’s academy
• He was considered one of Plato’s best students
• Aristotle believes ‘man is a rational animal’
3. BOOK 1 – CHAPTER 1
• Aristotle opens his inquiry by contemplating
what is good
• Everything he says aims at what is good
• The ends differ depending on the field or
activity a person is working in
• People disagree with what good is
4. BOOK 1 – CHAPTER 2
• Aristole is interested in finding out what the
human good might be, so he sets about trying
to describe the general characteristics of this
good.
• The truly best good would be something that
we work and wish for as an end in itself.
5. BOOK 1 – CHAPTER 3
• Aristotle says that his inquiry will be a little bit
general.
• Good things sometimes go wrong and hurt
people.
• So aristotle is aiming to prove his idea as a
rough outline rather than prescribing strict
ideas about what good is.
6. BOOK 1 – CHAPTER 4
• Aristotle says that the highest good is
happiness.
• Most would say that happiness is related to
specific goods, like health, wealth or
education.
• Aristotle says that we have to begin with the
things known to us.
7. BOOK 1 – CHAPTER 5
• Aristotle wants to go back and speak again of
good and happiness.
• The majority of people believe that a happy life
is one of pleasure.
• Money is a good that's being sought for other
purposes. It isn't an end in itself.
8. BOOK 1 – CHAPTER 6
• Here Aristotle rejects Plato and the form of the
good.
• If we speak in categories it's clear that it's not
possible for the good to be common and universal.
• Just like an individual person is both a unique
individual and part of the human race, so "good" is
both specific (for a certain situation and category)
and general (ideal, universal good).
9. BOOK 1 – CHAPTER 7
• Whether or not there's One Good Thing from
which all other good things come, Aristotle
says that, in each science, the good thing is
the end for which it aims.
• Aristotle introduces the concept of self-
sufficiency. A complete good is self-
sufficient—and not just for one person by
himself, but for those around him.
