Aristotle on Practical Wisdom: iNicomachean Ethics/i VI [Hardcover]

Nicomachean Ethics VI is considered one of classical philosophys greatest achievements. Aristotle on Practical Wisdom is the first full-scale commentary on this work to be issued in over a century, and is the most comprehensive and philosophically illuminating to date. A meticulous translation coupled with facing-page analysis enables readers to engage directly with the account of phron?sis or practical wisdom that Aristotle is developing, while a full introduction locates that account in the context of his ethical thought and of later ethical thought more generally. The commentary discusses the text line by line, illuminating obscure passages, explaining technical ones, and providing a new overall interpretation of the work and the nature of practical reason.

A companion volume, Action, Contemplation, and Happiness, expands on this interpretation to provide a startling new picture of Aristotles thought as a whole. Although the two books can be approached separately, together they constitute one of the most daring and original contemporary readings of Aristotles philosophy. Aimed at committed students of these notoriously difficult writings, C. D. C. Reeves engaging and lucid books should find a wide audience among philosophers, classicists, and all readers willing to wrestle with a thinker of unparalleled subtlety, depth, and scope.

This unusual book by Reeve consists of a translation and analysis of, and commentary on, Book VI of Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotles Book VI deals mainly with the topic of practical wisdom and its relationship to theoretical wisdom and virtues of character and thought. After a detailed introduction, Reeve presents a translation of Book VI and, on opposite pages, an analysis of the text translated. In the next part of the book, he goes back to the text and presents a considerably exhaustive commentary. The commentary segment of the book is its lengthiest part. Although the analysis and commentary overlap slsF