Nicomachean Ethics

(Note that the second part of this review specifically concerns the Kindle Edition of Broadie and Rowe's translation of the "Nicomachean Ethics," published by Oxford University Press.)Nicomachus was the name of Aristotle's father, and of his son. We don't know why one collection of what seem to be his lectures on ethics (more exactly "character") is called by that name. Nor do we know why a similar work (with three books in common) is called "Eudemian," except that Eudemus was one of his star pupils. Were they dedicatees? Editors? Or were the names arbitrary, just to keep the one that is self-contained (Eudemian) from the other one that has a companion / sequel in the form of "The Politics"?Whatever the truth (and we will probably never know), some of the other reviewers have already described the importance of Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics" for traditional Muslim, Jewish, and Christian cultures, or the continuing relevance of its questions for modern philosophers. (And not just questions -- Walter Kaufmann argued that it had a big impact on Nietzsche's concept of the uebermensch as well.)In some ways, though, Aristotle on Ethics is a glimpse of an exotic culture, as alien as anything else in the past: the world of students who were Athenian aristocrats living in a democracy. Himself a foreigner in Athens, and the son of a physician who had served the Macedonian royal family ("the enemy" in Athenian eyes), Aristotle offers a much more conservative view on many issues than his old teacher Plato, who was himself an aristocrat's aristocrat. (Both his parents claimed descent from legendary Athenian kings.) Plato, an insider, could afford to be eccentric in his "Republic." Aristotle had to deal with upper-class conservatism and democratic xenophobia. The last thing he needed was the reputation of being subversive. So accepting slavery, the status of women, etc., may have been prudent as well as conventional (what a later age would call "common sense"). It also fit his preference for explaining observations rather than speculating about improvements.In the end, he was still accused of "impiety," and left Athens. And the early Stoics and Epicureans came along to say that, yes, some women and some slaves were as intelligent as any free man. (The latter, of course, were considered atheists anyway.)A great majority of Aristotle's numerous interpreters have had to "read past" some of the rest of his orientation to the values and assumptions of upper-class classical Greeks. Aristotle's Megalopsychos, "great-souled man," for example, is far more conscious of his own worth and dignity than all but the sternest of saints (not to mention Jewish popular traditions which assume that the *truly* righteous are oblivious to their own goodness). Many have found the description repellent. Although in Aristotle's view the virtue of the "Great-Soul," includes being polite to inferiors (the rest of us), it certainly leaves little room for humility as a virtue.That having been said, Aristotle's views are anything but irrelevant to modern concerns. Taken together with its companion/sequel, "Politics," the "Nicomachean Ethics" raises fundamental and sometimes troubling questions about "good" behavior, human differences, and the goal(s) of human life. The Rowe translation with Broadie's introduction and commentary, is an excellent version for serious readers.I don't say it would be my first choice, for beginners, partly because of its demands of the reader, and partly because I have a partly sentimental affection for the Penguin Classics translation by J..A. K. Thomson (both the original edition and its revision by Hugh Tredennick), and for H. Rackham's aging Loeb Classical Library bilingual edition, the first two versions I read back in -- well, never mind the year, I was in High School.A main point of this review, however, is the translation / transference from type to Kindle (and presumably other digital formats.) Unfortunately, something does get lost. Although Oxford University Press can do better, and has, this transfer may wind up terribly frustrating for anyone reading it on a Kindle Device.The first warning is that the marginal identifications of standard reference numbers (Bekker numbers, after an editor) have been moved out of the margin, and deposited below the text they should accompany. This is annoying, but not a disaster, given that they are broken up virtually paragraph by paragraph, so you can still do a rough approximation of where you are in terms of standard critical references, as well as by the equally standard, but medieval, chapter divisions in each "book" (which divisions do go back to classical antiquity, and indicate how it was broken up when copied on papyrus scrolls).However, the running commentary following the translation, which uses those identification numbers as reference points, was not directly linked to the translation by endnote numbers or other indicators. In a hard copy, you can use a couple of easily moved bookmarks, or even just a finger in the right place in the second half of the book, and check for comments as you move along. Alas, software links were not added in the transition to Kindle. Of course, you can jump back and forth setting up bookmarks and notes, before reading, which is time-consuming, or keep checking from time to time, which is very disruptive of reading for comprehension.Or just read the translation and the commentary separately, which is not very useful, especially for the novice. (Longtime readers of translations of the Ethics may be able to recognize the context for a given comment -- maybe.)But the situation is not hopeless.I don't know of a workaround for a Kindle device as such. If you are reading it on the Kindle App for Mac (and presumably PC), and use the Amazon Cloud, you can also open it in a browser using the "Manage My Kindle"/"Kindle Cloud Reader" functions, and read with both the translation AND the commentary on the screen in front of you. (Just make sure you don't synchronize the text on the Reader with that in the Cloud!)For the dedicated student, other English-languages commentaries are also an option, thanks to archive.com, the Library of Congress website, and Google Books. Sarah Broadie, in a "Postscript" to her Introduction, lists three late-nineteenth century English-language annotated translations or commentaries, which are also short-listed in the 2011 translation by Bartlett and Collins (University of Chicago Press). These can be found at archive.org as pdf files: J. Burnet ("The Ethics of Aristotle, Edited with an Introduction and Notes," Volume One only); Alexander Grant ("The Ethics of Aristotle Illustrated with Essays and Notes"); and J.A. Stewart ("Notes on the Nicomachean Ethics"), all in two volumes. Burnet's commentary is to a Greek text only (Volume Two is mostly a critical edition), and Grant includes a Greek text, while Stewart assumes you will have one open in front of you, but all three offer interpretive gems (even if you don't care exactly how the Greek text should be construed, or which manuscript is more reliable).N.B. For those who (rightly) find the title of the review peculiar, or just unintelligible: "Megalopsychos," often (mis-translated as "magnanimous [person]" literally means "Great Soul." So does "Mahatma," most commonly used in regards to Gandhi (although he apparently rejected it). In neither case is "soul" a good translation. And Magnanimity, from the Latin equivalent, has a rather different meaning in ordinary English. I couldn't resist the trilingual pun -- sorry.

I have read many translations of Aristotle's Ethics, and this one is the best one as an introductory text. This is for 4 reasons:1. The translation itself is very accessible and yet do not betray the original prose style of the work. I find this translation to be the best in understanding Aristotle's ideas.2. The line by line commentaries for each chapters, plus the summary for each books/chapters are invaluable in itself. It is worth to buy this book just for the commentaries.3. Broadie has a very good introduction to Aristotle's Ethics, I found this to be extremely useful.4. The author/editor/translator have compiled a very good bibliography based on "themes".Highly recommended as a first book that should be picked up on this subject.Having said that, any serious scholar of Aristotle's Ethics will never satisfied with one book/source, one needs to consults other sources on this subject to truly understand Aristotle's Ethics. The good thing is that, this subject matter is very mature in a sense that there are many sources that you can go to.

Excellent!

Congratulations, Oxford. You have taken what should have been a valuable edition and butchered the Kindle version beyond belief.Another reviewer talked about the importance of having the Bekker numbers. This edition does have them. In two places--the philosophical commentary is not interlinear by the way, but in different sections--and not in a form they can be easily used.Here is the way the beginning looks in the Kindle edition...(I.1) Every sort of expert knowledge ... (something Oxford clearly doesn't possess when it comes to e-books)blahblahblahblahblahblah... over and above these.1094a11094a51094a101094a15Nice, huh? Then a zillion lines later there is a philosophical commentary that refers to the Bekker numbers without hyperlinking them. So even if you fight your way back to the right portion of the text, the line numbers are, if not useless, a further waste of time.I feel sorry for the scholars who put in so much work, only to see this mess.The bottom line is this. If you want one Kindle edition, look at the Hackett-Irwin version or the Chicago version. Both are way better than this nightmare. If you want Broadie's commentary, plan on reading it with a open printed version alongside. Nice job.Pathetic.