Book SummaryNicomachean Ethics, by Aristotle

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Nicomachean Ethics

In Nicomachean Ethics, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle attempts to determine the best possible way a person can live their life. He’s not trying to explain the best way to deal with any given situation—there are far too many possible factors in life for that to be practical. Instead, Aristotle aims to provide a general overview of what an ideal life is and how people can achieve it.

In...

Nicomachean Ethics Summary Part 1: Defining a Good Life

Aristotle begins his project by defining a good life as a happy life. To explain how he arrives at this definition, we’ll go through the following two points:

1. Why happiness is the goal of life
2. Aristotle’s definition of happiness

The Goal of Human Life

Happiness, says Aristotle, is the goal of life. He arrives at this conclusion by examining the nature of human action. Aristotle claims that the purpose of all human actions is achieving some kind of good—that is, we do things because we think they are the “right” or “best” thing to do in a given circumstance. However, these “goods” exist in a hierarchy: If the reason we do action A is so that we can then do action B, it follows that action B is better than action A—action A is just a means to an end.

For example, Lina works at a shoe store. The reason she works there is so she can pay her rent. Therefore, paying rent is a higher good for Lina than working at a shoe store.

Aristotle concludes that the top of the hierarchy of “goods” is a means that is also an end—something that we want for its own sake. This ultimate good, he argues, is happiness. Since happiness is the highest good, the reason for all...

Nicomachean Ethics Summary Part 2: Becoming Morally Virtuous

Aristotle concludes that happiness comes from consistently making the right choices over the course of a lifetime (rational activity aligned with virtue). Then, he discusses how to make the right choices—in other words, how we can be virtuous. The rest of the guide consists of this discussion. We’ll start with moral virtue, and then discuss intellectual virtue later on.

Part 2 of our guide explains Aristotle’s views on moral virtue: ethical principles that define the “right” things to do in our social interactions. First, we’ll define what it means to be a morally virtuous person. Then, we’ll explain how someone can develop moral virtue.

Defining the Morally Virtuous

Aristotle claims people are morally virtuous when they habitually do virtuous actions for virtuous reasons. Both of these components are essential to virtue.

Virtuous Actions

Moral virtue is the result of habitual virtuous action. People aren’t born naturally virtuous, so it's something they have to learn—and people learn through repeated action. It makes no sense to call someone virtuous if they don’t consistently do virtuous things, just as it makes no sense to call someone a...

Nicomachean Ethics Summary Part 3: Becoming Intellectually Virtuous

After discussing what moral virtues are and how to achieve them, Aristotle then turns his attention to intellectual virtues: different types of human knowledge. He eventually concludes that the best of all virtues (and therefore virtue most important for a happy human life) is the intellectual virtue of wisdom.

(Shortform note: While Aristotle says here that wisdom is the best virtue, he partially amends this in his later work Politics. There, he argues that different kinds of people have different “best virtues.” To Aristotle, women, children, and those unable to reason (like the mentally disabled) all have ideal virtues of obedience. An excellent child obeys their parents (developing moral virtue by mimicking virtuous adults) until they become adults with different standards of excellence. Aristotle saw women and those unable to reason as natural inferiors to rational men—therefore, their ideal virtue was to obey their “superiors.” He implies that these groups can’t live happy lives, since he says here that human happiness requires wisdom.)

Part 3 of our guide explains Aristotle’s views on wisdom and happiness by...

Shortform Exercise: Consider Your Virtues

Reflect on your virtuous qualities and actions and how they align with Aristotle’s ethics.

Describe a situation where you felt like you did the morally right thing. (For example, Frank threw a rope down a well to save a child trapped at the bottom.)