From the Introduction […] There is also a branch of knowledge—if we can call it that—which asks how we should live: this is ethics, traditionally one of the most important fields of philosophy and without doubt the philosophical discipline that is most focused on application in daily life. Because everyday life usually takes place in a community, ethics and politics are closely connected. Clearly, the answer to the question of what a good life entails depends to a very large extent on the cultural and socio-economic circumstances in which the researcher is operating. Exploring what thinkers in various periods and language areas have said—often quite categorically—about human beings, happiness and society sharpens our understanding of the diversity of views and encourages us to be circumspect, since although we are constantly faced with crucial choices, we don ’ t really know how we should live. And that happiness we are supposedly all pursuing—what might that actually be? Few books are so suited to stimulating critical thought about the good life as Aristotle ’ s Nicomachean Ethics, the tenth and final book of which is presented here.
