Terence Irwin examines Aristotle's three ethical works-the
Magna Moralia, the
Eudemian Ethics, and the
Nicomachean Ethics. This collection is the first in English to study all three texts in detail and compare them systematically.
Aristotle's Ethical Works argues that we can trace a development in his thought by analysing these texts.
The main elements of Aristotle's moral philosophy are shown to be common to all three works, but their exposition and defence becomes clearer and more convincing in his later discussions. While the
Nicomachean Ethics is the clearest account of Aristotle's ethics, we can understand its position better by seeing how Aristotle arrived at it.
This is the first English commentary on the Greek text of the
Eudemian Ethics and
Magna Moralia, as well as the first work in English to examine in detail the questions about the authorship of the
Magna Moralia. The conclusion, that this is Aristotle's first work on ethics, is defended throughout the Notes and Essays. The Notes on the
Nicomachean Ethics also provide the first English commentary for over a century.