Nicomachean Ethics
Aristotle · 340 BCE
Excerpt
“The highest good, then, is happiness; and the definition of it is the pursuit of happiness. (paraphrase of I.1)”
Why the atlas keeps it
The first sustained attempt to say what a life is for. Happiness is the end, and it is achieved by habituated virtues exercised with practical wisdom, in the particular and under uncertainty. No manuscript carries an authorial colophon and the dating is reconstructed from cross-references, so 340 BCE is a conventional anchor.
Terms this text reaches for
Ranked by the codex search index against the summary above, not hand-picked.
Normative uncertainty
ethicsUncertainty not about what is true but about what ought to be valued.
Practical reason
philosophyReasoning about what to do, as distinct from reasoning about what is the case.
No-self
philosophyThe Buddhist analysis denying that a person has a fixed, independent essence.
Imperative of responsibility
philosophyThe duty to weigh the full, indefinite consequences of an action before taking it.
Hypothetical imperative
philosophyA command that binds only if you happen to want the end it presupposes.
Categorical imperative
philosophyKant's test of an act's maxim by asking whether it could be a universal law.