Nicomachean Ethics
by Aristotle (1926)
Key Passage
But no one deliberates about things that cannot vary, nor about things not within his power to do. Hence inasmuch as scientific knowledge involves demonstration, whereas things whose fundamental principles are variable are not capable of demonstration, because everything about them is variable, and inasmuch as one cannot deliberate about things that are of necessity, it follows that Prudence is not the same as Science. Nor can it be the same as Art. It is not Science, because matters of conduct admit of variation; and not Art, because doing and making are generically different, since making aims at an end distinct from the act of making, whereas in doing the end cannot be other than the act itself: doing well is in itself the end. It remains there fore that it is a truth-attaining rational quality, concerned with action in relation to things that are good and bad for human beings. (p.337)
Keywords
Aristotle, Ethics, Ancient Greece, Art, Science, Economy, Military, RationalityThemes
Aristotle Citations, Ancient GreeceLinks to Reference
Translator
Rackham, H.Citation
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