Nicomachean Ethics

Key Facts

full title  ·  Nicomachean Ethics

author · Aristotle

type of work  · Philosophical treatise

language  · Ancient (Classical or Attic) Greek

time and place written  · Between 334 and 323 b.c. in Athens; composed as lecture notes for Aristotle’s courses at the Lyceum

date of first publication  · Compiled by editors an indeterminate, short time after Aristotle’s death

narrator  · The Ethics are notes from Aristotle’s lectures, so the speaker is undoubtedly Aristotle himself

major topics  · Virtue and happiness; moral education; the doctrine of the mean; the unity of the virtues; the importance of friendship; the life of contemplation