This is
the Table Of Contents (TOC) of this html-edition
of Aristotle's "Ethics" in the translation
of W.D. Ross, which is available on the internet
at various places. I have used a txt-form for my
html-edition, in which each so called Book is in a
file of its own.
I have
also used a paper text of this work, namely the
1953-translation by J.A.K. Thomson in Penguin
Classics. I used this paper edition for my notes,
but I did not compare it very carefully with the
html-version I use. The full reference of this
edition is:
Aristotle:
Ethics - The Ethics of Aristotle - The
Nicomachean Ethics translated by J.A.K.
Thomson. First edition 1953.
This is
in Penguin Classics. The edition I have is a
reprint from 1966. The reasons to use this edition
are that it is the one in which I first read
Aristotle's Ethics, and that it contains my notes
and underlinings. Besides, it is useful to compare
two good translations of the same text.
The
reason for the title "The Nicomachean Ethics"
is that there are two other works on ethics that
are attributed to Aristotle. If indeed these are
by Aristotle, these are precursors of "The
Nicomachean Ethics", that is generally
considered to be Aristotle's main and latest work
on ethics.
The
advantages of Thomson's translation over the
html-version of Ross's translation is that the
former has an introduction of 24 pages, an index,
and Thomson's useful summaries and introductions
between chapters and sections.
The texts that follow
have many links, and come all with a group of
usually four arrows at the beginning and the end
of each text, that look thus:
These have in general the following effect when
clicked:
- previous file
- Table of
Contents
- Notes or
Text associated with the file
- next file
Every
file of Aristotle's text links to a file with my
notes, the links to which are between square
brackets as in "[1]". In order to allow the reader
to read my notes independently, they all start
with a quotation in blue of the passage they
annotate, and that generally ends with the link to
the note in Aristotle's text.
Because
the passages I annotate are repeated in my Notes,
it is possible to read the Notes without
reading the Text that is annotated. However,
each file of Notes has at its beginning a link to
the Text it annotates, and likewise that Text has
at its beginning a link to my Notes to it, and as
explained each Note also has a link to the Text
and the place is is quoted from
Those
who download my edition of Aristotle's "Ethics"
and my notes should realize that the links to and
from the notes are retained only if they are
placed in directory-structures of the following
form:
"/Ethics/" -
that includes Aristotle's textfiles and the TOC
"/Ethics/Notes/" - that includes my
textfiles of notes
How this
directory and its subdirectory are otherwise
attached to a filesystem on the computer you use
is irrelevant, but the above is required for
having the many links work when reading off line.
It
should also be mentioned that there are three
related texts concerned with the foundations of
morals on my site with my comments, namely Hume's
Enquiry
concerning the Principles of Morals;
Edward's "The
Logic of Moral Discourse"; and Mill's "Utilitarianism"
that are also well worth reading. They are in the
same format as this edition of the Ethics.
Two
final remarks on the text of Ross's translation
and the text of my own notes respectively:
-
The
text of Ross's translations is at quite a few
other places on the internet, in various
editions and formats. I have corrected the one
I found first - a txt-version - that seemed
decent on a few places where the mistakes
seemed obvious - repetition of words, or
missing or redundant letters - without
bothering to indicate this. Those who want to
be certain that the html of Ross's
translations is completely correct should also
consult a paper edition of it.
-
The
text of my notes has my
copyright, in the sense of my
note on copyright of the material on my site.
On Jun
12, 2007 I have uploaded version 0 of my notes -
which need polishing and extension, especially the
Notes to Book
IX that are far from complete in the first
version.
So,
more needs to be done, but at present I don't have
the
health for it. What there is ought to be
interesting for some, and is long enough as it is
for nearly anyone, I suppose.
But I
intend to review and extend it quite soon, and
then use the result for something of my own about
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics.
Maarten Maartensz
January 17, 2007 and
June 12, 2007
(Last
edited:
25 Nov 2011)