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The Ethics of Aristotle cover art

The Ethics of Aristotle

By: The Great Courses,Father Joseph Koterski S.J.
Narrated by: Father Joseph Koterski S.J.
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Summary

In this 12-lecture meditation on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, you'll uncover the clarity and ethical wisdom of one of humanity's greatest minds. Father Koterski shows how and why this great philosopher can help you deepen and improve your own thinking on questions of morality and leading the best life. The aim of these lectures is to provide you with a clear and thoughtful introduction to Aristotle as a moral philosopher. After absorbing some important background information designed to introduce you to Aristotle's career and general approach to the various fields of knowledge, you turn to the ten books (today we would call them chapters) of this brief but towering work. Throughout, you'll consider Aristotle's account of the four main virtues of courage, moderation, justice, and prudence; his claims that happiness (eudaimonia) is the real goal of life; his explanations of how and why people attain- or fall short of- ethical excellence; his differences with his teachers Plato and Socrates over the hard question of what knowing rightly has to do with acting rightly; where Aristotle's thought fits into the long history of ethical reflection; and much more.

Prepare for an illuminating, mind-broadening, and thought-provoking learning experience, and a chance to get up close and personal with one of Western philosophy's founding fathers.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2001 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2001 The Great Courses

What listeners say about The Ethics of Aristotle

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Summary more than argument

While I very much enjoyed Fr. Koterski's rehearsal of Aristotle's arguments, I found myself not quite as engaged in the lectures, as I was with Prof. Robinson's "Great Ideas Of Philosophy".

Fr. Koterski's lectures are a thorough and well practiced summary of each of the books in Aristotle's ethics. That was enjoyable, but less engaging than Prof. Robinson, because Robinson was doing something very different. He was *making an argument* for how we ought to regard the ideas in those works, and what those ideas mean, in the broader scope of the development of human thought. If Fr. Koterski had challenged me a bit more in the way that Prof. Robinson had, I think the lectures would have been better.

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Superb!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Ethics of Aristotle to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version, but this lecture series is an absolutely superb to understanding Aristotle at a deeper level than one can master on his own. Aristotle is dry and his 'lecture notes' were never intended for publication. Father Joseph Koterski's clear, deep and enthusiastic delivery motivates one to go back again and again to Aristotle's Ethics. More of these, please!

Have you listened to any of Father Joseph Koterski, S.J.’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Not yet, but I intend to listen to all his audio lectures, especially the one on Biblical Wisdom.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Everything has moved me, especially what he has to say about friendship and morality as something that one does as part of a community.

Any additional comments?

More of Father Joseph Koterski please!

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The most influential man in Human History

I have read this multiple times, at different stages of my life. Whenever I feel lost, or overwhelmed, I give Nicomachea a read and I will always find truth in its wonderful wisdom and simplicity. It's how I live my life. I guess other people have their religious books, I find them wanting. It is the basis for the enlightenment after all...

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Great resource to understand Aristotle's work

Before I found the course, I tried to listen to Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics" with no success. I found it hard to connect the information. I had to go one step back.

The course is structured to provide an overview of the chapters of the book. The author manages to do that very well.

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Another excellent course

Fr Joseph Koterski provides a thorough and fascinating overview of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, placing them in the broader framework of Aristotle's philosophy and tracing their influence on later moral philosophers. Highly recommended.

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excellent lectures

thought provoking walkthrough of a fantastic book … i bought the book years ago and have never had the time to read it properly. listening to this lecture series has made me pause and re-listen to particular chapters. now that i am retired, i will revisit the book with more confidence.

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An in-depth reflection of Aristotle’s ethics

This is a fascinating and engaging walk through the themes in each book of the Nicomachean ethics. A wonderful listen

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brilliant

uplifting and inspirational, a great lecture series, very much recommend and relisten, contemplative and pure.

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Very good.

One of the shorter of The Great Course series, however I still really enjoyed it. The fact that it's free makes it an obvious pick.
It seems (in my opinion) more directed towards beginners and early philosophy students - not experts. Focusses on the philosophical part and doesn't go into depth about the history, which is good.

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Easily explained practical advice

Easily explained practical advice for the open-minded person wanting to become virtuous, these lectures essentially discuss The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle, ‘the philosopher of common sense’. It doesn’t have all of life’s answers but provides a logical toolkit that will allow you to not only make valuable contributions to discussions on ethics but perhaps more importantly, to question your own decisions and habits. This is an important stop on your philosophical journey.

The course is led by Professor Joseph Koterski, a former philosophy professor and Jesuit priest who I was saddened to discover passed away last year. This is similar to the now deceased lecturer of legendary status Professor Garret G. Fagan, contributor to many in the Great Courses series. Listening to the words of a person who no longer exists is an eerie experience and a real memento mori.

In the lectures, Professor Joseph Koterski draws from his own life experiences and links the subject matter to related philosophies in an attempt to reinforce Aristotle’s ideas to students. For the most part Koterski is successful but overuses religious figures, especially Thomas Aquinas and Augustine.

For the most part, the 30-minute lectures are well-structured and fairly easy to absorb. Later lectures, especially the last two, feel a little disjointed as previously taught ideas are reinforced and the material starts to focus more on only loosely related material with topics such as the Unmoved Mover or Natural Law Theory.

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