How to Flourish: An Ancient Guide to Living Well

Aristotle

Published by Princeton University Press 2023

How to Flourish

An Ancient Guide to Living Well

Aristotle
Translated by: Susan Sauvé Meyer

In the series Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691238630

Overview
Contents

About this book

Aristotle’s essential guide to human flourishing—the Nicomachean Ethics—in a lively new abridged translation

Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is one of the greatest guides to human flourishing ever written, but its length and style have left many readers languishing. How to Flourish is a carefully abridged version of the entire work in a highly readable and colloquial new translation by Susan Sauvé Meyer that makes Aristotle’s timeless insights about how to lead a good life more engaging and accessible than ever before.

For Aristotle, flourishing involves becoming a good person through practice, and having a life of the mind. To that end, he draws vivid portraits of virtuous and vicious characters and offers sound practical advice about everything from eating and drinking to managing money, controlling anger, getting along with others, and telling jokes. He also distinguishes different kinds of wisdom that are essential to flourishing and offers an unusual perspective on how to appreciate our place in the universe and our relation to the divine.

Omitting Aristotle’s digressions and repetitions and overly technical passages, How to Flourish provides connecting commentary that allows readers to follow the continuous line of his thought; it also features the original Greek on facing pages. The result is an inviting and lively version of an essential work about how to flourish and lead a good life.

Author / Editor information

Susan Sauvé Meyer is professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania and a specialist in Greek and Roman philosophy. Her books include Ancient Ethics: An Introduction and Aristotle on Moral Responsibility. More than 100,000 people around the world have enrolled in her open-access online courses on ancient philosophy.

Reviews

“This is a splendid introduction to Aristotle’s conception of happiness, in his own words. The translation is at once elegant, readable, and precise, and Susan Sauvé Meyer’s crisp prefatory explanations highlight and clarify the essence of Aristotle’s argument at each stage. The abbreviated text lets Aristotle’s train of thought stand out clearly, and the omitted parts—digressions and the like—are briefly summarized. It is a remarkable achievement.”—David Konstan, author of The Origin of Sin: Greece and Rome, Early Judaism and Christianity

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
HOW TO FLOURISH
1. The Goal of Life (Book 1) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
2. Building Character (Book 2) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
3. Taking Responsibility (Book 3) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
4. Virtue and Vice in Action (Books 3, 4, and 5) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
5. Virtues for a Thinking Person (Book 6) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
6. Losing Control (Book 7) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
7. Friendship and the Good Life (Books 8 and 9) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
8. How We Flourish (Book 10) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
Appendix: The Human Soul and Its Virtues Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
Textual Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
Key Aristotelian Terms Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	291
Further Reading Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293
Index of Passages Translated Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	299

Language: English
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Pages
- Main content: 328
Illustrations
- Other: 4 b/w fig

eBook

Published: June 20, 2023
ISBN: 9780691238630