Bridging the Gap between Aristotle’s Science and Ethics

Devin Henry is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario. He is the author of several articles on topics in Aristotle's philosophy of science (including classification, teleology, inheritance, and sexism) as well as Plato's late epistemology. His work has appeared in Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, The Monist, Phronesis, and The Journal of the History of Biology, as well as part of various collected volumes. Karen Margrethe Nielsen is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Somerville College. She has published articles on topics ranging from the discovery of the will in antiquity, Aristotle's theory of deliberation, the Hellenistic reception of Aristotle's ethics, the unity and simplicity of soul in Plato's Phaedo, and Aristotle's reproductive biology. Her articles have appeared in The Philosophical Review, Classical Quarterly, Phronesis, and Antiquorum Philosophia, in addition to a number of edited volumes.

Explores the extent to which Aristotle's ethical treatises employ the concepts, methods, and practices developed in his 'scientific' works.

Part I. Ethical First Principles: 1. Aristotle on principles in ethics: political science as the science of the human good Karen Margrethe Nielsen; 2. Practical and theoretical knowledge in Aristotle James V. Allen; 3. Aristotle on practical and theoretical knowledge David Charles; 4. Virtue and reason in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics Mary Louise Gill; Part II. Enquiry and Explanation: 5. Endoxa, facts, and the starting points of the Nichomachean Ethics Joseph Karbowski; 6. Scientific and ethical methods in Aristotle's Eudemian and Nicomachean Ethics Daniel Devereux; 7. The search for definitions of justice in Nichomachean Ethics 5 Carlo Natali; 8. Holding for the most part: the demonstrability of moral facts Devin Henry; Part III. Ethics and the Natural Sciences: 9. Aristotle on the biological roots of virtue: the natural history of natural virtue James G. Lennox; 10. Aristotle on knowing natural science for the sake of living well Mariska Leunissen; 11. The science of soul in Aristotle's Ethics Christopher Shields; 12. Luck in Aristotle's Physics and Ethics Monte Ransome Johnson; 13. 'As if by convention alone': the unstable ontology of Aristotle's Ethics Charlotte Witt.