Excerpt from Aristotle's Theory of Conduct Nowhere, perhaps, within an equal number of pages, can more shrewd observations on character be found, neither in the Characters of Theophrastus nor in Bacon's essays, a work with which the Ethics, on its practical side, has much in common. Notwithstanding some rather serious defects of form and arrangement, it is still the best general introduction to moral philosophy, the earliest and, take it for all in all, the most interesting book on the subject. Aristotle's work is, nevertheless, not much known outside the limited circle of Greek scholars. At Oxford and elsewhere it is a text-book for the Arts degree, but it is necessarily imperfectly understood by those who are entering upon life, and it is rarely re-read at an age when it would be fully comprehended; to the ordinary reader it is a closed book. There are, no doubt, excellent translations in our own and other languages; but the Ethics cannot be appreciated - it can hardly be made intelligible in a translation, however good. Not only is the writing frequently abrupt and the language highly technical, but Aristotle assumes his readers to know much which only a learned reader does know, and explanations, often of some length, are constantly necessary. Moreover, its text, arrangement and numerous repetitions make its meaning in places difficult and some times a matter of guesswork. A translator is bound to follow his original, and his version reproduces the defects and obscurities as well as the merits of his author. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.