Translator's Preface: What is a Good Life, a Happy Life?_5
Key Timeline_11
Note_20

Volume 1: The Goodness of Man
Chapter 1 All human activities pursue the good.
One purpose can be subordinate to another_22
Chapter 2: Political Science: The Study of Humanity's Highest Good_23
Chapter 3: Political Science Is Not an Exact Science_24
Chapter 4: Opinions are divided on the ultimate goal of happiness_26
Chapter 5 Three Types of Life.
The contemplative life will be considered later_28
Chapter 6: Criticizing the Idea of ​​Goodness_30
Chapter 7: What is good for humans? The ultimate purpose of life.
Self-sufficiency is happiness_35
Chapter 8: Our View of Happiness Consistent with Popular Beliefs_40
Chapter 9: How to Be Happy_44
Chapter 10: Can No One Be Happy While Alive?_46
Chapter 11: Does the Fortune of the Living Affect the Dead?_50
Chapter 12: Virtue is Praiseworthy, but Happiness Transcends Praise_52
Chapter 13: To Understand What Good Is, We Must Study the Human Soul_53

Book 2 Moral Virtues
Chapter 1: Moral Virtue, Like Any Skill, Is Acquired Through Repetition_60
Chapter 2 Excess and deficiency of actions that cannot be precisely defined
Must avoid_62
Chapter 3 Whether one's actions are pleasurable or painful is an indicator of moral maturity.

Good conduct consists in an appropriate attitude toward pleasure or pain.
Because it comes out_65
Chapter 4: Answering the Question of Whether Virtue Can Be Acquired Through Virtuous Actions_68
Chapter 5 To define virtue, we must determine to which category it belongs.

Virtue is not a feeling or an ability, but a state of mind_70
Chapter 6: The Characteristic of Moral Virtue: Choosing Moderation_71
Chapter 7: Applying the Doctrine of the Mean to Individual Virtues_76
Chapter 8: The Doctrine of the Mean Sometimes Appears to Be Closer to One of the Two Extremes_80
Chapter 9: Practical Guidelines for the Doctrine of the Mean_82

Book 3: Moral Responsibility
Chapter 1: Acts are either voluntary or involuntary_88
Chapter 2 Rational choice is different from spontaneity.
When choosing a target
You must think about it first_95
Chapter 3. The nature and object of deliberation.
Deliberation is concerned with the means and not with the ends_98
Chapter 4: The Object of Desire Is Good or Appears to Be Good_102
Chapter 5: Virtue and Vice Depend on Ourselves_104
Chapter 6 Courage.
What We Should and Shouldn't Fear_110
Chapter 7 The motive of courage is nobility.
Characteristics of Cowardice and Recklessness_112
Chapter 8: Five Attitudes Similar to Courage_115
Chapter 9: Courage is Related to Pain and Pleasure_120
Chapter 10. Moderation.
Pleasures Associated with Moderation_122
Chapter 11. Characteristics of Temperance and Indulgence.
Numbness_126
Chapter 12: Indulgence is more voluntary than cowardice.
Comparison of a Dissolute Person and a Complaintist_128

Book 4: Other Virtues
Chapter 1: The right attitude toward money.
Huham_132
Chapter 2: Big Tong_141
Chapter 3: Virtues Related to Honor_146
Chapter 4: Virtues Related to Small Honors_154
Chapter 5: Virtues Related to Anger_156
Chapter 6: Virtues Related to Social Relationships_159
Chapter 7: Truthfulness_162
Chapter 8: Wit_165
Chapter 9 Shame_168

Book 5 Definitions
Chapter 1: What is Justice and What is Injustice_172
Chapter 2: Distributive Justice and Accommodative Justice_176
Chapter 3: Distributive Justice According to Geometric Proportions_180
Chapter 4: Coordinating Definitions Based on Arithmetic Proportions_183
Chapter 5 Definitions in Exchange.
Retribution_187

Chapter 6: Political Justice_193
Chapter 7: Natural Justice and Legal Justice_195
Chapter 8 Voluntary and Involuntary Acts.
The Importance of Intention_197
Chapter 9: Is it possible to willingly suffer injustice?_201
Chapter 10: Fairness in Correcting Legal Justice_207
Chapter 11: Can a Person Treat Himself Unfairly?_210

Book 6: Intellectual Virtues
Chapter 1 Why should we consider intellectual virtue? The intellect is contemplative and
Divided into mathematical ones_216
Chapter 2: Virtue and Thought_218
Chapter 3 Five Mindsets that Can Achieve Truth.
Academic Awareness_220
Chapter 4 Technology_222
Chapter 5: Practical Wisdom_223
Chapter 6: Intuition_225
Chapter 7: Speculative Wisdom_226
Chapter 8: Practical Wisdom and Political Science_229
Chapter 9: Thoughts_232
Chapter 10: Judgment_235
Chapter 11: Discernment and Consideration_236
Chapter 12: The Relationship Between Practical and Speculative Wisdom_238
Chapter 13: The Relationship Between Practical Wisdom and Virtue_242

Book 7 Self-control and lack of self-control.
pleasure
Chapter 1: Six Personalities.
Common Sense_246
Chapter 2: Discussion of Common Sense_249
Chapter 3: A Preliminary Consideration of Conflicting Opinions_253
Chapter 4: The Realm of Lack of Self-Control_258
Chapter 5: Pathological Pleasures_262
Chapter 6: Lack of Self-Control over Anger and Desire_265
Chapter 7: Various Attitudes Toward Pleasure and Pain_268
Chapter 8: Another Difference Between Indulgence and Incontinence_272
Chapter 9: The Relationship Between Self-Control and Moderation_274
Chapter 10: Other Characteristics of Lack of Self-Control_277
Chapter 11: Three Critical Views on Pleasure_280
Chapter 12 Objections to the Foregoing Criticisms_281
Chapter 13: Some Kinds of Pleasure Are the Highest Good_284
Chapter 14: The Different Kinds of Pleasure_287

Volume 8: Friendship I
Chapter 1: Friendship is Indispensable_294
Chapter 2: Objects of Friendship_297
Chapter 3: Three Kinds of Friendship_299
Chapter 4: The Best and Worst Friendships_302
Chapter 5: Friendship as an Attitude_305
Chapter 6: Conditional and Superficial Friendship_307

Chapter 7: Friendship Between Unequals_310
Chapter 8: In Friendship, Loving is More Important than Being Loved_312
Chapter 9: Friendship and Community_315
Chapter 10: Types of Identity_317
Chapter 11: Friendship and Justice in These Communities_320
Chapter 12: Various Forms of Friendship_322
Chapter 13: Principles to be Observed in Friendship Between Equals_325
Chapter 14: The Conflicting Claims of Unequals_329

Volume 9: Friendship II
Chapter 1: Difficulties Caused by Differences in Motives in Friendship_334
Chapter 2: Problems Caused by the Various Demands of Friendship_338
Chapter 3: Why Friendships Disintegrate_341
Chapter 4: Friendship Based on Self-Love_343
Chapter 5: The Difference Between Friendship and Kindness_346
Chapter 6: Friendship and Harmony_348
Chapter 7: Why the Beneficiary Loves More Than the Beneficiary_350
Chapter 8: The Nature of True Self-Love_352
Chapter 9: Do You Need Friends to Be Happy?_358
Chapter 10: How Many Friends Should You Have?_363
Chapter 11: Do You Need Friends More When Things Are Going Well, or When You're Down on Your Own Fortune?_365
Chapter 12: The Value of Fellowship_368

Book 10: Pleasure
Chapter 1: Two Conflicting Views on Pleasure_372
Chapter 2: Discussing the View that Pleasure is a Good Thing_374
Chapter 3: Discussing the View that Pleasure is Harmful_376
Chapter 4: The Definition of Pleasure_380
Chapter 5: Just as there are many kinds of activities, there are also many kinds of pleasure_385
Chapter 6: The Nature of Happiness_390
Chapter 7: The Contemplative Life is the Happiest Life_393
Chapter 8: Moral Activity is the Second Happiness_396
Chapter 9 Legislation is necessary to achieve our goals.
Transition to Political Science_401

References_411

Aristotle's representative ethical philosophy book, Nicomachean Ethics (Ethika Nikomacheia), has been republished in a new translation from the original Greek by Professor Emeritus Cheon Byeong-hee of Dankook University.
Professor Chun published a Korean translation of 『Poetry』, which is considered the first Western literary criticism, in 1976, and 『Politics』, widely known for its proposition that "man is a political animal," was translated into Korean in 2009.
And in October 2013, a Korean translation of the classic Nicomachean Ethics, which is still considered the most systematic work on ethics even after 2,400 years, was published.
A translator has set a record by publishing a perfect translation of the three major works of Aristotle's philosophy in their original texts.


A translator publishes original translations of three of Aristotle's greatest works of philosophy.
If you count, it's been over 37 years.
Moreover, Professor Cheon Byeong-hee, 74 years old, published 『The State』, which can be said to be the root of 『Political Science』, the root of Western political science, early this year.
This is the result of the translation of Plato's major dialogues, such as 『Apology of Socrates/Crito/Phaedo/Symposium』 and 『Phaedrus/Meno』.
It is also a welcome development that we can now encounter the works of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, the three pillars and sources of Greek spiritual culture, translated into Korean by a single translator.


Nicomachean Ethics, a companion work to Politics
Furthermore, Nicomachean Ethics is a companion work to the subsequent Politics.
Aristotle, at the beginning and end of the Nicomachean Ethics, considers ethics as an introduction to politics.
The final phrase of the Nicomachean Ethics is "Let us now begin to discuss these matters," meaning "let us now discuss politics."
And the Politics, which discusses the origin, structure, and best form of the state (polis), begins with "Every state is clearly a kind of community, and every community is formed to realize some good (agathon, good)."
If 『Ethics』 explores what individual happiness is and how to achieve it, 『Politics』 explores the national community in which these individuals must live together.
This is because, while the subject of ethics is the happiness of individuals or certain groups, the subject of politics is the happiness of the entire community.
In this way, Aristotle viewed politics as a part of ethics, and the 'mean', a core principle of 'Ethics', also functions as a core principle in 'Politics'.
Just as individual happiness depends on moderation, a great nation must also rely on moderation.


The ultimate value of life, according to Aristotle, is a happy life (eudaimonia).
What do humans live for? Socrates pursued a "life consistent with rational thought," while Plato pursued the supreme value of the "idea of ​​good."
So, what was the ultimate value of life that Aristotle, the heir to Greek philosophy and a critical adopter of its philosophy, spoke of? It was "a happy life."
The Nicomachean Ethics, which he taught to his son Nicomachean, is simple and not idealistic.
It starts from the common sense that a happy life is the purpose of life.
In Greek, 'happiness' (eudaimonia) means a life of contentment, fulfillment, and activity.
In this book, Aristotle says that the highest good that humans pursue is happiness, and that happiness is achieved not through a state of mind but through human activities.

There are three conditions for that happiness.
First, happiness must be an end in itself.
Nature creates nothing without a purpose.
Soon everything is a means to something, but happiness is an end in itself.
Second, happiness is an activity.
The sense of accomplishment (or pleasure) you feel when you are active is a byproduct of the activity.
Happiness is difficult to objectify and quantify, but it is a clear activity that can be repeated if you have the will.
Third, happiness is an activity that spans the entire life.
"Just as spring does not come overnight with the arrival of a single swallow, people do not become happy overnight or in a short period of time." (Volume 1, Chapter 7) A happy life is a quality of life that lasts throughout life; happiness is a lifelong activity that is good in itself.


Why Nicomachean Ethics Now?
Nowadays, with the proliferation of works and lectures labeled as humanities but actually falling into the categories of self-improvement, success studies, and positive psychology, there is a clear trend of turning away from practical knowledge and toward reading the classics of human history.
The representative figure is Gong Byeong-ho, director of the ‘Self-Management’ Academy, who calls the three major works of Aristotle’s practical philosophy, ‘Eudemian Ethics’, ‘Nicomachean Ethics’, and ‘Politics’, the trilogy of happiness.
“If ‘Nicomachean Ethics’ is a ‘micro-eudaimonic science’ that focuses on individual happiness, ‘Politics’ is a ‘macro-eudaimonic science’ that deals with the happiness of the community.”
In addition, this book is one of the Western classics most frequently cited as a proposition in the college entrance essay exams of major universities since 2000 (along with his other works such as 『Politics』 and 『Rhetoric』, Dong-A Ilbo, 2006.
3. 7.) is also.

There are already several Korean translations and commentaries of the Nicomachean Ethics.
This is probably because it is fun to break the stereotype that ethics is boring.
However, it is up to the reader to decide for himself whether existing translations can be read smoothly even by non-philosophy researchers.
Professor Chun's translation focuses on faithfully following the original text while using everyday language as much as possible to meticulously polish it, making it easy to read even for non-philosophers.
As Aristotle was an ancient Westerner, his writings are simple and ancient. However, if there is not a sufficient understanding of the original text, the translation can become complicated and make it difficult for the reader to understand rather than helping.

Aristotle (384-322 BC) studied and taught as a student and professor at Plato's academy, the Academy, for about 20 years during his youth. Then, in his 40s, he opened a new academy, the Lykeion, and taught young people of his time.
During this period, Aristotle produced a vast amount of writing, and is known to have written about 400 works covering almost all academic fields, from metaphysics to ethics, politics, and physics.
His writings are divided into those intended for the general public (exoterika) and lecture notes for internal use in academies (esoterika). All of his writings intended for external use published during his lifetime have disappeared, and only about 50 of his writings intended for internal use remain today, of which the Nicomachean Ethics is one.