Nicomachean Ethics
I have always felt sympathetic toward Aristotle even though I have read very little of his work. I had to read The Republic and several Platonic dialogues in college political theory classes, and I found the arguments unconvincing, to say the least. Aristotle seemed much more down to earth as a thinker, which appealed to me. Now that I have finally read this seminal work, I am glad to say that my impressions have been confirmed. Not that it was at all pleasant to read; to the contrary, it was incredibly tedious. I think I got a bad translation, but I'll leave that question to the side. Early on, Aristotle assures us that "precision is not to be sought for alike in all discussions," which already gets my respect. I'm all for being as precise as possible, but also for recognizing the limitations of our understanding. In fact, I would say that this is one of the principles of my approach to learning. After making some basic arguments, Aristotle...