The ''Magna Moralia'' (
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "Great Ethics") is a treatise on
ethics
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...
traditionally attributed to
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
, though the consensus now is that it represents an epitome of his ethical thought by a later, if sympathetic, writer. Several scholars have disagreed with this, taking the ''Magna Moralia'' to be an authentic work by Aristotle, notably
Friedrich Schleiermacher,
Hans von Arnim, and
J. L. Ackrill. In any case, it is considered a less mature piece than Aristotle's other ethical works, viz. the ''
Nicomachean Ethics'' and the ''
Eudemian Ethics
The ''Eudemian Ethics'' ( el, Ἠθικὰ Εὐδήμεια; la, Ethica Eudemia or ''De moribus ad Eudemum'') is a work of philosophy by Aristotle. Its primary focus is on ethics, making it one of the primary sources available for study of Ari ...
.'' There is some debate as to whether they follow more closely the ''Eudemian'' or the ''Nicomachean'' version of the ''Ethics''.
History of the title
The name "''Magna Moralia''" cannot be traced further back in time than the reign of
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...
. Henry Jackson suggested that the work acquired its name from the fact that the two rolls into which it is divided would have loomed large on the shelf in comparison to the eight rolls of the ''Eudemian Ethics'', even though the latter are twice as long. The title has been translated to
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
as "."
[Pietro Tomasi]
''Una nuova lettura dell'Aristotele di Franz Brentano alla luce di alcuni inediti''
Editrice UNI Service, 2009, p. 55.
Editions
* Losada (Spanish) paperback edition,
* Translation by Thomas Taylor (1812),
* Harvard University Press hardcover edition (with the ''
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
''),
"Magna Moralia" translated by St. George Stock (Internet Archive, 1915)Free Audiobook Version of "Magna Moralia" translated by St. George Stock (Librivox)
See also
*''
Minima Moralia''
References
Commentaries
* ''Magna Moralia. Übersetzt und erläutert von Franz Dirlmeier'', Berlin 1958.
External links
*
*
Ethics books
Works by Aristotle
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