Aristotle coined the term “ethics” to define a field of study first undertaken by Socrates and Plato that seeks a rational answer to the question of how human beings should best live. He considered ethics as a practical study, along with politics and poetics and rhetoric. At the core is the notion of moral virtue, an excellence of character that develops in part due to upbringing and in part as a result of habits of action. He outlines four cardinal virtues of prudence, temperance, courage and justice, which combine in the continuing effort to achieve the highest human good. Reason is a critical component of virtue, as it is what sets humans apart. In his words, “The function of man is activity of soul in accordance with reason”.

Nicomachean Ethics is the best known and most mature of his ethical writings and was probably edited by his son and pupil Nicomachus, from which the name derives. It consists of ten books which were originally separate scrolls based on notes from his lectures at the Lyceum. It became a core work throughout history and was instrumental in the formation of European law and both Christian and Muslim theology. 

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