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While reading <i>Nichomachean Ethics</i> and <i>Politics</i>, I found myself agreeing with Aristotle far more than I did with Plato when I read <i>The Republic</i>. Can you convince me otherwise? How would Plato have critiqued Aristotle's works?
Accepted:
October 5, 2005

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Nicholas D. Smith
October 6, 2005 (changed October 6, 2005) Permalink

I would first encourage you to see what is common to what the two philosophers say. Each one thinks that eudaimonia (happiness or flourishing) is what makes a human life good, and each one thinks that the best way to win that goal is to be virtuous. Each also thinks that being virtuous requires acting in accordance with reason. But there are differences, and there is nothing wrong in responding to these with a preference for one account in favor of the other!

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