Welcome back to the book club. I'm Michael Knowles and today I am very very happy.

I'm very happy to be discussing a book the subject of which is happiness and so much more that would be

the Nicomachean ethics by good old Uncle Aristotle.

I am joined by my friend Charles Kessler, editor of the Claremont Review of Books, professor

at the Claremont McKenna College and Claremont Graduate School and the author of many, many books in his own right.

Charles, thank you for being here.

Thank you.

But none of them, nearly as important as the Nick McKee in ethics.

Yet.

Yet. We'll see how they fare over the next 2,300 years.

This book was written a very, very long time ago by a very, very smart man that everybody's heard of,

though some people might not know very much about.

So in your very best 60 second summary, Charles, what is the Nikimachean ethics?

What is the purpose of life?

In a word, happiness, to live a happy life is the highest thing that human beings should aim at but what does that mean? I think a lot of people

consider happiness to be just a state of being right but Aristotle says no it's an

activity a particular kind of activity

Yes, that's right, but it's an activity and it's it's not simply pleasure or

Experiencing pleasure although it may be pleasant.

It has a connection with pleasure, but it's not defined by pleasure.

It has a closer connection to morality and so the in a way the very reassuring answer

that Aristotle gives is that the best guarantee of happiness that you can achieve in this life is to try to be

...