The Ethics of Aristotle, Part 3
Boring Books for Bedtime Readings to Help You Sleep
Sharon Handy
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 1 September 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
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Summary
Let’s philosophize our way to sleep with more from this 2,300-year-old work on the art of being. This time, what is happiness? How is it related to good character and, more importantly, acting in a good way? Can a person who does bad be happy, even beyond the grave? You know, simple stuff like that.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good evening and thank you for joining me for another boring books for bedtime. |
| 0:08.8 | I hope tonight's selection provides all the boredom your busy brain needs |
| 0:14.3 | to quiet down and let you get some sleep. |
| 0:19.4 | So find a comfortable spot. |
| 0:23.4 | Adjust your volume. |
| 0:26.8 | Take a nice deep breath in. |
| 0:32.5 | Let it out slowly. |
| 0:37.1 | And off we go. |
| 0:41.1 | Tonight, let's continue our reading of a true classic of philosophy, |
| 0:48.2 | written sometime around 350 BCE. |
| 0:52.6 | We're reading The Ethics of Aristotle, in a translation by D.P. Chase, first published in |
| 1:03.1 | 1911 by J.M. Dentons, London. |
| 1:09.1 | Let's pick up right where we left off in Book 1, Section 8. |
| 1:16.6 | Let's begin. |
| 1:20.4 | Section 8. |
| 1:22.9 | We must now inquire concerning happiness, not only from our conclusion and the data on which our |
| 1:31.5 | reasoning proceeds, but likewise from what is commonly said about it, because with what is true, |
| 1:39.6 | all things which really are are in harmony. But with that which is false, the true very soon jars. |
| 1:49.6 | Now there is a common division of goods into three classes, one being called external, |
| 1:57.5 | the other two, those of the soul and body respectively. |
| 2:02.4 | And those belonging to the soul, we call most properly and specially good. |
| 2:09.2 | Well, in our definition, we assume that the actions and workings of the soul constitute happiness. |
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