Aristotle on Speusippus on Eudoxus on Pleasure

Abstract

Abstract Aristotle’s account in the Nicomachean Ethics of the role of pleasure in the good life and the effsects of pleasure on both character development and action is complex and difficult. Part of this difficulty is generated by Aristotle’s characteristic dialectical approach to the questions he is interested in asking. He raises possibilities, gathers alternative views, and suggests counter-arguments without always making immediately clear his own precise view. By working on the topic of pleasure in this way, Aristotle makes it clear that he is reacting to and offering his own commentary on an earlier debate on the nature and value of pleasure, with its own series of dialectical moves and counter-moves. In Aristotle’s presentation of the matter in the Nicomachean Ethics, three major philosophical rivals are invoked as participants in the debate: Eudoxus, Speusippus, and Plato.