Chapter I: Front Matter

ARISTOTLE.

BY GEORGE GROTE, F.R.S.,

D.C.L. OXFORD, AND LL.D. CAMBRIDGE; LATE VICE-CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON; PRESIDENT OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON; AND FOREIGN MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE.

EDITED BY

ALEXANDER BAIN, LL.D.,

PROFESSOR OF LOGIC IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN,

AND

G. CROOM ROBERTSON, M.A.,

PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY OF MIND AND LOGIC IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON.

_SECOND EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS._

LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

1880.

_The right of Translation is reserved._

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LONDON: STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

NOTICE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

This Edition is an exact reprint of the First Edition, with the addition of two important Essays on the Ethics and Politics of Aristotle, which were found among the author's posthumous papers. They were originally published in 1876, in 'Fragments on Ethical Subjects, by the late George Grote,' but would have been included in the First Edition of this Work, had they been discovered in time. These Essays are the fruit of long and laborious study, and, so far as they extend, embody the writer's matured views upon the Ethics and the Politics: the two treatises whose omission from his published exposition of the Aristotelian philosophy has been most regretted.

The Essay on 'The Ethics of Aristotle' falls naturally into two divisions; the first treats of Happiness; the second of what, according to Aristotle, is the chief ingredient of Happiness, namely. Virtue. On Aristotle's own conception of Happiness, Mr. Grote dwells very minutely; turning it over on all sides, and looking at it from every point of view. While fully acknowledging its merits, he gives also the full measure of its defects. His criticisms on this head are in the author's best style and are no less important as regards Ethical discussion than as a commentary on Aristotle.

His handling of Aristotle's doctrine of Virtue is equally subtle and instructive. Particularly striking are the remarks on the _Voluntary_ and the _Involuntary_, and on [Greek: proai/resis], or _deliberate preference_.

The treatment of the Virtues in detail is, unhappily, more fragmentary; but what he does say regarding Justice and Equity has a permanent interest.

The Essay on 'The Politics of Aristotle' must be studied in connection with the preceding. Although but a brief sketch, it is remarkable for the insight which it affords us into the most consummate political ideal of the ancient world.