Perception in Aristotle's Ethics

207 Pages·2017·1.98 MB·English

by  Eve Rabinoff

perception in
aristotle’s ethics
SerieS editor
John Russon
REREADING ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
PERCEPTION IN
ARISTOTLE’S
ETHICS
Eve Rabinoff
northwestern university press • evanston, illinois
Northwestern University Press
www.nupress.northwestern.edu
Copyright © 2018 by Northwestern University Press.
Published 2018. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Rabinoff, Eve, author.
Title: Perception in Aristotle’s ethics / Eve Rabinoff.
Other titles: Rereading ancient philosophy.
Description: Evanston, Illinois : Northwestern University Press, 2018. | Series:
Rereading ancient philosophy
Identifiers: LCCN 2017039337 | ISBN 9780810136434 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN
9780810136427 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780810136441 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Aristotle—Ethics. | Aristotle. Nicomachean ethics. | Aristotle. De
anima. | Perception (Philosophy)—Moral and ethical aspects.
Classification: LCC B491.E7 R323 2018 | DDC 171.3—dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2017039337
Except where otherwise noted, this book is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy
of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
In all cases attribution should include the following information:
Rabinoff, Eve. Perception in Aristotle’s Ethics. Evanston: Northwestern University Press,
2018.
For permissions beyond the scope of this license, visit http://www.nupress.northwestern
.edu/.
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For Eric

contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 3
Chapter 1. The Perceptual Part of the Soul 13
Chapter 2. Human Perception 43
Chapter 3. The Duality of the Human Soul 71
Chapter 4. Phronēsis 113
Conclusion 147
Notes 155
Bibliography 181
General Index 189
Index Locorum 193

acknowledgments
My first thanks are to John Russon, my teacher and friend, for encouraging
and directing my personal and philosophical growth. I would not be where I
am today were it not for him and the world he introduced me to. I also owe
a great debt of thanks to Marina McCoy, who supervised the first version of
this project and helped me shape it, and whose support and generosity has
been unflagging. Some of the seeds for this project were sown in the context
of Bill Wians’s Aristotle seminars at Boston College, and I am grateful for
the guidance of such an insightful teacher and reader of Aristotle. Thanks also
to Bill and to Arthur Madigan for their feedback on this project in its earlier
forms, and to Drew Hyland for his generous feedback on the manuscript.
I owe thanks to Mitchell Miller, who illuminated Plato, and philosophy in
general, for me. I would like to thank my many other teachers at Boston Col-
lege, St. John’s College, the University of Guelph, and elsewhere for sharing
their wisdom, time, and insight. Thank you to my philosophical friends, from
whom I’ve learned so much, including Sharon Cohen, Deirdre Rubin, Whit-
ney Howell, Greg Kirk, Ömer Aygün, Eli Diamond, Patricia Fagan, David
Ciavatta, Kym Maclaren, Greg Recco, Ryan Quintana, the participants in
the Toronto Seminar, and many others. Thanks also to my colleagues in the
philosophy department at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, who main-
tain an ideally supportive philosophical and work environment, and to Paula
Derdiger and Kelly MacPhail for their tireless support and friendship. Most
especially, to Eric Sanday, whose wisdom and courage sustains me.
I am grateful also for the hard work of the editors and staff at North-
western University Press: Nathan MacBrien, Henry Carrigan, Marianne
Jankowski, and Trevor Perri; and for that of Steven Moore for compiling the
index.
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