A new and highly original monograph examining Aristotle's views on ethics and human nature, an issue central to the thought of this hugely important and influential philosopher. Sales Points Presents an original interpretation of Aristotle's views on ethics, human nature and the human good - ideas central to his whole philosophical project. Provides a compelling account of the scholarly debates surrounding Aristotle's conception of ethics and human nature. Demonstrates how Aristotle's ethics compare to contemporary movements in Character Education in the twenty-first century. Description Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is devoted to the topic of human happiness. Yet, although Aristotle's conception of happiness is indisputably central to his whole philosophical project, there is much controversy surrounding it. Hope May offers a new interpretation of Aristotle's account of happiness - one which incorporates Aristotle's views about the biological development of human beings. May argues that the relationship amongst the moral virtues, the intellectual virtues, and happiness, is best understood through the lens of developmentalism.

On this view, happiness is the result of the cultivation of a number of virtues that are epigenetically (developmentally) related. May goes on to show how, with this interpretation in mind, contemporary scholarship in psychology, ethical theory and legal philosophy signals a return to Aristotelian ethics. Book jacket.