Action and Contemplation: Studies in the Moral and Political Thought of Aristotle

This wide-ranging collection of essays by European and American scholars presents some of the most interesting and important work now being done on the political philosophy of Aristotle. Part One investigates what is arguably the most urgent and controversial question of concern to students of Aristotle today, namely, the possibility of grounding moral and political action in some version of Aristotelian rationalism. Part Two considers a series of specific questions arising from the Politics and the Nicomachean Ethics, among which are Aristotle's understanding of moral virtue; the problem of evil; justice, and the very idea of "common good," friendship; the status of the philosophic life vis-a-vis the political; and the outlines of the best possible political community.