/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.15474657]

Does anyone else who started with the Greeks find Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics to be far more interesting and engaging than Plato’s Republic?
I realize they’re not necessarily addressing the same things, but I find this so much more interesting to read. I almost gave up on the Greeks because I just couldn’t get into Republic (even though I enjoyed all of the other Platonic Dialogues).
Is Aristotle generally regarded as being better to read than Plato?
Or maybe I just needed to get a copy of Republic that is loaded with notes and commentary?
Is there one?

[Anonymous No.15474673]

>Or maybe I just needed to get a copy of XXX that is loaded with notes and commentary?

yes.

[Anonymous No.15474676]

>>15474657
>I almost gave up on the Greeks because I just couldn’t get into Republic (even though I enjoyed all of the other Platonic Dialogues).
BRUH!

How is this even possible, I know that some parts can definitely get a bit dry and maybe even seem a bit pointless sometimes but it has more than enough to make up for that in it. The last chapter finishes pretty high in my opinion.

[Anonymous No.15474681]

no, nicomachean ethics is autismal common sense that has no value. how are the those ethics chosen? what is the mean path if it's entirely subjective?
republic is ridiculous but at least entertaining.

[Anonymous No.15474688]

>>15474681
>republic is ridiculous
Shut up you fucking troglodyte.

>but at least entertaining.
Won't disagree with you there.

[Anonymous No.15474712]

>>15474657
How can you enjoy some Platonic dialogues but not the Republic? They're all in the same style.

[Anonymous No.15474723]

>>15474712
I don’t know. Perhaps my issue is that there are no good stopping points other than in between books, and I rarely if ever have 2 hours or more to stay completely in the zone and read it all in one go

[Anonymous No.15474743]

>>15474657
Your instincts are right. Nobody takes Plato seriously as an moral philosopher. There's no such thing as "Platonic Ethics". Whereas Aristotle is still very relevant, and his Virtue Ethics remain one of the main branches of value theory.

[Anonymous No.15474756]

>>15474743
>There's no such thing as "Platonic Ethics".
Wrong!

[Anonymous No.15474782]

>>15474723
Why do you need to read it all in one go? Take your time.
>>15474743
Platonism is ethics.

[Anonymous No.15474794]

Dialogues are really hit or miss, Aristotle's style is autistic but easier to read imo

[Anonymous No.15474804]

>>15474782
platonism is not an ethics. platonism accounts for properties by grounding them in abstract objects.

[Anonymous No.15474819]

>>15474782
>Platonism is ethics
No, Platonism is metaphysics.

[Anonymous No.15474830]

>>15474804
>implying this doesn't lead to a Platonic ethics
It's almost as if you haven't read the Republic.

[Anonymous No.15474834]

>>15474794
>Dialogues are really hit or miss, Aristotle's style is autistic but easier to read imo
Also the good dialogues will teach you new ways of arguing/thinking, which can hurt. Aristotle has better conclusions in general but doesn't bend your mind, which can be very comfy.

[Anonymous No.15474842]

>>15474657
>Terence Irwin

[Anonymous No.15474843]

>>15474830
i don't need to read the republic to know that you've botched a basic bitch philosophical term. read plato.stanford.edu ;^)

[Anonymous No.15474958]

>>15474657
Nicomachean ethics is probably the one work of ancient Greek philosophy with relevance today and which will be referenced in contemporary debates. Tons of contemporary ethicists go back to Aristotle to ground their arguments, no-one at the cutting edge of metaphysics, political philosophy etc. really care what Plato thought.

As for the Republic, Plato himself abandoned that project entirely later in life, as can be see in the Laws.

[Anonymous No.15474995]

>>15474958
>As for the Republic, Plato himself abandoned that project entirely later in life, as can be see in the Laws.

[Anonymous No.15475004]

>>15474843
Watch Gregory Sadler's videos on Plato and then come back to us. I would think he knows more than you but hey, maybe I'm wrong and you're actually an esteemed academic in disguise.

[Anonymous No.15475036]

>>15474995
Don't get the image, unless you think Plato is the one philosopher in history whose thought never developed over his lifetime. Which would make him a very static thinker.

[Anonymous No.15475050]

>>15475036
Republic is mostly metaphoric with some real political stuff thrown in (anti-social darwinism, etc.) Laws is a purely legal work.

[Anonymous No.15475057]

>>15475004
give me a playlist please

[Anonymous No.15475066]

>tfw ywn read the dialogues of Aristotle
Why even live bros?

[Anonymous No.15475076]

>>15475057
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB0AE9449D5B07340
>>15475066
>ywn read Aristotle's poetry
>ywn read the non-Plato Socratic deialogues

[Anonymous No.15475082]

>>15475050
The metaphor of the Republic is inherently political: that a perfectly-ordered soul is identical to the perfectly-ordered community. The Laws is Plato's realist abandonment of that ideal of ordering a perfect community after his experience in Syracuse with the tyrant Dion.

[Anonymous No.15475086]

>>15475076
Breh you did not just send this man like 80 hours worth of content lol.

[Anonymous No.15475092]

>>15475004
>Watch Gregory Sadler's videos on Plato
Cringe. No wonder you're such an ignoramus.

[Anonymous No.15475099]

>>15475004
>Gregory Sadler
>esteemed academic
Lmao. You have to be trolling.