Abstract

Some twenty years ago, W. F. R. Hardie focused his attention on an issue which has since become a programmatic theme for Aristotelian scholars. He wrote: "In speaking of the good for man Aristotle hesitates between an inclusive and an exclusive formulation. [He further fails] to make explicit the distinction between the comprehensive plan and the paramount end". Since that time, virtually everyone writing on Aristotle's ethics has essayed a view about what Aristotle said or should have said about the best human life.