Why Modern Readers Misunderstand Aristotle: Happiness, Pleasure, and the Highest Form of Life
Introduction Imagine a student trying to decide what to study at university. She has always been fascinated by archaeology. As a child she spent hours reading about ancient civilizations, watching documentaries on archaeological discoveries, and visiting museums whenever she had the opportunity. When she studies the ancient world, she loses track of time. Yet almost everyone around her offers the same advice: Study something with better career prospects. Business, engineering, or computer science, they argue, will provide financial security and open more doors in the future. The advice is understandable. Education is expensive, jobs are uncertain, and few people can afford to ignore practical considerations. Yet the conversation almost always revolves around the same question: What will be most useful later? Much less often does anyone ask a different question: What activity is worth pursuing for its own sake? This way of thinking is so familiar that it seems almost self-eviden...
