(Previous: Eudemian Ethics I.2.)
It would be a waste of effort to look into every opinion that anyone has seen fit to have about it, because many opinions occur to children or to those who are ill or out of their minds that no one with any sense would puzzle over. What they need is not reasoning but on the one hand the changes that come with maturity or on the other hand correction, whether medical or social, since medication is no less a corrective than punishment.
Likewise with the opinions of the multitude, for they speak in an offhand way about everything, and especially about this. Indeed on this topic it is only the opinions of the wise that must be considered (for it would be strange to bring reason to bear on those who look not to reason but to experience). Since there are impasses in each field of study, clearly they exist also in relation to living best and the greatest way of life. Thus it is a beautiful thing to put these opinions to the test, for by cross-examining a claimant we spell out the opposing account.
Moreover it is worth the effort to not let such things escape our notice, especially those to which every inquiry must direct itself: the things that make it possible to share in living well and living beautifully (if it is too brazen to say "living blessedly") and that give humane people hope of attaining it. For if living beautifully consists in things which come about by chance or by nature then most people could not hope for it (since in that case they couldn't acquire it by taking care of things that are up to them or their own affairs). On the other hand, if it consists in a certain quality in oneself and one's actions, then what's good will be more common and more divine: more common because it will be possible for more people to share in it, more divine because fulfillment could be attained by those who impart a certain quality to themselves and their actions.
(Cross-posted at Beautiful Wisdom.)