Aristotle's Ethical Concepts

Last Updated: 2023-02-06

One reason people find it difficult to understand Aristotle's thinking about the good life is that translators often miss the mark in rendering his key concepts into English. I've spent a long time pondering how to let the original Greek sense of Aristotle's thinking shine through. Here's what I've come up with so far.

• ἀγαθός (agathos) = beneficial, good [opposed to κακός]
• ἄγνοια (agnoia) = ignorance [opposed to σοφία]
• ἀθλιότης (athliotes) = misery [opposed to εὐδαιμονία]
• αἵρεσις (hairesis) = pursuit, preference
• αἱρετά (haireta) = valuable, preferable (not "choiceworthy")
• αἰσχρός (aischros) = wrong, ugly, ignoble; thus repulsively wrong [opposed to καλός]
• αἰτία (aitia) = ground (not "cause")
• ἀκολασία (akolasia) = self-indulgence, lack of moderation [opposed to σωφροσύνη]
• ἀκόλαστης (akolastes) = wild, self-indulgent
• ἀκρασία (akrasia) = impulsiveness, lack of restraint (not "incontinence") [contrasted with ἐγκράτεια]
• ἀκριβής (akribes) = finished, precise (not "perfect")
• ἀλλότριος (allotrios) = foreign (not "improper") [opposed to οἰκείος]
• ἁμάρτημα (hamartema) = error, mistake
• ἁμαρτία (hamartia) = missing the mark; error (not "sin")
• ἀναισθησία (anaisthesia) = insensibility [opposed to σωφροσύνη]
• ἀνδρεία (andreia) = manliness, courage
• ἀνόητος (anoetos) = thoughtless, lacking in insight
• ἀπάτη (apate) = deception [opposed to σοφία]
• ἁπλῶς (haplos) = simply, plainly (not "simpliciter")
• ἀπόδειξις (apodeixis) = showing (not "demonstration")
• ἀπορία (aporia) = impasse, perplexity (not "puzzle")
• ἀρετή (arete) = thriving, excellence (not "virtue") [opposed to μοχθηρία]
• ἀρχή (arche) = source, origin, principle
• ἀσχολία (ascholia) = unease, preoccupation [opposed to σχολή]
• αὐτάρκεια (autarkeia) = wholeness (not "self-sufficiency")
• ἀφροσύνη (aphrosune) = foolishness [opposed to σωφροσύνη or φρόνησις]
• βίος (bios) = way of life
• βουλεύεσθαι (bouleuesthai) = to take counsel with oneself, to reflect
• βούλησις (boulesis) = resolution, wish (not "conation")
• γνώμη (gnome) = sensitivity
• δεῖ (dei) = should, need to, bound to (not "ought to")
• δεινότης (deinotes) = know-how, cleverness
• διαγωγή (diagoge) = lifestyle
• διάθεσις (diathesis) = arrangement, disposition
• διάνοια (dianoia) = thinking through (not "intellection")
• διωκτά (diokta) = worth seeking
• δύναμις (dunamis) = ability, capacity (not "potentiality")
• ἐγκράτεια (enkrateia) = self-restraint (not "continence") [contrasted with ἀκρασία]
• ἐθίζειν (ethizein) = enculturate (not "habituate")
• εἶδος (eidos) = way of being, identity (not "species" or "form")
• ἐνέργεια (energeia) = working at a task; activity; activation (of a capacity); doing (not "actuality")
• ἐντελέχεια (entelecheia) = achieving a goal, accomplishing a task, becoming complete; fulfillment (not "actuality")
• ἕξις (hexis) = trait (not "habit")
• ἐπιείκεια (epieikeia) = reasonableness, fairness, humaneness
• ἐπιθυμία (epithumia) = need, craving
• ἐπιστήμη (episteme) = full understanding, knowledge (not "science")
• ἔργον (ergon) = task, work (not "function")
• εὐβουλία (euboulia) = success at reflection; deliberating well
• εὐήθεια (euetheia) = foolishness [opposed to φρόνησις]
• εὐδαιμονία (eudaimonia) = living well, flourishing (not "happiness")
• εὐπραξία (eupraxia) = success at taking action; conducting oneself well
• ἡδονή (hedone) = joy, enjoyment, pleasure
• ἠθική (ethike) = having to do with character (not "moral")
• ἦθος (ethos) = character
• θεραπεία (therapeia) = cultivation (not "service")
• θεωρία (theoria) = awareness, consciousness (not "contemplation")
• θυμός (thumos) = want, ardor
• καθ' αὑτὸ (kath' auto) = in itself, central, essential (not "per se") [opposed to κατὰ συμβεβηκός and roughly equivalent to ἁπλῶς (cf. 1151b2-3)]
• κακός (kakos) = harmful, bad (not "evil") [opposed to ἀγαθός]
• καλός (kalos) = right, beautiful, noble; thus beautifully right [opposed to αίσχρός]
• κατὰ συμβεβηκός (kata sumbebekos) = by the way, peripheral, incidental (not "per accidens") [opposed to καθ' αὑτὸ]
• κοινωνία (koinonia) = sharing, fellowship
• λογίζομαι (logizomai) = to figure out, to reason (not "to ratiocinate" or "to calculate")
• μεγαλοψυχία (megalopsuchia) = greatness of soul (not "pride")
• μέσον (meson) = mid-point, balance-point (not "the mean")
• μεσότης (mesotes) = state of balance (not "the mean")
• μοχθηρία (mochtheria) = corruption (not "vice") [opposed to ἀρετή]
• νοῦς (nous) = thought, insight (not "intellect")
• οἰκεῖος (oikeos) = native (not "proper") [opposed to ἀλλότριος]
• ὁμόνοια (homonoia) = likemindedness
• ὄρεξις (orexis) = reaching, yearning, desire (not "appetition")
• ὀρθός (orthos) = straight as contrasted with wayward (not "right")
• ὀρθός λόγος (orthos logos) = straight thinking, correct reasoning (not "right reason" or "right rule")
• ὀρθός ὄρεξις (orthos orexis) = straight yearning, correct reaching
• ὅρος (horos) = standard
• οὐσία (ousia) = thinghood, entity, being (not "substance")
• πάθος (pathos) = reaction, experience, feeling (not "passion") [contrasted with πρᾶξις]
• πανουργία (panourgia) = cunning [opposed to φρόνησις]
• πέρας (peras) = bound or boundary
• πλεονεξία (pleonexia) = avarice, greed
• ποίησις (poiesis) = making [contrasted with πρᾶξις]
• πόλις (polis) = society (not "city")
• πολιτική (politike) = social, societal (not "political")
• πρᾶξις (praxis) = taking action [contrasted with πάθος and with ποίησις]
• πρέπον (prepon) = admirably appropriate; fitting
• προαίρεσις (prohairesis) = commitment or intention to take some kind of action for the sake of some goal (cf. 1227b36-37)
• σκοπός (skopos) = target
• σοφία (sophia) = sagacity [opposed to ἄγνοια and sophistry]
• σπουδαῖος (spoudaios) = serious, worthy, good [opposed to φαῦλος]
• συμφέρων (sumpheron) = benefit, gain, advantage
• σύνεσις (sunesis) = comprehension
• σωφροσύνη (sophrosune) = moderation, self-regulation (not "temperance") [opposed to ἀναισθησία and to ἀκολασία]
• σχολή (schole) = ease, leisure [opposed to ἀσχολία]
• τελεία (teleia) = complete, final (not "perfect")
• τελειώτατον (teleiotaton) = most complete, most final (not "most perfect")
• τέλος (telos) = goal, purpose, completion (not "perfection")
• τέχνη (techne) = craft (not "art")
• τὸ ὄν (to on) = existence, being
• τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι (to ti en einai) = what it is to be a thing (not "essence")
• φαῦλος (phaulos) = unserious, unworthy, bad [opposed to σπουδαῖος]
• φιλία (philia) = love; personal relationship; partnership (not "friendship")
• φιλός (philos) = one who is dear; partner (not "friend")
• φρόνησις (phronesis) = wisdom (not "prudence") [opposed to εὐήθεια/ἀφροσύνη and πανουργία]
• χρῆσις (chresis) = use, exercise, practice
• ψυχή (psuche) = aliveness (not "soul")

Peter Saint-Andre > Writings > Aristotle