Understanding Book I, Chapter 6 in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

Students often struggle with chapter 6 of book I of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. I have explained the meaning of this chapter to individual students many times, but want to provide an explanation that all students can access. To make it even easier, I wrote out the explanation and then asked an AI tool to re-write it in simple language that everyone can understand (ages 12 and up). I hope you find it helpful.

Mr. Michael

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Aristotle begins this chapter in a way that only makes sense if we remember who he was and where he learned philosophy. As a young man he joined Plato’s famous school in Athens, called the Academy, and stayed there for about twenty years. Plato was his teacher, and Aristotle respected him deeply. One of the most important ideas Plato taught was that behind everything in the world there exists a set of perfect, invisible models called “Forms.” According to Plato, these Forms are more real than anything we can see or touch. Among all these Forms, Plato said that the most important one was the “Form of the Good.” He believed this perfect Good was the source of all goodness, and that everything good in the world was good because it somehow shared in or copied this one perfect "Good". Plato even said that anyone who wanted to live a wise and moral life had to understand this Good first of all.

Aristotle grew up thinking about these ideas, but when he became older, he began to question them. He still loved and respected Plato, but he cared more about truth than simply agreeing with his teacher. He decided that Plato’s idea of one single, perfect Good did not match how the real world works. This chapter in the Nicomachean Ethics is where Aristotle explains why. He starts by saying that “good” is used in many different ways. We call a person good, a meal good, a tool good, a time good, and a place good. These things are all very different, so they cannot possibly get their goodness from one single thing. Aristotle says that goodness shows up in every part of life: in what something is, in how it works, in how much of something we have, in the right moment to act, and even in where we are. Since “good” appears in so many different forms, Aristotle argues that it cannot come from one universal Good that exists outside the world.

Aristotle also explains that if there really were one perfect Good behind everything, then all people who study good things would have to study the same subject. But in real life, different experts study different kinds of good things. A doctor studies what is good for the body. A general studies what is good for an army. A teacher studies what is good for learning. A builder studies what is good for a house. They are all studying different forms of goodness, not one single Good. This shows that “good” does not have one meaning but many.

Another reason Aristotle rejects Plato’s perfect Good is that it would not help us make decisions. A doctor trying to help a sick person does not need to think about some distant, invisible Good. He needs to know what will help this person become healthy. A general leading his soldiers does not need to think about the perfect Good either. He needs to decide what will help his army win the battle. Aristotle says that moral decisions are about real life, real actions, and real people. These choices need practical wisdom, not knowledge of something far away and impossible to use.

Aristotle then explains that even the best things we pursue in life do not all share one single meaning of “good.” Some things are good by themselves, like being wise or seeing clearly or enjoying certain pleasures. Other things are good only because they help us reach those first kinds of goods, like tools or medicines or plans. But even among the things that are good by themselves, Aristotle says, we cannot find one common idea that they all share. The goodness of wisdom is not the same as the goodness of honor, and the goodness of honor is not the same as the goodness of pleasure. So there is no single definition of good that fits all of them.

Finally, Aristotle says that even if someone still believes in a perfect Good that exists somewhere by itself, this perfect Good would not make people better at living their daily lives. It would not help a doctor cure patients or help a builder build a house or help a leader rule wisely. What human beings need to understand are the kinds of good things they can actually choose, achieve, and use. That is what ethics should study.

In this chapter, Aristotle is showing how he moves away from the teachings of Plato. Plato believed that goodness came from one perfect source above everything else. Aristotle believed that goodness appears in many different ways within the world we live in, and that we have to study these practical forms of goodness if we want to live well. This chapter marks the place where Aristotle respectfully disagrees with his teacher and explains why his own approach to understanding the good is more useful for real human life.