Book X Summary and Analysis

In the final major section of the work, Aristotle first takes up the subject of pleasure. He notes that pleasure must play an important role in the virtuous life because pleasure and pain are what steers a person toward the virtuous mean. He notes that some believe that pleasure is the ultimate good while others say it is the most base of things. Still others say that pleasure is good, and that people are naturally drawn toward it, so they should pretend it is not good and steer toward pain, which will result in approaching the mean. Aristotle dismisses this last idea.

He first addresses the idea that pleasure is the ultimate good. Here he refers to the ideas of Eudoxus, a philosopher who states that pleasure must be the ultimate good because animals as well as humans seek...