This is the beginning of a post to create a table to compare the major arguments against Pleasure as the highest good set forth by Plato (primarily from Philebus), then as those arguments were adopted or modified by Aristotle (primarily in Nichomachean Ethics Book Ten), and Epicurus (from a variety of texts. The goal will be to track the major arguments across each of these three philosophers so that their positions can be compared.
Sources for these texts (need versions with line numbers):
| Plato's Philebus 1 - A version with line numbers but we probably need Jowett. 2 - Jowett, but no line numbers. 3 - Wikisource, but no line numbers 4. Archive.org - Jowett with line numbers | Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics No good source with line numbers located. Perseus? | Epicurus' Letter to Menoeceus (et al.) |
This is going to take some effort, but the way forward is probably going to be:
1 - Identify the major arguments put forth in Philebus and put them in Column 2.
2 - Restate the issue in its general form in Column 1. That will result in the chart being organized according to the way the arguments against pleasure were set forth in Philebus.
3 - Find the relevant issue in Nichomachean Ethics and summarize it in Column 3.
4 - Find Epicurus' position on the relevant issue and summarize in Column 4.
If anyone would like to help with this please let us know and we will add their user account to the list with permissions to edit this document.
| Issue | Plato (Philebus) | Aristotle (Nichomachean Ethics) | Epicurus (letter to Menoeceus et al.) |
