The Concept of Brutishness (Thēriotēs) in Aristo¬tle’s Nicomachean Ethics
Abstract
The Polish version of the article was published in “Roczniki Humanistyczne,” vol. 64 (2016), issue 3.
The article deals with “brutishness” or “beastliness” (thēriotēs), a concept introduced by Aristotle in the seventh book of the Nicomachean Ethics and defined by him as a negative ethical disposition, different both from vice (kakia) and from incontinence (akrasia), and leading to such pathological behaviours as cannibalism, paedophilia, omophagy, phobias and compulsions. Aristotle’s statements concerning brutishness (VII 1, 1145a15–35, VII 5, 1148b15–1149a24 and VII 6, 1149b23–1150a8) are examined and interpreted in order to clarify the following issues: the essence of thēriotēs as a specific ethical disposition (Sections I–II), its concrete forms and their causes (Section III), the moral-psychological condition of persons with a brutish hexis (Section IV), and their self-consciousness and moral responsibility for their brutish acts (Section V).
References
Apostle, Hippocrates G. Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics. Translated with commentaries and glossary by Hippocrates G. Apostle. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1980.
Barlett, Robert C. & Susan D. Collins. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. A new translation by Robert C. Bartlett and Susan D. Collins, with an Interpretive Essay, Notes, and Glossary. Chicago–London: The University of Chicago Press, 2011.
Bäumer, Änne. Die Bestie Mensch: Senecas Aggressionstheorie, ihre philosophischen Vorstufen und ihre literarischen Auswirkungen. Frankfurt am Main–Bern: Verlag Peter Lang, 1982.
Bekker, Immanuel. Aristoteles Graece ex recensione Immanuelis Bekkeri. Edidit Academia Regia Borussica, vol. II. Berolini: Apud Georgium Reimerum, 1831.
Brewer, John S. The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle, with English Notes. Oxford: Henry Slatter, 1836.
Burnet, John. The Ethics of Aristotle. Edited with an introduction and notes by John Burnet. London: Methuen & Co.
Bywater, Ingram, ed. Aristotelis Ethica Nicomachea. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1894.
Ciardi, John, trans. Dante Alighieri. The Inferno. New York: Signet Classics, 1982.
Cooper, John M. “Nicomachean Ethics VII.1-2: Introduction, Method, Puzzles.” In Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII. Symposium Aristotelicum. Edited by Carlo Natali, 9–39. Oxford: University Presss, 2010.
Curzer, Howard J. Aristotle and the Virtues. Oxford: University Press, 2012.
Dirlmeier, Franz von., ed. Aristoteles. Nikomachische Ethik. Übersetzt und kommentiert von F. Dirlmeier, 8. Aufl. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1983.
Gauthier, Rene A. & Jean Y. Jolif. L’éthique à Nicomaque. Introd., trad. et commentaire par Rene A. Gauthier et Jean Y. Jolif, t. I, 2ème partie: Traduction. Louvain-La-Neuve–Paris–Sterling, Virginia: Éditions Peeters, 2002a.
Gauthier, Rene A. & Jean Y. Jolif. L’éthique à Nicomaque. Introd., trad. et commentaire par Rene A. Gauthier et Jean Y. Jolif, t. II: Commentaire, 2ème partie. Livres VI—X. Louvain-La-Neuve–Paris–Sterling, Virginia: Éditions Peeters, 2002b..
Gigon, Olof von., ed. Aristoteles. Die Nikomachische Ethik: griechisch-deutsch. Übers. von Olof Gigon, neu hrsg. von Robert. Nickel, 2. Aufl. Düsseldorf: Artemis & Winkler, 2007.
Grant, Alexander. The Ethics of Aristotle. Illustrated with essays and notes by Alexander Grant, vol. II. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1866.
Gromska, Daniela, trans. Arystoteles. Etyka nikomachejska. In Arystoteles. Dzieła wszystkie, vol. V. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2000.
Hankins, John Erskine. “Caliban the Bestial Man.” PMLA 62 (1947): 793–801.
Hardie, William F.R. “‘Magnanimity’ in Aristotle’s Ethics.” Phronesis 23 (1978): 63–79.
Irwin, Terence H. “Reason and Responsibility in Aristotle.” In Essays on Aristotle’s Ethics. Edited by Amélie O. Rorty, 117–155. Berkeley–Los Angeles–London: University of California Press, 1980.
Kahn, Charles H. “Aristotle on Thinking.” In Martha C. Nussbaum, Amélie O. Rorty, Essays on Aristotle’s „De anima”, 359–379. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992.
Loening, Richard. Geschichte der strafrechtlichen Zurechnungslehre, Bd. I: Die Zurechnungslehre des Aristoteles. Jena: Verlag von Gustav Fischer, 1903.
Meyer, Susan Sauvé. Aristotle on Moral Responsibility: Character and Cause. Oxford–Cambridge: Blackwell, 1993.
Moline, Jon N. “Aristotle on Praise and Blame.” Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 71 (1989): 283–302.
Müller, Jozef. “Aristotle on Vice.” British Journal for the History of Philosophy 23 (2015): 459–477.
Natali, Carlo, trad. Aristotele, Etica nicomachea. Traduzione, introduzione e note di Carlo Natali. Roma: Laterza, 2001.
Natali, Carlo. Nicomachean Ethics VII.5–6: Beastliness, Irascibility, akrasia. In Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII, Symposium Aristotelicum, 103–129. Edited by Carlo Natali. Oxford: University Press, 2010.
Nussbaum, Martha C. Aristotle’s De motu animalium. Text with Translation, Commentary and Interpretive Essays by Martha C. Nussbaum. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978.
Ostwald, Martin, trans. Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Translated, with introduction and notes, by Martin Ostwald. Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill Educational Publishing, 1962.
Peters, Frank H., trans. The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle. Translated by Frank H. Peters. London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1886.
Rackham, Harris, trans. Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by Harris Rackham. London–Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1962.
Ramsauer, Gottfried. Aristotelis Ethica Nicomachea. Edidit et commentario continuo instruxit Gottfried Ramsauer. Leipzig: Teubner, 1878.
Rapp, Christof. “Freiwilligkeit, Entscheidung und Verantwortlichkeit.” In Otfried Höffe, Hrsg. Aristoteles. Die Nikomachische Ethik, 109–133. Berlin: Akademie Verlags, 1995.
Reeve, David C., trans. Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Translated With Introduction and Notes By David C. Reeve. Indianapolis–Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2014.
Rolfes, Eugen. übersetzt. Aristoteles’ Nikomachische Ethik. Übersetzt und mit einer Einleitung und erklärenden Anmerkungen versehen von Eugen Rolfes. Leipzig: Verlag von Felix Meiner, 1911.
Ross, W. David & Lesley Brown, trans. Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by W. David Ross, revised with an Introduction and Notes by Lesley Brown. Oxford: University Press, 2009.
Sedley, David, ed. “Aspasius on akrasia.” In Aspasius. The Earliest Extant Commentary on Aristotle’s Ethics. Essays edited by Antonina Alberti and Robert W. Sharples, 162–175. Berlin–New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1999.
Segal, Charles. “The Raw and the Cooked in Greek Literature: Structure, Values, Metaphor.” The Classical Journal 69 (1974): 289–308.
Stewart, John A. Notes on the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle, vol. II. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892.
Susemihl, Franz & Otto Apelt, ed. Aristoteles. Ethica Nicomachea. Recognovit Franz Susemihl; editio altera, curavit Otto Apelt. Leipzig: Teubner, 1903.
Thorp, John. “Aristotle on Brutishness.” Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review 42 (2003): 673–694.
Tricot, Jules, trad. Aristote. Éthique à Nicomaque. Nouvelle traduction avec introduction, notes et index par Jules Tricot. Paris: Librairie Philosophique J. Vrin, 1987.
Wolf, Ursula. Aristoteles’ Nikomachische Ethik. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2002.
Copyright (c) 2018 Roczniki Humanistyczne
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
