But Reeve adopts a fresh approach to reading the particularly terse (even for Aristotle) and prima facie piecemeal sixth book, relying almost exclusively on the Greek text of Bywater's Oxford Classical Text, that (impressively) avoids privileging his interpretation.
One might be skeptical of the need for yet another translation of the Nicomachean Ethics or some part thereof. This is, of course, not to be taken as a failing on the part of the author, but rather a function of the type of book that this is. However, as I will touch upon briefly, for all his attention to detail in the insightful and provocative commentary, one should not expect to find fully developed arguments in defense of each of Reeve's interpretive moves nor arguments that tie all of these moves together in a volume of this kind. The project is thus surprisingly broad in scope, given the fact that it is a translation and commentary. Hence Reeve's is a reading that looks to preempt some of the difficulties that arise in attempting to unify ethical prescriptions, which obtain only for the most part, and their theoretical starting-points, as well as those that arise in trying to specify the places of both practical wisdom and theoretical wisdom in achieving happiness. The main picture that emerges is one according to which Aristotle understands ethical knowledge as a kind of (conditional) scientific knowledge, on the model of the other sciences (theoretical and natural), all of which are demonstrative in form. The central focus of the work is a systematic, holistic reading of Aristotle's account of practical wisdom within the framework not only of his ethics but, more broadly, his epistemology.
The book can stand alone as a substantive and illuminating series of philosophically-rich comments, but in conjunction with Action, Contemplation, and Happiness, the companion volume of which it was originally a part, it affords the reader further evidence to support the interpretation found there. Reeve's book is not just (nor even primarily) a translation: the commentary is the longest section of the book, and the combination translation and analysis section is only around 40 pages long, as is the introduction.
This is a new translation of Nicomachean Ethics VI, accompanied by a concise facing-page analysis, a thorough commentary, and a philosophically rigorous introduction from which seasoned Aristotle scholars, moral philosophers, and students alike stand to benefit.
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