Book · -340
Nicomachean Ethics
by Aristotle
Aristotle's 2,400-year-old argument that living well depends on virtue, leisure, and the company you keep — still the canonical text for the field.
What does Reddit think of Nicomachean Ethics?
r/askphilosophy owns this book. Of the 160 total mentions across 7 years, 134 come from there — making it the third leg of the standard virtue ethics triad alongside Kant's Groundwork and Mill's Utilitarianism, cited in that exact cluster at ↑201. The second most-upvoted thread (↑308) turns on one of Aristotle's stranger claims: that the virtuous man gives gifts rather than receiving them. It generates real argument, not just appreciation. The ↑709 post, which treats the Politics as a necessary companion for understanding what Aristotle actually means by leisure, exemplifies the cross-text reading r/askphilosophy expects. The 16 r/philosophy mentions include broader context — how eudaimonia requires political participation, not private reflection. r/Stoicism adds 10 mentions, mostly from people drawing contrasts. Yearly counts spiked at 32 in 2022 and 29 in 2020, with no sign of decline: 25 mentions in 2025 alone.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · Virtue ethics and the nature of eudaimonia
- · The role of leisure in living well
- · Habituation and the formation of character
- · The relationship between ethics and politics
- · Friendship as a component of the good life
- · Practical wisdom (phronesis) vs. theoretical knowledge
Common praise
- + The leisure argument (Book X) reframes the work-first assumption in a way that sticks — r/philosophy gave that reading ↑709.
- + Serves as the entry point for virtue ethics in every serious intro philosophy reading list on r/askphilosophy.
- + The gift-giving passage (↑308) produces genuine debate rather than passive agreement, which means Aristotle actually lands the argument.
- + Reading it alongside the Politics, as r/askphilosophy recommends, makes both texts sharper.
Common criticism
- − r/Stoicism mentions it mostly as a contrast case, not a recommendation.
- − The text assumes a political community most modern readers don't inhabit, which blunts the eudaimonia argument for anyone outside r/askphilosophy.
- − Readers who come for practical ethics and stay for metaphysics sometimes feel the book pivoted on them halfway through.
Who it's for
If r/askphilosophy is your first stop when you have a philosophical question, you've probably already been assigned this. Read it anyway — the ↑201 thread is right that it belongs in the same breath as Kant and Mill. If you're coming from r/Stoicism expecting an ally, expect friction instead: the book shows up there as a foil, not a companion. Philosophy students who need the Politics to make sense of the ethics will find r/askphilosophy has already mapped the pairing. Casual readers who want a usable ethics without the Greek scaffolding will likely bounce off Book I.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Nicomachean Ethics?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“**Abstract** In both his *Nicomachean Ethics* and his *Politics*, Aristotle writes extensively on the importance of leisure. Specifically, he argues that when it comes to living well, the quality of our leisure matters more than our work. People are apt to waste their leisure time, however, because…
“In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle comments that it is the mark of a virtuous man is to give gifts, but not receive them. Giving gifts denotes one's superior position, their abundance, their surplus, while their inclination towards declining gifts means they are secure in their own position and do not…
“Immanuel Kant. Deontology. *Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals*. John Stuart Mil. Utilitarianism. *Utilitarianism* Aristotle. Virtue ethics. *Nicomachean Ethics*.
“Knowing that it's a massively broad subject, I wouldn't worry too much about building a massive reading list right away - it's okay to pick something you're interested in and go down a rabbit hole. I'm into ethical and political stuff, so I've cooked up a short list of what I think are a good set …
“I don't think anyone argues that someone who acts more easily is *less* virtuous (although people misread Kant as saying this). There is however a vigorous debate over whether acting more easily is *more* virtuous, or whether virtue is actually just a matter of doing the right things, and it's more …
“Aristotle's ethics is very tightly connected to his politics. Have you read *Politics*? Off the rip, Aristotle acknowledges that humans are political animals, and that the highest good (eudaimonia) is only achievable through active participation in the public matters (i.e. politics). It's very cle…
“Aristotle explicitly discusses this issue in III, 14 of the Nicomachean Ethics. There, he states that individuals who derive minimal pleasure from physical pleasures, such as food and drink, are exceptionally uncommon. Consequently, there is no standard term for this deficiency. His idea is that lan…
“If I had to pick one book per author: The Republic - Plato Nicomachean Ethics - Aristotle Meditations on First Philosophy - Descartes A Treatise on Human Nature - Hume Critique of Pure Reason - Kant Phenomenology of Spirit - Hegel The World As Will and Representation - Schopenhauer The Comm…
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Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with Nicomachean Ethics — counted from the comments, not curated.
Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
Immanuel Kant
Kant's 1785 argument that morality comes from reason alone — the Categorical Imperative in its original 90-page form, before the Critiques complicate everything.
Phaedo
Plato
Socrates spends his final hours arguing that the soul survives death — and inviting his friends to find the holes in his logic.
Meditations on First Philosophy
René Descartes
A philosopher strips away every belief he holds to find the one thing that can't be doubted, then rebuilds the world from there — in six meditations, 80 pages.
The Republic
Plato
A 2,400-year-old Athenian asks why anyone would choose justice over injustice, then spends 400 pages building a city to answer the question.
Critique of Pure Reason
Immanuel Kant
Kant's 1781 attempt to settle the limits of human knowledge — the book that split philosophy in two and still hasn't been fully digested.
Meditations
Marcus Aurelius
The Roman emperor's private notebook — written to himself in Greek, never meant to be published — became the Stoic canon's most-cited text 1,800 years later.
Nicomachean Ethics — frequently asked
What does Reddit actually use Nicomachean Ethics for?+
Mostly as the Aristotle slot in a canonical reading list. The ↑201 r/askphilosophy comment treats it as the third point in a triangle: Kant for deontology, Mill for consequentialism, Aristotle for virtue ethics. It's a reference text, cited in 134 of its 160 total mentions on r/askphilosophy alone.
Should I read Nicomachean Ethics alongside the Politics?+
Yes, according to r/askphilosophy. The ↑709 post argues that the leisure and eudaimonia arguments in the Ethics only fully resolve when you see Aristotle's political animal claim in the Politics. The two books are treated as a unit by the sub's most-upvoted threads.
Is Nicomachean Ethics worth reading if I'm coming from a Stoicism background?+
Depends what you want from it. r/Stoicism's 10 mentions mostly position Aristotle as a contrast to Stoic ethics rather than a complement. The books share vocabulary — virtue, character, the good — but diverge sharply on what those terms cash out to. Read it as a productive argument, not a confirmation.
Is Nicomachean Ethics still being discussed, or has Reddit moved on?+
Still active. The book logged 25 mentions in 2025, consistent with its 2020 peak of 29 and above its 2023 trough of 16. It's not trending, but it never really trends — it just keeps appearing whenever someone on r/askphilosophy asks where to start with ethics.