The Best Translation of The Nicomachean Ethics
The Nicomachean Ethics was written in Ancient Greek. 3 recommended editions, ranked — with Gröblé’s verdict on which to read first.
Roger Crisp
Cambridge University Press · 2014 · 213 pages
Crisp writes the cleanest English of the three. The argument about eudaimonia, virtue, and the mean tracks page by page, and the Cambridge intro situates Aristotle against modern ethics without academic fog.
Every recommended edition, compared
Terence Irwin
Hackett Publishing · 2019 · 424 pages
Irwin's third edition is what philosophers cite when they argue about Aristotle. The glossary is the real engine, locking down terms like eudaimonia and phronesis so the technical claims hold. Denser going, but the precision is worth it.
Bartlett and Collins render every Greek term the same way every time, even when the English creaks. Built for Strauss-school close reading where the word choice itself carries the argument.
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Reading The Nicomachean Ethics in translation
The Nicomachean Ethics was written in Ancient Greek, so unless you read Ancient Greek, the translator decides the book you actually experience — its register, its pace, how it sounds read aloud. Two editions of the same work can feel like different books.
The ranking above is Gröblé’s: one reader’s verdict on which English gets you closest, not a publisher’s blurb. Start with the top pick; reach for the others when you want a different angle on the original.