Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

Published -340 · 100,555 words · about 5 hours at an average pace · Nonfiction, Philosophy

How hard is Nicomachean Ethics to read?

Nicomachean Ethics scores 52 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it quite demanding. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 48 out of 100
Ancient philosophical terminology in translation.
Sentence structure: 48 out of 100
Abstraction: 65 out of 100
Highly abstract moral philosophy.
Information density: 60 out of 100
Dense philosophical argument throughout.
Narrative indirection: 100 out of 100
Systematic philosophical treatise.
Symbolic density: 12 out of 100
Analytical rather than symbolic.
Ironic distance: 80 out of 100
Earnest philosophical inquiry.
Resolution withholding: 100 out of 100
Aristotle arrives at definite conclusions.
Structural complexity: 35 out of 100
Ten books covering different aspects of ethics.

How Nicomachean Ethics is regarded

Nicomachean Ethics holds a literary regard score of 80 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

About the author

Aristotle