“ the man who throws away his shield through cowardice or speaks harshly through bad temper or fails to help a friend with money through meanness) , when a man acts graspingly he often exhibits none of these vices,-no, nor all together, but certainly wickedness of some kind (for we blame him) and injustice. ”
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (c. 334 BC - 330 BC). copy citation
| Author | Aristotle |
|---|---|
| Source | Nicomachean Ethics |
| Topic | meanness cowardice |
| Date | c. 334 BC - 330 BC |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by W. D. Ross |
| Weblink | http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.mb.txt |
Context
“Similarly it is with injustice in the particular sense that we are concerned.
That there is such a thing is indicated by the fact that while the man who exhibits in action the other forms of wickedness acts wrongly indeed, but not graspingly (e.g. the man who throws away his shield through cowardice or speaks harshly through bad temper or fails to help a friend with money through meanness) , when a man acts graspingly he often exhibits none of these vices,-no, nor all together, but certainly wickedness of some kind (for we blame him) and injustice. There is, then, another kind of injustice which is a part of injustice in the wide sense, and a use of the word 'unjust' which answers to a part of what is unjust in the wide sense of 'contrary to the law'.”
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