Particularism in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

In this essay I offer a new particularist reading of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. I arguethat the interpretation I present not only helps us to resolve some puzzles about Aristotle’s goals andmethods, but it also gives rise to a novel account of morality—an account that is both interesting andplausible in its own right. The goal of this paper is, in part, exegetical—that is, to figure out how to best understand the text of the Nicomachean Ethics. But this paper also aims to contribute to the currentexciting and controversial debate over particularism. By taking the first steps towards a comprehensiveparticularist reading of Aristotle’s Ethics I hope to demonstrate that some of the mistrust ofparticularism is misplaced and that what is, perhaps, the most influential moral theory in the history ofphilosophy is, arguably, a particularist moral theory