Abstract

In Nicomachean Ethics, Book I, 1-2, Aristotle notices that all of our actions are guided to some good, and since there exist a good which is sought by means of the other goods, it can be said that this is the supreme good of men. This supreme good is conceived in several ways, but with the intention to determine exactly what it is, the stagirian aims to examine the main hypothesis proposed about this good. During this review, Aristotle shows an special interest for the hypothesis according to which a single, universal notion of good exists, and devotes a chapter to refute it. I intend to explain what the Aristotelian criticism of the Platonic notion of good means. I will show what this hypothesis is about and what the arguments against it are. Starting from some of Plato’s dialogues, I will reconstruct the hypothesis attacked by the Stagirian, which is attributed to the followers of the Athenian philosopher. Finally, beginning with the Nicomachean Ethics, “Book I, 6”, and some passages of The Organon, I will reconstruct Aristotle’s criticism itself.