Reddit mentions of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

The reason one would want a literal translation (that should still be readable) is that it grants you access to the original text as much as possible. There is always something lost in translation, but the goal should be to minimize this and provide footnotes and supplementary information so the reader can get the nuances of the original.

I am not speaking against any of these other translations, since I am not familiar with all of them, but some translators have been known to omit whole sections or change the format from dialogue to monologue. Care must be given to words that have too much modern connotation that were never there in the age it was written. When the translator interprets for you, he is doing the thinking for you without asking you. One example I would like to give is how Sachs translates a Greek phrase (sorry, I don't have the Greek in front of me right now) that is literally, "the things of Aphrodite" or the "Aphrodisiac things" as simply, "sex." Sex has very modern connotation of reducing it down to the mere act, but Aristotle included other things such as food, alcohol, etc. with that phrase to show the bodily things that needs to be moderated.

Another example is "eudaimonia". A very important term for Aristotle. It is often translated as "happiness." (This is the other reason why you want consistency in the translation, so you know when Aristotle is referring to a key term or concept, since there are also other words that could be translated as "happiness.") The sense of this word is something like "being well-favored by the divine" (eu-good, well prefix; daimonia-divine). This shows that there is an element of chance or a part of true happiness that is outside complete human control.

Lastly, I know that I had recommended the Sachs as the best available, but my professor still made a ton of changes to it in class. It's not perfect, but it's apparently "the best currently available." However, I have heard that there is a new translation coming out this year (in June, apparently) by Robert Bartlett (Of Boston College) and Susan Collins (who wrote that Claremont article), which is supposed to be excellent. I'm really looking forward to checking it out because I LOVE reading Aristotle, haha. amazon, publisher