# Why is Aristotle's Nichomacean Ethics called Nichomachean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-aristotles-nichomacean-ethics-called-nichomachean/53407>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 6, 2001, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-aristotles-nichomacean-ethics-called-nichomachean/53407 "2001-02-06T21:51:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![don\_willard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@don\_willard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_willard)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2001, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-aristotles-nichomacean-ethics-called-nichomachean/53407/1 "2001-02-06T21:51:09Z")

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Why is Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics called Nichomachean? Was it after a town he wrote it in or something, like the town of Nicho? A student asked this question in class.

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**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2001, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-aristotles-nichomacean-ethics-called-nichomachean/53407/2 "2001-02-06T22:29:59Z")

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Opinions vary, but a fairly commonly-held view was that he named it after his son: it was written for him and intended as a practical guide to living.

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**Author:** ![Akatsukami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2001, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-aristotles-nichomacean-ethics-called-nichomachean/53407/3 "2001-02-06T22:30:46Z")

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“Nicomachus” was the name of Aristotle’s father, who had been court physician to the Macedonian king Amyntas III(Alexander the Great’s grandfather). Nicomachus trained his son in medicine (he was a doctor), although he died when Aristotle was young and the training incomplete. Aristotle evidently felt the _Nicomachean Ethics_ was a distillation of the ethics inherent in his father’s teachings (a _Eudamian Ethics_ is also attributed to him; about it, however, I know nothing more than the name).