2007-02-12 Lost in translation

Previous reviewers have provided an excellent overview of Ethics, which I shall not try to match. However, I should like to make an observation concerning the Dover Thrift edition of the work.

Despite being published in 1998, the translation itself dates from 1911. This creates certain problems for readers new to Aristotle and not versed in Ancient Greek.

Firstly, the translation, although at times quite fascinating and even beautiful in its use of English, takes a remarkably esoteric approach to the English language, with a highly individual choice of vocabulary and word order. Aristotle's logic is already difficult to follow, given its density and context. The style used in the translation compounds the difficulty, meaning that more often than not one has to decipher the English before deciphering Aristotle's own train of thought. This makes an already difficult document even harder, and at times (in my view) virtually impossible, to follow.

The second problem is that where untranslatable words are encountered, they are left in the original Greek. This is a perfectly reasonable approach, provided that the notes explain the word and help one to understand why it was not translated. Now, the author has provided 29 pages of notes, but on several occasions no such explanation is forthcoming, making the translation rather pointless for somebody with no Greek.

Overall, I would simply say that the art of translation has come on in leaps and bound in the last 96 years, and suggest that anybody new to Aristotle look for a more accessible version. This translation appears to have been written either for the sheer pleasure of translating, or for students who already have a fair knowledge of Greek and Greek philosophical thought. I could not recommend it to the general reader, who will probably learn more from the introduction to this edition than from the translation itself.