Section 3: The standard of precision for this inquiry and who is competent to engage in it

The standard of precision in ethics and political wisdom

Our discussion will be sufficient if it has as much clarity as the subject-matter allows for. After all, we should not seek for the same kind of precision in all discussions, anymore than we should seek the same kind of precision in all products of the crafts.

Now noble and just actions, which political wisdom investigates, admit of so much variety and _[15] difference of opinion that they seem to exist only by convention, and not by nature. And good things give rise to a similar variability because in many cases they result in harm. For example, some people have been destroyed because of their wealth, and others because of their courage.

We must be content, then, in speaking of such subject-matters to indicate the truth roughly and in outline, _[20] and in speaking about things which are only for the most part true and with premises of the same kind to reach conclusions that are no better. In the same way, therefore, we should understand each of the things we say. For it is the mark of an educated person to look for precision in each class of things just so far as the nature of the subject allows. _[25] It is clearly foolish to accept plausible explanations from a mathematician and to demand rigorous demonstrations from a rhetorician.

Who is competent to study ethics and political wisdom

Now everyone judges well the things he knows, and of these he is a good judge. And so the person who has been educated in a subject is a good judge of that subject, and the person who has received a well-rounded education is a good judge in general. _[1095a1] Hence a young person is not a proper hearer of lectures on political wisdom; for he is inexperienced in the actions that occur throughout life. In political wisdom the discussions start from, and are about, the actions that occur throughout life.

Moreover, since a young person tends to follow his feelings, his study will be pointless and unbeneficial, because the goal of our inquiry is not _[5] knowledge but action.

And it makes no difference whether he is young in years or immature in character. It does not depend on how long one has lived, but on whether one lives and pursues things on the basis of feelings. For to people who are weak-willed and lack self-control, knowledge about how best to live produces no benefit. _[10] But to those who desire and act in accordance with their thinking, such knowledge is a great benefit.

These remarks be sufficient about the purpose of our inquiry, the sort of precision to be expected, and the proper student.