Aristotle, the jettison and the νοῦν ἔχοντες (Eth. Nic. III 1110a9-11)

Abstract

We examine the relevance of the ordinary language expression ὁ νοῦν ἔχων in the Aristotelian corpus. We aim to confirm the hypothesis that Aristotle uses it to refer to the basic stratum of practical rationality, starting from a clarification of the expression ἅπαντες οἱ νοῦν ἔχοντες found in the example of mixed action involving jettison (Nicomachean Ethics III.1 1110a9–10). We begin by contextualizing jettison and the two other nautical examples in Eth. Nic. III.1 1110a3–4 within the literature and practice of ancient Greek navigation. Next, we defend our interpretation of the jettison passage through several philological considerations regarding the verb νοεῖν and by gathering the quasi-definitional uses of the figure of the νοῦν ἔχων in the Aristotelian corpus. We then analyze the configuration of action that Aristotle generally attributes to the voῦν ἔχοντες. Finally, we show how the study of the figure of the νοῦν ἔχων shows the basic stratum of practical rationality, the epistemic deficit inherent to agents, the confluency of purposes involved in the fulfillment of actions and the transaction between initiative and constraint of the circumstances to which this realization is inevitably subjected to.