The Preambles to the Ethics

I compare Aristotle’s use of proems with that of Isocrates and Plato in order to understand Aristotle’s theory of proems in the Rhetoric and his own uses of proems in his philosophical writings: Metaphysics, Politics, Eudemian and Nicomachean Ethics. Stylistically speaking, the proems to Aristotle’s works are always beautifully and carefully written; their function is to give the audience a hint of what is to follow in the ensuing treatise without getting into too much detail. The hypothesis of there being different audiences to Aristotle’s EE and EN appears to be the best explanation for the divergences between the two treatises in this regard.