“But as in the Olympic games, it is not the most beautiful or the strongest who are crowned, but those who engage in the conflict… thus it is those only who act aright, who obtain what is noble and good in life” – Aristotle Aristotle's best-known work on ethics, Nicomachean Ethics is based on notes from his lectures at the Lyceum. In examining how men should live, it presents a philosophy that is practical, rather than theoretical. Nicomachean Ethics is widely considered to be one of the most important works in the history of philosophy. Through its influence on the European Middle Ages it played a major role in the development of all modern philosophy, as well as European law and theology.