This lecture is devoted to exploring the three main topics that appear in books VI and VII of the Nicomachean Ethics: the intellectual virtue that is prudence, or practical judgment (phronesis); the somewhat strange capacity called “continence” or “self-control”; and, finally, a lengthy discussion of pleasure. Prudence is the capacity to know what means are best to achieve a given end, namely morally virtuous action. Continence, by contrast, is not a virtue at all, neither moral nor intellectual, yet it may serve the cause of virtue: Continence is the capacity to withstand the pain of unsatisfied desire. As such, it bears a close resemblance to the moral virtue of moderation, for both are concerned with our response to pleasures. Accordingly, Aristotle turns to consider the case for pleasure as the proper goal of human life.