Gerson (1994) Why Ethics is Political Science for Aristotle

Gerson, Lloyd P. (1994). Why Ethics is Political Science for Aristotle. Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 68:93-107.

Episteme (Science)
name	Theoretike (theoretical science)	Praktike (Practical science)	poietike (productive science)
arche	substance	agent	producer
aim at	truth	deed [ergon]	product

health (as a product) differs from medical science and good government [eunomia] (as a product) differs from political science.

Science is of the universal while practical science aims at particular actions or deeds.

In ethics particular statements are truer than universal ones: a token of a type of normative statement is, if true, simply true and not false, whereas the universal statement can at the same time be true even if it is false in some of the case which is applies.

However, the contrast between the universal and the particular is not the contrast between the theoretical and and the practical. All science is of the universal. What makes a practical science practical is that the universal truths in which it is rooted are truths relevant to practice. 

One suggestion: The application of universal knowledge to particular circumstances. -> Practical science would be science plus practice.

Aristotle does not actually refer to a distinct science of ethics. The name he gives for the type of inquiry that NE is supposed to be is political. He seems to equate the political inquiry with the philosophy concerning human affairs.

Happiness for the state is the same as happiness for the individual.

Choice is the arche of action

The science of action, which includes virtuous action, is the one science that understands what happiness is for the individual and for the state.