ARISTOTLE: THE LIFE OF VIRTUE

“It is a hard task to be good. . . anyone can get angry – that is easy –
or can give away money or spend it; but to do all this to the right
person, to the right extent, at the right time, for the right reason, and
in the right way is no longer something easy that anyone can do. . . . .It
is for this reason that good conduct is rare, praise-worthy, and noble.”
(Nicomachean Ethics, Book II)

Aristotle’s Ethics in General

One can call Aristotle’s ethics of Ethics Character: This ethics tells us
to be a person of a certain sort. The basic moral question for Aristotle
then would not be "What shall I do?" but, "What shall I be?" In a sense,
Aristotle's ethics focuses on what a person should be.

Ethics of Doing:

This understanding of ethics focuses on “moral norms which ought to be

followed.” This particular brand of ethics is associated exclusively with
behavior guided by rules

Ethics of Being:

This is also known as “Character ethics”; concerned primarily with the

kind of person a human being ought to be. It emphasizes the formation of
character, patterns of action, the right vision of life, basic values and
convictions which move a person to do what he or she believes is the right
thing to do.

“ It is obvious that a man cannot just be; he can only be what he is by

doing what he does; his moral qualities are ascribed to him because of his
actions, which are said to manifest those qualities. But the point is
that an ethics of Being must include this obvious fact, that Being
involves Doing; whereas an ethics of Doing . . . may easily overlook. . .
. A morality of principles is concerned only with what people do or fail
to do, since that is what rules are for. And as far as this sort of
ethics goes, people might well have no moral qualities at all except the
possession of principles and the will (and capacity) to act
accordingly”.(Bernard Mayo, "Virtue and Moral Theory" )

On the Nichomachean Ethics in Particular

1) EN (Nicomachean Ethics) was a set of lecture notes/outlines.

(2) Its subject matter is declared to be "politics"; and the work called
Politics is presented as a sequel to the Ethics.

(3) Practical Science: means knowledge as a means to conduct. Knowledge is

divided into several kinds: (a) theoretical, according as it is pursued
for its own sake; (b) productive, knowledge as a means to making something
that is beautiful or useful; (c) practical science.

(4) Relationship between Ethics and Politics

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What is the Good?

To call something good and to allow that it is not a thing which anyone
who wanted that sort of thing would want would be to speak unintelligibly.
In this “good” differs from “red.” That people in general want or do not
want a red car is a contingent matter of fact; that people in general want
what is good is a matter of internal relationship of the concept of being
good and being an object of desire.

Everyone who has the power to live according to his own choice should
dwell on these points and set up for himself some object for the good life
to aim at, whether honour or reputation or wealth or culture, by reference
to which he will do all he does, since not to have one’s life organized in
view of some end is a sign of great folly. (EE, A2,1214b6-14)

Happiness (Eudaimonia) as

the Highest Good

Understand by being happy the same as “living well” and “doing well”

 Many views held about happiness: Pleasure, Honor, Wealth

 Characteristics of the Highest Good: Final and Self-sufficient

We define as self-sufficient that which taken by itself makes life

something desirable and deficient in nothing.

Clearer Account of the Good

“To call happiness the highest good is perhaps a little trite. . .”

Ergon argument: consists in asking what powers and activities are
peculiar to and distinctive of the human being.

If something has a function, its good depends on its function. “The

function of x is determined by its capacities. . . . It is what x alone
can do, or can do better than anything else.”

The function of man consists in an activity of the soul in conformity with

a rational principle or, at least, not without it.

The good of man is an activity of the soul in conformity with excellence

or virtue, and if there are several virtues, in conformity with the best
and most complete

What is the good? - Defined as the aim of action (telos).

Hierarchy of ends (goods)
Hierarchy of ends (goods)

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Final
Self-sufficient
Eudaimonia: “living well” and
“Doing well”

What is the good of the human being?

Question: How can we do good acts if we are not ourselves good?

Distinguish between “Acts that create” and “Acts that flow from good
disposition”

. But in the case of the virtues an act is not performed justly or with
self-control if the act itself is of a certain kind, but only if in
addition the agent has certain characteristics as he performs it: first of
all, he must know what he is doing; secondly, he must choose it for its
own sake; and in the third place, the act must spring from a firm and
unchangeable character.

What then is Virtue?

1. “It must be observed that the nature of moral qualities is such that
they are destroyed by defect or by excess. . . Thus we see that self-
control and courage are destroyed by excess and by deficiency and are
preserved by the mean.”

2.Characteristic that (a) renders good the thing itself of which it is the
excellence, and (b) causes it to perform its function well.

3. “Of every continuous entity that is divisible into parts it is possible

to take the larger, the smaller, or an equal part, and these parts may be
larger, smaller, or equal either in relation to the entity itself, or in
relation to us.”

Doctrine of the Mean: Mean relative to us:

I am referring to moral virtue: for it is moral virtue that is concerned

with emotions and actions, and it is in emotions and actions that excess,
deficiency, and the median are found. Thus we can experience fear,
confidence, desire, anger, pity, and generally any kind of pleasure and
pain either too much or too little, and in either case not properly. But
to experience all this at the right time, toward the right objects, toward
the right people, for the right reason, and in the right manner – that is
the median and the best course, the course that is a mark of virtue. (EN,
II, 6)

We may thus conclude that virtue or excellence is a characteristic

involving choice, and that it consists in observing the mean relative to
us, a mean which is defined by a rational principle, such as a man of
practical wisdom (phronimos) would use to determine it. It is the mean by
reference to two vices: the one of excess and the other of deficiency. . .
. Hence, in respect of its essence and the definition of its essential

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nature virtue is a mean, but in regard to goodness and excellence it is an
extreme. (EN, II, 6)

Further Clarification

1. Doctrine of the Mean is not a counsel for moderation.

2. Not every action or emotion admits of a mean.

3. The right mean is not the same for everyone.

The first concern of a man who aims at the median should, therefore, be to
avoid the extreme which is more opposed to it, as Calypso advises: Keep
clear your ship of yonder spray and surf. For one of the two extremes is
more in error than the other, and since it is extremely difficult to hit
the mean, we must, as the saying has it, sail in the second best way and
take the lesser evil; and we can best do that in the manner we have
described.

Phronesis (Practical Wisdom)

The essential feature of practical knowledge is that it is concerned

with particulars, not with universals. To possess it is to know what to
do here and now. It is not a matter of appealing to rules and general
principles, not a matter of logical argument or intellectual ability. It
consists simply in knowing, in a particular situation: this is what I
should do.

Practical wisdom for Aristotle means knowledge on one hand, and action,
on the other hand. As knowledge, practical wisdom provides insight to the
truth, regarding the intrinsic worth and excellence and beauty (kalon) of
the action to be done. As action, practical wisdom is the practical
intellect which properly decides to act.

Phronesis then is an intellectual virtue indeed since its duty is to

utter judgment, and yet it is also a moral virtue.

Conclusion:

The ethical is knowing what the supreme end or good of human beings is.
This supreme good is eudaimonia: not a state that one reaches but consists
of virtues.

By virtue we mean not only knowing how to determine the mean of emotions
and actions, but also acting it through practical wisdom.

Eudaimonia, the good life, can only be achieved through arete, determining
the mean and the influence of practical wisdom.

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