Jason Woitalla

Professor Maloney

Pol 1201, Section 1

October 27, 2019

What’s the Right Thing to do?

What’s the right thing to do? is a hard question to answer and the two Greek philosophers

Aristotle and Socrates had strong stances on the answer. Both were radical thinkers in Athens

and proposed revolutionary ideas. Socrates is still known in the modern-day from his Socratic

method, a method of finding the answer to what is true by asking questions. He wondered Athens

asking people questions like “What is justice?”, What is piety?”, “What is knowledge?” While

some Athenians saw the value in the Socratic method others thought it was “corrupting the

youth” and sentenced Socrates to death (Apology, Location 497). Socrates thought that this

method could be applied to any question in life and by taking things to their logical conclusion

an answer would be found. Aristotle, on the other hand, commentated on human nature and tried

to answer questions like “Why do people do what they do?” He assessed that all humans are

striving for the ultimate end of happiness, which is the only end in its own right (Nicomachean

Ethics, Book 1, Location 381). Both philosophers were amazing thinkers and talked about

happiness, the right thing to do, and the structure of political societies.

Socrates and Aristotle were both commentators of the society they lived in and believed

that their society had a lot of issues. They both hated democracy and the way Athens was

governed. In their eyes, a monarchy is the best way to live and a better way to find happiness.

Therefore, both philosophers would agree that listening to what society tells people about
happiness leads to unhappiness. Socrates believed in the theory of forms, an idea that everything

has a true form that isn’t physical (Phaedo, Location 960). Humans desire the form of eternal

good also known as happiness. This is a very abstract idea, but Socrates believed that by

knowing the truth of goodness happiness came naturally. This means that money and fame will

not lead to happiness and society can mislead you.

Aristotle, like Socrates, thought that all humans desired happiness. Aristotle went further

and said that every human action is a step towards the goal of happiness. Unlike Socrates,

Aristotle did believe that external goods lead to happiness. However, these goods aren’t money

or material objects, but knowledge and friendship. Happiness is a long-term objective and takes a

lot of work and dedication. Aristotle was against short term bursts of happiness and believes that

working towards improving your character is more important (Nicomachean Ethics, Book 2,

Location 800).

When talking about their ideology, Socrates and Aristotle would take different methods to

explain what the right thing to do is. Socrates would use his famous Socratic method of asking

logical questions to find justification. By asking someone what the right thing is to do, Socrates

could get someone to answer the question themselves. A good example of this is in Euthyphro by

Plato. In the dialogue, Socrates is genuinely curious as to why Euthyphro would choose to

prosecute his father, so Socrates starts to ask questions about Euthyphro’s logic (Euthyphro,

location 139). Euthyphro responds by telling Socrates it’s what the gods want him to do. Taking

this to its logical conclusion Socrates then asks Euthyphro to define what piety is, so that he may

be enlightened by the will of the gods (Euthyphro, location 169). The whole dialogue is Socrates

being sarcastic with Euthyphro shocked at his lack of understanding for what piety is. However,
the idea with his questioning is to get Euthyphro to look deeply at what he is doing and ask

himself if he is doing the right thing.

The Socratic method does not need to be someone else asking questions, it could be a

person asking themselves the questions. That is what Socrates thinks the right thing to do is. A

person asking themselves why they are doing what they are doing and trying to justify that.

Meanwhile, Aristotle provides a slightly less vague method of finding the right thing to do.

Aristotle proposes that the right thing to do is always the mean between extremes. Aristotle uses

multiple analogies to try and explain this concept, but when first explaining this idea he says the

courage is obtained by being in the middle, “Thus it is therefore with the habits of perfected Self-

Mastery and Courage and for the rest of the Virtues: for the man who flies from and fears all

things and never stands up against anything, comes to be a coward; and he who fears nothing,

but goes at everything, comes to be rash” (Nicomachean Ethics Book 2, Location 722).

The right thing to do, as Aristotle puts it, is not to go all-in or to step aside but to find the

perfect middle ground. People shouldn’t be dishonest and lie but they also shouldn’t be so honest

that they bring up ugly truth’s others would rather stay unsaid. This is still a very undescriptive

technique to go through life, but Aristotle says that with deliberate choice and practice a person

can live in the middle (Nicomachean Ethics, Book 2, Location 808). Aristotle believes that

everyone can be virtuous with practice and eventually make it a habit. This is the way to find out

what the right thing to do is (Nicomachean Ethics, Book 5, Location 1712).

Being mistaken about what is the right thing to do can have a serious political impact on

societies. Deciding what is right will be the foundation of how people structure their government.

Aristotle explicitly states that a monarchy is the best way to structure your government, “Of

these [kingships] the best is Monarchy, and Timocracy the worst.” (Nicomachean Ethics, Book
8, Location 2978). He goes on to say that democracy is like a family where everyone thinks that

they are equal and there is no head (Nicomachean Ethics, Book 8, Location 3000). Aristotle was

a harsh critique of democracy and saw it as corrupt. He said that humans are political animals

and that the end of politics is the highest good. What he is saying is that politics is responsible

for cultivating human good. Aristotle puts a gigantic weight on the importance of politics.

Socrates had a similar view on political systems and thought that a monarch was the best

way to rule. Democracy is what was responsible for his death and he says it has nothing but

flaws. To Socrates, democracy was the rule of the rich many, and something easily manipulated.

As he saw it, people who don’t what the right thing to do for themselves can’t possibly know

what is right for other people.

In conclusion, Socrates and Aristotle are some of the most important western thinkers and

talked about important questions to help people better understand the world. Socrates believed

that the right thing to do comes from asking questions and taking their answers to logical

conclusions to figure out what to do. A question like “what is piety?” is important to ask when

someone feels like the Gods are commanding them to do an act. Aristotle meanwhile, thinks that

the right thing to do comes from years of practice towards being a good person. He believes that

all people desire happiness as the only end to all acts and that is achieved through friendship and

acts of goodness. He talks about virtue and how finding the balance of the middle in your life

will yield happiness and good decisions. Both philosophers are influential, and their ideas can

lead people to answers about their life and how to run their political societies.