In the book Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle summarizes how ethics can be used to determine the best way for an individual to achieve happiness. After reading the text, there were a couple of themes that stood out the most to me. Happiness is a choice and with this happiness, friends are needed most of all.…
not teaching them better. While one might have been raised to know the difference between the right and wrong, who the person begins to associate himself with could change his/ her moral character. In The Nicomachean Ethics without virtues one can not be happy so a life lived making morally wrong decisions is a life that will not see happiness according to Aristotle. An example that best proves Aristotle’s thinking is one of a man losing his dog at a local park. The man searches all over for his dog, but his dog is nowhere to be seen. After hours of searching the man returns home. The dog did in fact run away, but a young mom and her two daughters stopped the dog before it can go any further. Attempting to find who the owner of the dog is,…
Aristotle’s beliefs on living a good life start with careful deliberation of the ends and the means. Suppose I want a laptop--the laptop is my goal, purpose, or end. I can do various things to get the laptop--such as earn, steal, borrow, or save. These things are known as my means. The means I decide to use depends on which is more convenient and which leads to the most benefits. Contemplating about the end goal that we are pursuing, and the means we use to reach that goal is practical thinking. However, this type of thinking does not come to fruition, until purposeful action occurs; which is acting with some purpose, goal, or end in mind. This purposeful action is compared differently with thoughtless action, which is an action with no purpose…
Paternity and the relationship between the father and son reflects mutuality, correspondence, endearment, a test of masculinity, and the collaboration of men. Explored in many medium of literature, in specificity novels, such as The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Open by Andre Agassi, and Mudbound by Hillary Jordan, the kinship between male elder and male junior proves to be a testament of the complexity and fluctuation between love and hate. Dalton Trumbo, most notable for being blacklisted by the House Committee of Un-American activities for allegedly participating in the Communist Party, demonstrates this father-son complexity with envy, nostalgia, and bittersweet moments in his 1939 classic, Johnny Got His Gun. Moreover, the narrator refrains from using quotations or be specific in who is communicating to really engrave the audience and the narrator themselves in understanding the tension and somber now that his son is soon departing to fish with someone else. Through imagery, foil, character development, rhetoric, point of view,…
Aristotle accepts the individual choices and experiences of people and was more concerned with virtue ethics. He doesn't have an idea of free will. Along with Socrates, Aristotle believes that someone may know what the best outcome is and still do wrong, but draws the line between happiness and moral virtue. This includes depression and unhappiness. The world has moral meaning. He explains that moral virtue does not mean the end of life. His theory is that happiness is the end of life, which comes together with reason. Virtue is a state of personality that has to do with someone’s choice.…
The argument is also sound. I have already proven its validity, now I must show that the conclusion is actually true. If Aristotle is going to claim that one cannot reach a state of happiness without being engaged in virtuous action, then it does logically follow that this type of unfailing virtue that Aristotle so vividly describes cannot possibly be reached without contemplative action. Some opposing views of Aristotle say that a life totally based off acts of contemplation is not realistic in our world. But Aristotle is careful to note, in response to this issue, that of course, living a life fully dedicated towards contemplation is too high of a life for humans (Bk. X, Ch. 7). Rather, contemplation is a divine, internal presence within a person. When situations arise that do not…
Nicomachean Ethics Book III, Chapters 69 In Chapter 6 of Book III of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle teaches of how fear is not something that can be easily described. He talks about what fear means in terms of courage.…
In Aristotle 's Nicomachean Ethics, he is not trying to prove a Supreme Principle or a Rule to follow as a Utilitarian or a person of Deontology would suggest but rather, Aristotle is concerned with virtue ethics; a cultivation of character to be morally good. He does reach the conclusion that happiness is the final end that human beings are trying to achieve, and the activity of contemplation is the most complete happiness. Secondly, to further give reasoning as to why contemplation is superior over deliberation, a discussion of the relationship between philosophical wisdom and practical wisdom will be mentioned. In conclusion, Aristotle 's argument claims that moral life is a secondary happiness to contemplation. He gives evidential reasoning which will be discussed to show that he does not undermine his Virtue Ethics by making this claim.…
A married couple, both addicted to drugs, is unable to care for their infant daughter. She is taken from them by court order and placed in a foster home. The years pass. She comes to regard her foster parents as her real parents. They love her as they would their own daughter. When the child is 9 years old, the natural parents, rehabilitated from drugs, begin court action to regain custody. The case is decided in their favor. The child is returned to them, against her will. Do ethics support the law in this case? Discuss…
In this essay, with all the information I have gathered from the readings and lectures, I will be discussing an essential concept of Aristotle’s virtue ethics; his “doctrine of the mean”. I will provide a detailed explanation of Aristotle’s mean, how it is meant to be applied when making decisions, provide arguments from various sources that agree with the main concept of the “doctrine of the mean” and with all of the information gathered, I will prove that this doctrine is extremely useful to people when it comes to making moral decisions in life.…
Annotated Bibliography Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, book VIII and IX talk about the different types of friendships and what they mean to the person. The articles I’ve selected provide a better explanation on what Aristotle meant by giving examples and up to date explanations. The other sources help provide a better understanding on what dual relationships is for a social worker and the consequences attached to those actions. The last two sources help understand what a social worker needs to become a certified worker, and the ethical codes they need to follow daily.…
The idea that non-virtuous people is possible to be better off than virtuous people like Priam seems to acknowledge that happiness is ultimately determined by luck. Indeed, by emphasizing that certain amount of fortune is necessary to happiness, Aristotle focuses on the relationship between luck, virtue, blessedness and happiness in Chapter 8 of Book 1. In the end, he takes a more intermediate stand toward fortune, claiming that virtue is the determinant of happiness and luck is relevant and complex in a happy life. Virtuous activity itself would be enough to lead one toward happiness. Meanwhile, moderate luck and bad luck have no significant influence on the happiness of virtuous person. On the other hand, extreme luck will make virtuous person blessed while extreme bad luck will make him unhappy. Finally, a vicious person will never be happy. With extreme luck he is still unhappy and without it, he will be miserable. The extreme misfortune, falling upon virtuous person like Priam, is defined by its very nature instead of quantity. For Priam, as suggested by Aristotle, even if he survives the war he will still be virtuous yet unhappy. In other words, luck is something that has its own value, which increase or decrease (might to negative amount) quantity of happiness, and has no impact on the quality of happiness and virtue.…
In Aristotle’s Nicomachean ethics book one, he starts of describing “good”. He believes that every activity humans do is to achieve a good. The satisfactory goals we have are to achieve a greater good. And our highest good is classified as the supreme good. Politics is a form of this good. But it cannot be classified as the supreme good because what is good for one may not be good for another.…
S (Social) – Jez is very good at socialising with his students and gets along easier with other staff members around the school, he seems to have met his social needs and needs nothing to improve on.…
Aristotle believes that people's actions are governed through their desire to achieve happiness. According to Aristotle, the purpose of human life is by happiness through living your life entirely by your actions as an individual on…