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.…
This quiz consist of 15 multiple choice questions and covers the material in Chapter 1. Be sure you are in Chapter 1 when you take the quiz.…
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…
Sometimes we are asked whether virtue ethics can be understood by utilitarianism or Kantian moral philosophy, or if it is a distinct position. Taking a look at Aristotle’s ethics shows us that it certainly can be different. In particular, Aristotle presents us with an ethics of aesthetics in contrast to the more standard ethics of cognition: A virtuous cause can classify the right actions by their aesthetic qualities. Additionally, the person’s concern with their own aesthetic character gives us a key to the important role the emotions play for Aristotle, which further distinguishes him from the other two theories we have…
My moral beliefs also correspond to the philosophy that is taught by Aristotle. In my opinion, happiness comes from within ourselves, not from our surroundings. I think this is a very important part of Aristotle’s teaching. I believe that in order to accept others and enjoy life, we must first learn to accept ourselves and be proud of who we are. If we are constantly ashamed with who we are, then we are not free to live a happy life. I think this is the main idea in Aristotle’s teaching. He believed that in order for us to be happy we must build our own character by choosing to live virtuously.…
It is true that each author speaks virtues that are common to both the medieval and ancient times. Aristotle being so cunning during his era introduces virtue or excellence consisting of two parts moral and intellectual which can be taught, it is not possible to change what is naturally imprinted. Moral education is tangible through habits and experiences. Virtue can be achieved, not easily; it takes more than one characteristic to meet it.…
Virtue ethics is a theory used to make moral decisions. It does not rely on religion, society or culture; it only depends on the individuals themselves. Aristotle is the main philosopher of Virtue Ethic. Aristotle’s writings have been read more or less continuously since ancient times, and his ethical treatises continue to influence philosophers working today.…
Aristotle’s argument in virtue ethics is based on an appeal to the notion of an objective account of “the good” for human beings and happiness. “The good” is so important that every good soul takes it as the end. On the other hand, it is also so hard to grasp what are “the good”, so that people seem to be able to intuitively feel it exists but cannot establish a solid belief in it. If one does not know what are “good”, then naturally they will not be able to identify other things that have goodness.…
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.…
There are various theories of ethics, like deontology, utilitarianism, casuist and virtue just to name a few. The theory of virtue is quite interesting; it is a theory that according to Principles and Theories (2002, February 17) Retrieved September 29, 2015, is based on judging a person’s character rather than their actions. The theory of virtue is different from other theories in the sense that it is the only one that judges upon character so traits such as integrity, kindness, honesty, morality, and dignity are deemed right and just. These traits also so happen to be some that I find very important to have in my personal relationships. In time there have been philosophers that also stated differences between theories. Aristotle for example, according to Aristotle's Ethics (2001, April 16) Retrieved September 29, 2015, is known for discovering the difference between intellectual and moral values by stating that one is learned and another is acted out naturally as what feels right.…
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics provides a sensible account for what true moral virtue is and how one may go about attaining it. Aristotle covers many topics that help reach this conclusion. One of them being the idea of mean between the extremes. Although Aristotle provided a reliable account for many philosophers to follow, Rosalind Hursthouse along with many others finds lose ends and topics which can be easily misinterpreted in Aristotle's writing.…
Aristotle Virtue Theoretical Perspective is all about finding the perfect balance. The perfect balance for yourself whether it’s a little less than equal or exactly in the middle. Being anything but in the middle is seen as a vice, whether it is vice-excess or vice-deficiency. An example of this from the book,The Beautiful Struggle, would be how Ta Nehisi’s dad behaves. We can evaluate his character traits by using Aristotle's perspective. An example of his character trait would be optimism. Optimism would be a perfect virtue. A vice-excessive would be over-optimism and a vice deficiency would be pessimism.Aristotle's Perspective is about I would describe the father as optimistic because he is always hopefully about the success of his kids.…
According to Aristotle happiness is the highest or self-sufficient good. Happiness is the end toward which all other ends are directed. Happiness is attained by living a virtuous life. Moral virtue is a relative mean between extremes of excess and deficiency. Virtuous acts require conscious choice. Moral virtue requires moral action in a social environment.…
Aristotle believed that reason is the telos, or end goal of being a human being. He feels that way because humans are a more superior species that can function at a much higher level than any other species on the earth. He then reaches the argument because of how humans mainly act upon reason to make their decisions. I however disagree! By looking at examples of how some humans do not use reason, but are still considered humans I will show that Aristotle is wrong. Aristotle would more than likely argue that items don’t always achieve their telos all the time and are sometimes “broken”. He also might suggest that people use reasoning to come to some of these decisions. However, I will argue that the goals should be reachable for all people…