Aristotle on Friendship We are social creatures. We surround ourselves with other human beings‚ our friends. It is in our nature. We are constantly trying to broaden the circumference of our circle of friends. Aristotle understood the importance of friendship‚ books VIII and IX of the Nicomachean Ethics deal solely with this topic. A modern day definition of a friend can be defined as �one joined to another in intimacy and mutual benevolence independently of sexual or family love�. (Oxford
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Aristotle ( 384-322 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher and political scientist born in Stagira‚ Greece‚ who focused mainly on politics and made significant contributions to various fields of knowledge such as ethics‚ biology‚ and politics. Many of his opinions and thoughts regarding politics are expressed throughout his work the Politics‚ Book I from 350 B.C. Unlike Aristotle‚ Kongzi (551 - 479 B.C.) was an ancient Chinese politician. He introduced Confucius‚ a teaching that was built to establish the
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Virtue Ethics – what it is (AO1 material) • Traced back to the philosopher Aristotle‚ who rejected Plato’s metaphysical account of goodness as a ‘thing in itself’. Aristotle thought that goodness is natural and psychological: just a part of being human. • Virtue Ethics makes ethical behaviour into the aim (telos) of life. • Aristotle puts forward ‘aretaic ethics’ (from the Greek arête – ‘excellence’)‚ stating that developing an excellent character is all-important‚ rather than following a set
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Am Phronesis According to Aristotle and his theories‚ there are two basic types of intellectual virtues by which we live our lives. The two intellectual virtues that he speaks of are wisdom and phronesis. Wisdom is a virtue that we are able to gain and increase throughout our lives through experience and time. Of the two different intellectual virtues that Aristotle speaks of‚ wisdom is more of a scientific knowledge‚ it is the type of knowledge that would be expected of an intellect. While
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Habit and Virtue Aristotle says that we are all endowed by nature with the ability to reach virtue‚ but he also says that we become virtuous by making virtuous acts. He explains how acting upon virtuous acts could possibly become “second nature”‚ which means it could become a habit. What he is trying to imply is that normally things become a habit if you work on it a lot‚ so by working on virtuous acts could make it a habit. This could happen if people are put into situations in which they demonstrate
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According to Aristotle‚ we get moral virtue as a result of habit and none of the moral virtues arise in us by nature‚ because nothing that exists by nature can form a habit contrary to its nature. Nature has no effect on how moral virtues arise in us. Instead‚ we receive nature when we adapt‚ and therefore are made perfect by habit. A good example Aristotle uses is that we have senses before we even know how to use them. Eventually we learn how to use them by exercising them everyday. Another good
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According to Aristotle‚ the highest virtue of man is reason. He believes reason is what separates us from other living beings. Without reason‚ we would be no different than animals living on instinct. To understand exactly what he means‚ we must understand how Aristotle defines virtue. Virtue‚ according to Aristotle‚ is the excellence of function. Everything has a specific function and performing that function with excellence leads to having virtue. He believes the unique human function is
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happy is completely wrong and immoral. Aristotle’s beliefs are somewhat different than a moral relativists. Aristotle believed that a good life is a happy life‚ and that happiness and virtue are directly related. Virtue is the ultimate goal that everyone should strive for. If what makes you happy is good and moral‚ then it is acceptable to impose your lifestyle on other people. Aristotle would disagree with the moral relativists standpoint because a good life should make anyone happy‚ while moral
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Aristotle On Friendship Philosophical Ethics December 6‚ 1995 Friendship is undoubtedly one of the most important elements in the books of Aristotle’s ethical principles. Aristotle takes the idea of friendship to a serious degree. He categorizes them into three groups or types of friendships. This report will attempt to define each type of friendship as well as identify the role of friendship in a society. Aristotle considers friendship to be a necessity to live. He
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Aristotle has defined three types of friendships for us to evaluate: utility‚ pleasure‚ and true friendship. A utility friendships are better described as alliances. These friendships are beneficial to both parties and the duration of the friendship lasts until they prove to not be useful anymore. This type of friendship is very common. An example of a utility friendship is a political alliance or business alliance. The next type of friendship is of pleasure. These friendships are based on mutual
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