Is Aristotle right to say that virtues of character lie between an excess and deficiency? Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath‚ a student of Plato. Aristotle had two major works about the Ethics‚ they are Nichomachean Ethics and Eudemian Ethics. Aristotle claims that all the action of a human must aim to something‚ but if you are day-dreaming‚ it won’t be counted as an action. Aristotle also talks about the golden mean. The golden mean can help to support why Aristotle
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Aristotle Notes Introduction: Aristotle’s Definition of Happiness “Happiness depends on ourselves.” More than anybody else‚ Aristotle enshrines happiness as a central purpose of human life and a goal in itself. As a result he devotes more space to the topic of happiness than any thinker prior to the modern era. Living during the same period as Mencius‚ but on the other side of the world‚ he draws some similar conclusions. That is‚ happiness depends on the cultivation of virtue‚ though his virtues
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lifestyle is right for us. More so‚ how do we know which lifestyles are those that are correct for human beings? According to Aristotle‚ to live a just and correct lifestyle we must use reasoning in our actions while also practicing those that are characteristics that are virtuous. Virtue being that of good character‚ good habits and being conducted by reason. Such virtues commonly known are courage or modesty. It is through a series of reasonable actions that form good character that we humans can
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Aristotle believes that we need virtue‚ both of thought and of character‚ to achieve that completeness leading to happiness. This is the function: activity in the soul in accord with virtue‚ where soul is defined as what is in us that carries out our characteristic activity. Aristotle is right in believing we need virtue. The end of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics Book I introduces the idea that since happiness is “a certain sort of activity of the soul in accord with complete virtue‚ we
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Aristotle had a few theories of ethics. Aristotle believed that one attains happiness by living a virtuous life and through the development of reason and the faculty of theoretical wisdom. He believed that moral virtue is a relative mean between extremes of excess and deficiency and in general the moral life is one of moderation in all things except virtue. He believed that virtuous acts require conscious choice and moral purpose or motivation. Finally‚ he believed that moral virtue cannot be achieved
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Aristotle on Moral Virtue Phil 103 19 Apr 2006 Aristotle was a Greek philosopher c 384-322 BC. He presented us with an idea of moral virtue that is unique. He believed that each moral virtue was a delicate balance of a certain characteristic. This balance was kept between the two extremes: The vice of deficiency and the vice of excess. This balance was unique to each person‚ and to discover it one must use reason‚ the highest capacity of the soul. For example‚ we can look at the virtue
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Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics The philosophy of virtue ethics‚ which primarily deals with the ways in which a person should live‚ has puzzled philosophers from the beginning of time. There are many contrasting interpretations regarding how one should live his or her life in the best way possible. It is in my opinion that the Greeks‚ especially Aristotle‚ have exhibited the most logical explanation of how to live the "good life". The following paper will attempt to offer a detailed understanding
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Aristotle’s Virtue theory is based on Teleology and the Golden Mean. He says that to be virtuous that we need to act with excellence. He believed that everything on this earth has its own virtue‚ meaning that if it performs the way it’s supposed to by its nature then it is virtuous. He asserted that every event had four causes or four factors that work on it and to bring it into being; 1) Material Cause- the “stuff the thing is made of. 2) Efficient Cause- the force that has brought it into being
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Aristotle’s understanding of virtue and his explanation of virtuous actions as presented in Nicomachean Ethics. In Book II of the work‚ Aristotle distinguishes between moral virtues‚ which are learned through habit and practice‚ and intellectual virtues‚ which are learned through instruction. However‚ it is not until later in Book II that Aristotle actually defines virtue. He opens Chapter 5 with‚ "Next we must consider what virtue is" (35) and at its end asserts that virtue is a state of character.
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Sarah Bader Al-Din 6652179 Aristotle Essay CLA/PHI3380A Aristotle’s views have today come to shape the way in which people view things and how they think. In this essay I will be discussing the difference between continence and temperance and their relation to moral virtue and how it is possessed. I will explain what Aristotle’s view on knowledge‚ and how it the key to human life. When Aristotle describes moral virtue he describes it as something that “comes as a result of habit”(Nicomanchean Ethics
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