Transcript Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics
384-322BC
Virtue=Happiness
The purpose for which man was
created.
Virtue Ethics
 Strength of character
(habit) promotes human
happiness
 Defined as the ability to
choose long term
happiness over short term
pleasure.
 The habit of being in
control and seeking
balance.
Aristotle
Teleology
 Aristotle maintained that all things in nature
have a goal or purpose for which they strive.
 Acorns are meant to be trees-Eyes are meant
for seeing.
 He called this goal the “final cause” or
“Telos”
The Goal of Human Beings
 Happiness is the goal of human life (telos). It
is always the ultimate reason why any person
does what he/she does.
 It is the only thing we seek for its own sake.
 Happiness has subjective and objective
elements:
Subjective and Objective
Happiness
 Subjective Happiness: varies from person to
person: fishing may relax some and bore
others.
 Objective: Living a virtuous life leads all
humans to happiness because of the way
humans are built.
 Those with no virtue may believe for a time
that they are happy because they are ignorant
of true happiness.
Arguments for objective
element of human nature
 Believing that one is happy is not sufficient
proof of ones happiness.
 Some who are immature or diseased lack the
proper perspective on happiness and crave
what will ultimately lead to misery:
 Like an addict craves drugs. People crave
things because they think it will bring
happiness (money, power, perfect mate)
Aristotle’s theory is the
opposite of relative truth
 All human’s share the same basic nature and
fundamentally require the same things for
true happiness.
 It would be dishonest not to acknowledge the
extent to which most human cultures share
the same basic codes of moral conduct.
Aristotle on Character
 People have a set character:
 “A fairly stable sets of attitudes, opinions and
dispositions that result in fairly stable
patterns or ways of acting and reacting.”
 Leads us to ask:
 How is character formed?
 How can we improve character?
The Parts of a Human Being:
 Rational and Non-rational
 Non-rational includes both Appetitive and
Vegetative.
 Appetitive: Desires and emotions
 Vegetative: controls involuntary functions
like breathing and digestion
Rational:
 Rational: thinks and deliberates. Knows right
from wrong. Distinguishes humans from
animals.
 A person’s character is determined by the
relationship between the rational and
appetitive parts.
 The rational brings the appetitive under
control with discipline and the formation of
good habits.
We can form our character:
 Practice makes permanent!
 When we are controlled by our appetites:
anger, sexual desire, self indulgence, vanity,
cowardice, laziness-we lack reason and
virtue.
 We become virtuous by practice and
repetition of virtue-by controlling our
appetite with reason and self-control.
Freedom from sin
 Being in control of our appetites allows us to
seek long term happiness over short term
pleasure. This freedom from our passions
leads to a happy life because we are in
control.
 This is what Jesus call freedom from sin and
leads to freedom from the law or need for the
law.
Four Major Characters
 Virtuous-Has created habits of doing what is right.
Being virtuous comes naturally because of habit.
 Continent-Knows right from wrong, but struggles
against bad habits to be virtuous.
 Incontinent-Knows right from wrong, but is too
weak to do what is right.
 Vicious-So corrupted that the rational part is no
longer able to tell right from wrong. Hopeless case.
Wicked people
 Are probably friendless but forced to seek
friends because they cannot stand to be
alone.
 They cannot enjoy themselves and live in
aguish and turmoil. Their soul wishes for
them to abstain from vice, but their
appetites are out of proportion and they
experience the emotional and psychological
pain of withdrawal if they do not practice
their vice!
Virtuous People
 Are in control of their passions.
 They have learned the pleasure of helping
others and not being controlled by their
passions.
 They have balance in their life:
 Cowardice—Courage—Foolhardy
 Pride—Proper humility—Self-hatred
 Seek the opposite to find a balance!
The bent stick remedy
 People who are out of proportion need to
bend all the way back in the opposite
direction before they straighten out.
 -People who are vain should try for extreme
humility to find a balance.
 -People who spend extravagantly should try
to be miserly.
 Why: People out of balance are usually
unable to judge balance.
Psychology of Virtue Ethics
 Becoming virtuous=doing virtuous things
 Doing virtuous things=liking one’s self
 Liking one’s self=happiness
Catholic Virtue Ethics
 Life is a journey towards perfect love. Focus should
be on increasing virtues and decreasing vice.
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Plant an act…reap a habit.
Plant a habit…reap a virtue or vice.
Plant a virtue or vice…reap a character.
Plant a character…reap a destiny
Seven Deadly Sins and
Contrasting Virtues
 Pride------------Humility
 Anger-----------Kindness
 Greed----------Generosity
 Envy-------------Love
 Gluttony-------Temperance
 Lust-------------Self-Control
 Sloth--------------Zeal
Advice from Aristotle
 Know Yourself: Which of the seven deadly
sins cause you the most trouble? What
situations will cause you to fail?
 Beware of instant pleasure—seek long-term
happiness.
 Remember the bent stick remedy!