ARISTOTLE VIRTUE

Introduction to Ethics – Nicomachean Ethics - VIRTUE

Introduction

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.
Aristotle considered ethics to be a practical rather than theoretical study, i.e., one aimed at doing good rather than knowing for its own sake. He wrote several treatises on ethics, including most notably, the Nichomachean Ethics.
Aristotle taught that virtue has to do with the proper function (ergon) of a thing. An eye is only a good eye in so much as it can see, because the proper function of an eye is sight. Aristotle reasoned that humans must have a function specific to humans, and that this function must be an activity of the psuchē (normally translated as soul) in accordance with reason (logos). Aristotle identified such an optimum activity of the soul as the aim of all human deliberate action, eudaimonia, generally translated as "happiness" or sometimes "well being". To have the potential of ever being happy in this way necessarily requires a good character (aretē), often translated as moral (or ethical) virtue (or excellence).
Aristotle taught that to achieve a virtuous and potentially happy character requires a first stage of having the fortune to be habituated not deliberately, but by teachers, and experience, leading to a later stage in which one consciously choses to do the best things. When the best people come to live life this way their practical wisdom (phronēsis) and their intellect (nous) can develop with each other towards the highest possible ethical virtue, that of wisdom.
Defining the good

Aristotle defines the good as, “…that at which all things aim” (1094a). Every action, every choice, every investigation or inquiry into the meaning of life- ultimately aims as the good, or more specifically, human happiness.

For example, the aim of medicine is health, and in turn, the aim of health is happiness. In this way, happiness is the ultimate aim of human activity- even if there are intermediate aims along the way. Happiness is the ultimate aim and therefore superior to all others- it is the ultimate end of human activity.

Aristotle asks, “Will not the knowledge of this good, consequently, be very important to our lives? Would it not better equip us, like archers who have a target to aim at, to hit the proper mark?” (1094a20) In the Meno, Socrates wants to inquire into the nature of virtue while Meno is more interested in the means for the acquisition of virtue- whatever it may be. Here Aristotle concludes that knowledge of the good, or virtue, will enable us to be virtuous which necessarily leads to happiness.

Politics as the highest or ultimate good

Aristotle thinks that this ultimate good belongs to the, “…most sovereign and most comprehensive,” human activity, namely, politics (1094b). Why? Politics encompasses a number of other “honored capacities” such as strategy, household management and oratory. Remember- it is important to note that Aristotle thinks that a fundamental human activity is to be social. In order to be truly happy, one must be involved with friends, neighbors, family, civil responsibilities etc. (1094b5) Since politics, “…uses the rest of the sciences, and since, moreover, it legislates what people are to do and what they are not to do, its end seems to embrace the ends of the other sciences. Thus is follows that the end of politics is the good for man.” Additionally, for Aristotle, the good/happiness of the state is more important than the good/happiness of the individual- therefore politics is the best human activity.

Happiness is difficult to define

(1095a15) “…since all knowledge and every choice is directed toward some good, let us discuss what is in our view the aim of politics, i.e. the highest good attainable by action.” However, Aristotle suggests that while everyone seems to agree that the highest good is happiness, no one seems to be able to agree on a definition of happiness. Some say it is “doing well”, other say “living well” and still others seem to simply say, “being happy”. In Aristotle’s experience, philosophers are not satisfied with how the public often defines happiness- simply wealth, pleasure or honor. In fact, sometimes the same person will define happiness differently depending on her circumstances at that moment- for example, if you are sick you might define happiness as being healthy- or if you are poor then you might define happiness as wealth, or at least a modest income. Happiness, like virtue it seems, is an elusive term to define and understand.

Three notable kinds of life

(1095b15) According to Aristotle, there are three kinds of life, or human activity which have happiness as their aim: (1) the life of enjoyment, simply based on pleasure, (2) the political life and (3) the contemplative life.

The life of enjoyment pursues happiness for personal good

The life of politics pursues happiness for public good

The life of contemplation pursues happiness for private good

The good as final and self-sufficient

(1097b) “What is always chosen as an end in itself and never as a means to something else is called final…this description seems to apply to happiness above all else: for we always choose happiness as an end in itself and never for the sake of something else.” Happiness is never a means to an end; rather, it is always the desired end or aim of all human activity. For example, you do not get happiness so that you may be healthy; rather, you get healthy so that you may be happy.

(1097b15) “…we define ‘self-sufficient’ that which taken by itself makes life something desirable and deficient in nothing.” Happiness is both what makes life desirable and what we ultimately desire from life. Being self-sufficient is good, and therefore whatever is most self-sufficient would be the highest good. Happiness depends upon nothing- it is self-sufficient- it is therefore the highest good. “We see then that happiness is something final and self-sufficient and the end of our actions.”

The function of human activity

(1097b20) “To call happiness the highest good is perhaps a little trite, and a clearer account of what it is, is still required. Perhaps this is best done by first ascertaining the proper function of man.” Aristotle wants to elaborate on what it means to claim that happiness is the highest good; and he wants to do this by figuring out if there is an overall function for humanity. For example, to better understand carpentry, you might spend some time figuring out the function of a hammer, or a saw, or a drill. The function of a thing, in this case human activity, will be a clue to discerning the meaning of happiness.

(1098a) “What can this function possibly be?” Aristotle offers various possible answers, such as: “Simply living” (which he shares with plants); “nutrition and growth” (discounted for the previous reason); “life of sense perception” (which he shares with animals). According to Aristotle, what makes human activity unique is the “rational element”. It has two parts: “(1)…one is rational in that it obeys the rules of reason, (2) the other in that it possesses and conceives rational rules.” For example, one might possess and conceive of a rational rule like the law of non-contradiction; however, one might also disregard that rule and act accordingly; hence (2) is simply the ability to possess a certain kind of knowledge (rationality), and the (1) is the ability to obey or disregard that knowledge.

(1098a5) “Since the expression ‘life of the rational element’ also can be used in two senses, we must make it clear that we mean a life determined by the activity, as opposed to the mere possession, of the rational element. For the activity, it seems, has a greater claim to be the function of man.”

“The proper function of man, then, consists in an activity of the soul in conformity with a rational principle…”

(1098a15) “…the good of man is an activity of the soul in conformity with excellence of virtue…”

Virtue as an activity

(1098b30) “…our term ‘activity in conformity with virtue’ implies virtue. But it does doubtless make a considerable difference whether we think of the highest good as consisting in the possession or in the practice of virtue…as being a characteristic or an activity.” Aristotle suggests that rather than defining virtue as a characteristic one may possess; rather, virtue is an activity. In other words, virtue is something you do, not something you possess.

(1099a20) “…actions performed in conformity with virtue are themselves pleasant.” Simply put, if you are acting virtuous, that is, if you are participating in the activity of virtue then you will be happy. Nothing makes humans happier than “activity in conformity with virtue.”

Since virtue is an activity, and recall that Aristotle thinks politics is the best activity, participation in virtue requires human interaction. This is why Aristotle thinks that humans are necessarily social beings, because happiness ultimately depends upon interaction with others. (1099b) “…happiness…needs external goods as well. Many actions can only be performed with the help of instruments, as it were: friends, wealth, and political power. And there are some external goods the absence of which spoils supreme happiness, e.g. good birth, good children, and beauty: for a man who is very ugly in appearance or ill-born or who lives all by himself and has no children cannot be classified as happy…”