Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics (Books I, II, and X)

1. Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics(Books I, II, and X) Honors 2101, Fall 2006 Bryan Benham

2. Aristotle (384-322) • Originally from Macedon • Arrived Athens in 367, Student of Plato • Left Athens in 347, taught Alexander • Returned to Athens 334, founded Lyceum • Left Athens in 323, after death of Alexander • Works on topics: biology, physics, logic, music and art, politics, ethics, etc. • Wrote dialogues, but only lecture notes survive • Considered “The Philosopher” in Middle Ages

3. Nichomachean Ethics • A treatise on the nature of moral life and human happiness, based on the unique essence of human nature • Continuous with the Politics, which discusses human happiness in the context of social and political structures • Named after one of Aristotle’s sons who is thought to have edited it from lecture notes.

4. Outline • The Greatest Good: Eudaimonia • Eudaimonia and the Human Soul • The Virtues • “The Golden Mean” • Justice (Book V and Politics)

5. The Greatest Good: Eudaimonia • Every action aims at some good • Some actions aim at an instrumental good • Some actions aim at an ultimate good • Ultimate goods are better than instrumental goods • Instrumental goods (ends) are aimed at only insofar as they are for the sake of something else • Ultimate goods (ends) are aimed at for their own sakes.

6. Candidates Pleasure Wealth Fame & Honor Happiness Critiques Transient, not complete Only instrumental, not self-sufficient Depends on others, not self-sufficient Complete and self-sufficient Ultimate Good?

7. Happiness? • Eudaimonia • Well-being or doing well • “activity of the soul in accordance with virtue or excellence” (EN I.7) • More complete than merely feeling good or joyful • Feeling well in all aspects of life

8. Eudaimonia and the Human Soul • Human happiness must be uniquely human, or a distinct human function. • Consider the structure of the psyche: • nutritive, sensitive, and rational parts • Which is uniquely human? • Only the rational element is distinctive of humans. • So, human happiness consists of a rationally directed life…a whole life…

9. Aristotle’s Tripartite Soul

10. The Virtues • A virtue (areté) is what makes one function well; usually understood as a disposition or state of a person. • Conditions for virtue: fortune and success • Basic necessities, good birth, friends, wealth, good looks, health, etc. • Types of virtue • Virtues of thought: wisdom, comprehension, etc. • Achieved through education and time • Virtues of character: generosity, temperance, courage, etc. • Achieved by habitual practice • Both should be in accord with reason and are needed for eudaimonia

11. “The Golden Mean” • Virtue is ruined by excess and deficiency (in feelings and action) • Consider health • So, is learned by the mean of excess and deficiency • A balance or intermediate between extremes • But a “relative” mean* • Not a geometric or arithmetic average… • A mean relative to the person, the circumstances, as well as the right emotional component (EN II.3 and II.6)

12. Courage The right action and emotional response in the face of danger • Fool-heartiness or rashness is an excess of the emotional and/or proper action; (doesn’t properly appreciate the danger, not fearful) • Cowardice is the deficiency of proper emotion (motive) and action; (the danger is over-appreciated, too fearful)

13. Some Virtues & Means

14. What?

15. What?

16. Others

17. Basic Model Ends Want Eudaimonia

18. Basic Model Means? Ends ? Eudaimonia

19. Basic Model Means Ends Areté Eudaimonia

20. Basic Model Means Ends Areté Eudaimonia Rationally guided, whole life; complete with emotion, intellect, action, sociality, etc. A disposition or character trait (intellectual, emotional) to choose or be motivated to actions that are a relative intermediate between extremes of excess and deficiency.

21. Justice? • Two types (V) • Special justice or lawfulness: relation between virtues • General justice or distribution: goods distributed in a population • Parts: Physis and Nomos (VI.7) • Political justice is natural = unchangeable or equally valid everywhere • Legal justice is conventional = changeable, different in relation to particular legal or political organizations.

22. Concluding Remarks • Compare Aristotle’s account of the virtuous life with Plato’s just person. • Which is more accurate? Better? • Which is a richer account? • Compare Aristotle’s tripartite soul with Plato’s account • Why is reason always the “ruler”?

23. Some Paper Topics • Compare Aristotle’s account of the virtuous life with Plato’s just person. Which is more accurate? Better? Which is a richer account? Are there any modern parallels to either view? • Compare Aristotle’s tripartite soul with Plato’s account. Why is reason always the “ruler”? Do you agree? • Aristotle argues that virtues are character traits (or emotional states) that are intermediate between extremes of excess and deficiency, and which lead to the good life. Pick a central virtue (such as courage or temperance) and describe how it fits with Aristotle’s theory of the “golden mean”. Then evaluate whether this virtue by itself can lead to the good life? If not, what other virtues are needed and why? • Consider Aristotle’s theory of the virtues (“the golden mean”) in relation to the virtue(s) of Homeric or Biblical heroes. Are these views of virtue compatible? Explain. What are the different types of “good life” recommended by Aristotle, Homer, or other text we have read? Are any of these views relevant to contemporary American society?