Nicomachean Ethics

Each of these books are in fact collections of Aristotle's lecture notes, each book possibly containing several different lecture courses which can be sparse and difficult to read.

It is thought that the Eudemian Ethics represents Aristotle's early ethical theory, and the Nicomachean Ethics appears to build upon its counterpart. Despite the fact the Eudemian Ethics been called 'less mature' by some critics (although it is important to note that in recent years, certain critics, such as Kenny (1978) have termed the Eudemian Ethics the more mature, and latter book), three books from this treatise (Books IV-VI) also appear in the Nicomachean Ethics as Books V-VII.

Scholars assume that the Nicomachean Ethics and the Eudemian Ethics were either edited by or dedicated to Aristotle's son and pupil Nicomachus, and his disciple Eudemus respectively. These must remain assumptions, however, since no information about the collections' names is contained in the works.

A fourth treatise which is often cited as the sequel to the Ethics is Aristotle's Politics. As Aristotle states in the Ethics that the good of the individual is subordinate to the good of the city-state, or 'polis', this is no surprise.

Overview

General Ethics

Book 1: The Study of the Good

=Goal-directed ethics=

=Character-centered ethics=

Of course, this leaves the important question of what a human's purpose actually is.

=The essence and function of being human=

A person who lives according to these virtues will, Aristotle says, become happier. Happiness, well-being or flourishing (Greek: εὐδαιμονία eudaimonia) is the ultimate goal of life, and most people recognize this. When asked "Why are you doing this?" and then "Well, why are you doing that?" in response to each answer, most people will eventually stop at "in order to be happy" or "to feel better" or some such equivalent.

People try to achieve happiness through three ways: pleasure, honor, and expression of reason. Making money is a fourth way, but it happens through necessity and is not specifically for achieving happiness in itself; in order to be happy a person needs resources first.

Virtue

=Arete: traditional Greek virtues=

In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle tries to address the traditional Greek virtues (Greek: αρετη arete) of his time, in large part accepting contemporary virtues and explaining them. It is important to recognize that these virtues are not always the same as modern or Christian virtues—Aristotle views pride or magnificence (rather than humility) as a virtue, for example. Arete may also be translated as excellence, and for Aristotle (as opposed to some earlier Greek philosophers) arete is limited to things which humans may excel at, but that animals, plants and inanimate objects cannot. Height and strength may be excellent physical attributes, but they are not limited to people and so Aristotle does not consider such things as virtues. He divides the virtues into intellectual and moral virtues.

To reiterate: each of these virtues are things that people can acquire by practice over time. A person becomes more courageous by continually choosing courageous acts over cowardly or foolhardy ones, for example.

Book 2: Moral Virtue

Moral virtues are close to what we would call virtues today. Aristotle lists the following as moral virtues: courage, temperance (moderation), liberality (moderation in giving and taking money), magnificence (correctly dealing with great wealth or power), pride (claiming what is due to you), gentleness (moderation with respect to anger), agreeableness, truthfulness, wittiness and justice.

=The Golden Mean=

In order to be happy a person must find the mean between two extremes. A courageous person is the mean between the extremes of cowardice and foolhardiness. A soldier who is a coward will not fight in a war even though they have more than enough resources to defeat the enemy quite easily, while the foolhardy soldier will fight in a war when they are very poorly equipped. Aristotle defined the mean when he stated, “But though our present account is of this nature we must give what help we can. First, then, let us consider this, that it is the nature of such things to be destroyed by defect and excess, as we see in the case of strength and of health (for to gain light on things imperceptible we must use the evidence of sensible things); both excessive and defective exercise destroys the strength, and similarly drink or food which is above or below a certain amount destroys the health, while that which is proportionate both produces and increases and preserves it. So too is it, then, in the case of temperance and courage and the other virtues. For the man who flies from and fears everything and does not stand his ground against anything becomes a coward, and the man who fears nothing at all but
goes to meet every danger becomes rash; and similarly the man who indulges in every pleasure and abstains from none becomes self-indulgent, while the man who shuns every pleasure, as boors do, becomes in a way insensible; temperance and courage, then, are destroyed by excess and defect, and preserved by the mean.

The excellent archer will find the mean between the two extremes when trying to hit the target, and he will not aim with force in excess like Machiavelli states to do in his book the, Prince, “Let him act like the clever archers who, designing to hit the mark which yet appears too far distant, and knowing the limits to which the strength of their bow attains, take aim much higher than the mark, not to reach by their strength or arrow to so great a height, but to be able with the aid of so high an aim to hit the mark they wish to reach.” A follower of Aristotle will seek to find the mean in every action whether it deals with pleasure, honor, or expression of reason because they will understand that virtue is a mean. In order to seek the good they must also use reason as a guide to seek the virtue/mean.

Explanation with examples from virtues of character

Aristotle enumerates five intellectual virtues: Knowledge, art, prudence, intuition, and wisdom. Most of these would not be called virtues today, but they are important because they allow us to recognize the golden mean in a particular situation and then to behave according to it. Prudence or phronesis means behaving according to the golden mean generally, and is used to find the moral virtues, each of which are the golden mean between two imprudent behaviors or vices.

Book 7: Evil and Pleasure

=Chapters 1-10: Evil=

=Chapters 11-14: Pleasure=

Books 8 and 9: Friendship

Aristotle argues that friends can be viewed as second selves. Just as virtuous behavior improves oneself, friends can improve each other--this is the importance of friendship, and the reason it may be regarded as a type of virtue. The success or failure of a friend can be like one’s own
success or failure. Aristotle divides friendships into three types, based on the motive for forming them: friendships of utility, friendships of pleasure and friendships of the good.

Friendships of utility are relationships formed without regard to the other person at all. Buying merchandise, for example, may require meeting another person but usually needs only a very shallow
relationship between the buyer and seller. In modern English, people in such a relationship would not even be called friends, but acquaintances (if they even remembered each other afterwards). The only reason these people are communicating is in order to buy or sell things, which is not a bad thing, but as soon as that motivation is gone, so does the relationship between the two people unless another motivation is found.

At the next level, friendships of pleasure are based on pure delight in the company of other people. People who drink together, or share a hobby may have such friendships. However, these friends may also part--in this case if they no longer enjoy the shared activity, or can no longer participate in it together.

Friendships of the good are ones where both friends enjoy each other's characters. As long as both friends keep similar characters, the relationship will endure since the motive behind it is care for the friend. This is the highest level of relationship, and in modern English might be called true friendship.

Book 10: Pleasure and Politics

=Chapters 1-5: Pleasure=

=Chapters 6-9: Politics=

Indeed, Aristotle believes that politics should be a noble pursuit to which ethics is an introduction. The last chapter of the Nicomachean Ethics states “Since then our predecessors have left this matter of legislation uninvestigated, it will perhaps be better ourselves to inquire into it, and indeed into the whole question of the management of a state, in order that our philosophy of human life may be completed to the best of our power.” Nicomachean Ethics, Book X Ch ix, translated F.H. Peters (1893: Oxford). He continues his discussion in the Politics.

Important quotes

See also

External links

References