Nicomachean Ethics

1
Nicomachean Ethics

• Aristotle

2
THE NEXT 5 SLIDES ARE REPRODUCED FROM OUR EARLIER
EXAMINATION OF THE FIRST PART OF ARISTOTLES
NICOMACHEAN ETHICS (TO REFRESH YOUR MEMORY).
FOLLOWING THOSE, THE MATERIAL PICKS UP THE NEW
SECTIONS.
3
Dont expect more precision than the subject
matter admits of

• Before embarking on an examination of what the
  nature of the best life for a person, Aristotle
  offers the above caveat.
• Wealth and courage are generally good, but have
  on occasion contributed to the ruin of some
  people.
• One should not expect precise proofs out of an
  ethicist or political scientist because they have
  to deal with things that are just generally true
  similarly one should not expect approximate
  proofs out of a mathematician, who deals with
  things that are determinate and definite.

4
The Function Argument (briefly)

• 1. Every action is aimed at some goal (end).
• 2. Accomplishing that goal then is the
  characteristic function of whoever aims at that
  goal. In other words, what makes a thing what it
  is is the goal that it is aimed at. For example
  the characteristic function of a house builder is
  the goal of building good houses, and the
  characteristic function of a flute player is
  playing the flute well. What makes a house
  builder a house builder is that they have the
  goal of building houses well. Nobody else has
  such a goal.
• 3. Every goal has standards of quality that come
  with that particular goal
• Therefore, human life has a characteristic
  function.
• But what is the goal of human life, and what are
  the standards of quality for it?

5
The goal of human life

• Aristotle says that everyone agrees that the goal
  of human life is happiness.
• However, this is an unfortunate translation.
  When the modern English speaker thinks of
  happiness they think of the feeling of being
  happy (a sort of pleasure).
• The word Aristotle used is e?da?µ???a
  (eudaimonia), which means something more like
  well-being or fulfillment than happiness.
• But what does happiness consist of?

6
Happiness

• Aristotle dismisses some answers that others
  supply to the question what is hapiness?
• The masses say that the life of pleasure is
  happiness, but Aristotle contends that this is
  vulgar and not fitting of a human being.
• Politicians say happiness is in honor, but
  Aristotle points out that that requires other
  people to honor you. Surely someone could be
  live well without others honoring them.

7
3 lives

• The life of mere survival (the vegetative life)
• This cannot be the characteristic life of a
  person because even plants do this, so there must
  be more to life for us.
• The life of pleasure (the animal life)
• This cannot be the characteristic life of a
  person because even animals do this, so there
  must be more to life for us.
• The life of virtue and reflection (the best life
  for a person)
• Since only human beings can live the life of
  virtue and reflection (uses our faculty of
  reason) this is the characteristic function of
  human life.

8
Virtue and Prudence

• We have seen previous moral theories sweep
  prudence aside in favor of what morality demands.
  
• Aristotle argues that the best life for a person
  (i.e. the most prudent life) just is the life of
  virtue. So what morality requires is in fact the
  best life.
• Recall the three lives. It may be that someone
  wants to live the life of a pig in the mud, but
  that person does not have a refined set of
  desires that are appropriate for human happiness.

9
An Analogical argument

• Aristotle writes
• For pleasure is a state of soul, and to each man
  that which he is said to be a lover of is
  pleasant e.g. not only is a horse pleasant to
  the lover of horses, and a spectacle to the lover
  of sights, but also in the same way just acts are
  pleasant to the lover of justice and in general
  virtuous acts to the lover of virtue. Now for
  most men their pleasures are in conflict with one
  another because these are not by nature pleasant,
  but the lovers of what is noble find pleasant the
  things that are by nature pleasant and virtuous
  actions are such, so that these are pleasant for
  such men as well as in their own nature. Their
  life, therefore, has no further need of pleasure
  as a sort of adventitious charm, but has its
  pleasure in itself. For, besides what we have
  said, the man who does not rejoice in noble
  actions is not even good since no one would call
  a man just who did not enjoy acting justly, nor
  any man liberal who did not enjoy liberal
  actions and similarly in all other cases. If
  this is so, virtuous actions must be in
  themselves pleasant.
• The analogy is that to be a lover of the best
  life means to be pleased by it, so to live the
  best life, we must be able to modify our
  character traits to fit with the life of virtue.

10
Desires and Character Traits

• Desires are but one part of what we call
  character.
• A character trait is a stable disposition to act
  a certain way in certain circumstances. (e.g. a
  generous person is disposed to give when they see
  need)
• Often, modern persons regard desires as things
  that just come with a person and that cant or
  shouldnt be changed. However, we often seek to
  raise children with positive character traits
  (e.g. honesty, patience) and teach them to avoid
  negative character traits (e.g. selfishness, bad
  tempers).

11
Desires and Character Traits

• One example of contemporary struggles to modify
  desires are struggles with addictions or other
  bad habits.
• Our approach to these issues is strongly
  reminiscent of Aristotles approach to ethics in
  general. A person might decide to quit smoking
  because a) life is longer and more pleasant
  without smoking, b) they wish to be a better
  example to children, c) smoking inhibits other
  virtuous behavior (sociability, financial
  management, etc.)
• These motivations generally match a desire to
  live the life of reflection and virtue, i.e. to
  live the best life.

12
Acquiring/Modifying Character Traits

• Aristotle writes the virtues we get by first
  exercising them, as also happens in the case of
  the arts as well. For the things we have to learn
  before we can do them, we learn by doing them,
  e.g. men become builders by building and
  lyreplayers by playing the lyre so too we become
  just by doing just acts, temperate by doing
  temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts. This
  is confirmed by what happens in states for
  legislators make the citizens good by forming
  habits in them, and this is the wish of every
  legislator, and those who do not effect it miss
  their mark, and it is in this that a good
  constitution differs from a bad one.

13
Habituation and Training

• We modify character traits by habituation and
  training. At some point, someone must teach us
  or show us what it means to be trustworthy,
  loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind,
  cheerful, obedient, thrifty, brave, clean and
  reverent (for example) and this is what is meant
  by training, and its most effective for the
  young.
• Beyond just training, we must form habits that
  make virtuous behavior part of our nature. To
  make honesty a part of your character, you must
  be honest until you do so without even trying or
  thinking about it.
• When you get a bad habit, it takes even more
  effort to first break the bad habit and then
  replace it with a good habit (e.g. many
  ex-smokers replace time spent smoking with
  exercise or other worthy pursuits)

14
Finding Virtue

• If we are following Aristotle this far, we may
  then ask how we determine which character traits
  are virtuous.
• Aristotle answers as follows 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.

15
Three Dispositions

• This introduces a general method that Aristotle
  follows for determining virtue There are three
  kinds of disposition, then, two of them vices,
  involving excess and deficiency respectively, and
  one a virtue, viz. the mean
• Every character trait is expressed by some name
  or other, and any competent speaker of the
  language knows whether such names describe good
  or bad character traits. Aristotle maintatins
  that each of these words will describe either 1)
  a virtue (good), 2) a vice of deficiency (a lack
  of a particular attribute bad), or 3) a vice of
  excess (too much of a particular attribute bad).

16
The Golden Mean

• This leads to the common misinterpretation that
  Aristotle advocates everything in moderation.
  Cowardice is not good in moderation any more than
  cyanide is good in moderation.
• Rather, cowardice is what happens when someone
  lacks courage. Courage is the virtue, and when
  someone lacks courage, they have the vice of
  deficiency of courage called cowardice. If
  someone has too much courage, they have the vice
  of excess, called rashness, or recklessness.

17
The Virtues

• There seem to be as many virtues as there are
  positive ways to describe character, but some of
  the virtues are as follows

18
Temperance the ability to resist what one ought
to resist, even if it is pleasant.

• Vice of Deficiency

• Vice of Excess

• Intemperance, licentiousness, sybaritism,
  over-indulgence satisfying appetites to too
  great a degree or with too much freequency.

• Asceticism forgoing things which are really
  acceptable to partake of.

19
Fortitude the ability to pursue what one ought
to pursue, even if it is unpleasant.

• Vice of Deficiency

• Vice of Excess

• weakness, irresoluteness, not being able to do
  what needs to be done

• ascetic, overly stoic. A person should not seek
  out unpleasantness, and should be somewhat
  deterred by it.

20
Some Other Virtues

• Magnificence being appropriately generous, but
  with single great gestures of generosity.
• Magnanimity greatness of spirit is knowing
  that one is worthy of greatness and actually
  being worthy of greatness.
• Friendliness being neither clingy nor cold
• Truthfulness being neither a liar nor blunt or
  rude
• Wit being neither humorless nor a clown