Aristotle And Virtue Ethics

Aristotle outlined his theory of Virtue Ethics in his book Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle focused his idea of ethics on agents rather than acts. His main idea is focused on the idea of human character- how can you be a better person? In fact, Aristotle once said: “For we are enquiring not in order to know what virtue is, but in order to become good, since otherwise our enquiry would be of no use.” Aristotle is given the credit for developing the idea of virtue ethics, but many of Plato's cardinal values influenced his ideas. Virtue Ethics is focused on the person's actions, not the consequences of that action. Aristotle believed if you had good moral values, then your actions would be "good" in theory. Rather than defining good actions,

“Can virtue be taught?”, was a question I struggled with when Meno ask Socrates. In Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle answers the question in a way I better understand. He believes that virtue can be taught and if you are taught good behavior you are excellent. He especially believes that the virtue of a human being is “being characteristic”, which helps me understand “What is virtue? “Virtue, according to Aristotle, are the characteristics that makes us either good or bad. Everything we do is not natural we learn what is moral and immoral by what we were taught. Somethings we believe are right might not be right to others, but just because we may think it is immoral does not make it necessarily wrong. Aristotle mentions that passion is presented in the soul virtue.

Aristotle provides the teleological approach of how to live well in his collection of lectures, Nicomachean Ethics. In Book II of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle presents his definition of virtue in which it is "a kind of mean" (N.E. 129). According to Aristotle, moral virtue is a means to an end, happiness. By using Sophocles's Antigone, I will support Aristotle's theory of virtue in which he reasons it to be a state of character between two extremes. A virtue that remains relevant today as it did during Aristotle's era is that of courage. By using Aristotle's account on what represents the virtue of courage, I will demonstrate how it could be applied to the dilemma the characters of Antigone encounter. Even his definition of justice is

Mankind has been searching for existential reasoning since our earliest beginnings. One of the biggest questions, the one that keeps me up at night, “How ought we to live?” will be explained from the viewpoints of Epictetus in his Enchiridion and Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics. In this paper, I will discuss both philosophies in principle and practice, while giving insight to how to they may function in a modern world situation. Although both theories have useful guidance for navigating the human condition, Aristotle’s theory of virtue encompasses more of a real world schematic of how to interpret oneself in relation to our surroundings through compassion rather than apathy.

In order to obtain a successful argument speaker must be rhetorical. According to Aristotle the secret to being a persuasive public speaker you need to understand ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos. They are considering the essential qualities of a speech or presentation which will help the audience accept the message you are trying to deliver. In order for a speaker can convince an audience they must understand ethos. Ethos is that a speaker must accept anything he says in order to get the audience attention and credibility. The speaker must be respected, trustworthy, and authority to have credibility to perceive your audience. The next step is pathos which is the quality the speaker can persuade their presentation and emotion to the audience.

My girlfriend is pregnant. I have never felt so lost, without purpose, so blind and unable to see a clear path. Right now I am at the point where the action causes a reaction and I am living with the result. I do not know what took over me, but as some might put it love was a hard mistake. I have to explain everything, from the first moment I felt these emotions to the instant my seed was leaving my body into the being I adored and wanted a physical connection more than anything in the world. I find it extremely hard to sit down and tell someone my deepest feelings and hardships without knowing the person, but I feel this is a way to invoke these emotions in a way that they will never come out again. There is no doubt in what I did and did

A virtue ethicist Aristotle believed we should aim for eudemonia. Eudemonia is an ideology of happiness which would result in a life which is in perfect balance. Eudemonia include habits which include patience, temperance, courage etc. Virtues such as these are perfected so that as a society we can be perfectly happy. A virtue ethics approach would suggest that people suffering from an undefeatable illness would not be living a “eudemonia life”. If such a way existed that could improve the physical well‐ being of a person suffering from an illness, a virtue ethicist such as Aristotle would support this. However, if such a case where someone was incurably and terminally ill, Aristotle would hope that they would be brave enough to accept their

Aristotle discusses two interpretations of justice in Book V of his Nicomachean Ethics. He concludes that justice is either broad or narrow in sense - it is either lawfulness or equality. In the broader sense, a good citizen will obey the law because it is just.

In Book IV Chapter 7 Aristotle discusses the virtue of being truthful. Virtue is described by Aristotle as an active condition done by choice. It is a moral mean between extremes relative from person to person. In paragraph 1, Aristotle explains that the virtue of being truthful is the mean between a braggart and an ironic person. The sphere of action or feeling that being truthful is related to is self-expression.

In the field of philosophy we can agree the main philosophers and theory’s that stand out are Aristotle and his virtue ethics, Kant's ethics of moral duty, and Mill's theory of utilitarianism. Although these theories are profound and each have outstanding views they have flaws that impact the lives of the masses and of the individual.

Plato and Aristotle are great philosophers and they have talked a lot about virtue. Although these two people started from similar settings, their ideas about virtue were actually different. Plato’s philosophy was more about non-material things, like ideas and love. On the other hand, Aristotle liked things that are more measurable and physicals. In this paper, I will first discuss Plato’s ideas about the nature of virtue, which people have virtue when they are born and people can develop virtue when they believe in god. Then, I will follow a discussion of Aristotle’s ideas that virtue can be learned by ourselves. Finally, I will conclude by comparing the two different ideas virtue’s nature. To sum

Aristotle would be concerned with ethics being a way to live a good life. He would be concerned with Dr. Johnson’s moral character. While Aristotle would argue for the moderate form of the virtues he would agree that there are some times that this would not be the best choice. “In the face of injustice or acts of violence against innocent others, the morally correct response may not be at all ‘moderate.’ That’s why Aristotle considered ‘righteous indignation’ a virtue.” (Teays, 2015, pg. 102). While Dr. Johnson may face the consequences of losing his career, “Aristotle would say, ‘Focus on what kind of person you want to be and what intellectual and moral traits are required to get there.’” (Teays, 2015, pg. 103). He also

There are many reasons to agree with Aristotle and his points but some people will disagree. Others may believe that people don’t have control with their childhood on virtue, arguing they can’t depict from right and wrong and that the involuntary and voluntary actions we do doesn’t have an effect on our character and appearance. I believe that a person’s upbringing has a lot to do with who they are, if a person was surrounded by drugs and alcohol at a young age, they are likely to do drugs and drink alcohol when they get older because that is all they were accustomed to. However, it is different for every person, but that person is still responsible for his or her bad actions. In my opinion, you can’t blame your past for the way you act in

He is honored to be author of ‘The Nicomachean Ethics,’ which was in fact the 1st book ever written on the subject of ethics. The book is greatly influential, even in modern times. By an analysis of Aristotle’s literature, it can be observed that he primarily focused on preaching to be ‘virtuous’ rather than focusing on the theories of what ‘virtue’ is. According to him, in whatever way we choose to act, some action that is focused on achieving the desired end result or ‘good’ results comes from that person’s own perspective. Aristotle claimed that the maximum good which a person have desire to achieve is basically an end-point itself , a person’s action or struggles is for achieving that ‘end-point’, it may be regarded as a point of maximum satisfaction. Aristotle critically concluded that the happiness of a person satisfies these conditions completely, and hence the highest attainable good is regarded as happiness.

It certainly would not be inconsiderate to assume that people suffering from incurable illness and excruciating pain are not living the ‘Eudaimon’ life. Aristotle’s Virtue ethics would greatly support any ways that would improve the physical wellbeing of these suffering patients. If considering euthanasia as the best option, a patient could consider the implications of Aristotle’s virtue of courage, the ‘Golden Mean’ between the vices of cowardice and foolhardiness. However, the ‘right’ course of action is open to interpretation. You could make the argument that euthanasia could be the courageous thing to do since by going through with it, you bravely face death and have the strength and will to liberate your loved ones from the heart wrenching