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Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics

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“Every skill and every inquiry, and similarly every action and rational choice, is thought to aim at some good; and so the good has been aptly described as that which everything aims. But it is clear that there is some difference between ends: some ends are activities, while others are products which are additional to the activities. In cases where there are ends additional to the actions, the products are by their nature better than activities.” (Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics, as translated by Crisp, 2000, p. #3)

Aristotle was the first philosopher who wrote a book on ethics titled, Nichomachean Ethics. The quote above is the opening statement of this book. It is saying that in all that man does, he/she seeks some good as ends or means. …show more content…

Aside from an increase on health care expenditures used up by employees because of stress, disengagement is costly because disengaged workers had 37% higher absenteeism, 49% more accidents, and 60% more errors and defects. In organizations with low employee engagement scores, they experienced 18% lower productivity, 16% lower profitability, 37% lower job growth, and 65% lower share price over time. Importantly, businesses with highly engaged employees enjoyed 100% more job applications. Happy people are more satisfied with their jobs and report having greater autonomy in their duties (Boehm & Lyubomirsky, …show more content…

In addition, employees who experience more positive emotions at work make greater contributions to organizational effectiveness and, when people are in a good mood, they are more sociable, less aggressive, and better able to recall positive information (Pinder, 1998). Also, those employees who are more positive possess higher confidence, optimism, self-efficacy, likability, and sociability, which in turn, making them more satisfied with their job and increases workplace achievement (Lyubormirsky, King, & Diner, 2005). Happy employees bring their happiness from the office to their home and they also transfer their happiness from their home to the office (Lyubormirsky et. al,

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My attributes of being active and competitive both help me feel happy all the time. This lets me give my all into everything I do. Many people say I cast a happy atmosphere onto everyone near me. Almost every day at work, I am always happy to be there and am always in a good mood. When most of my coworkers are tired and ready to go home, I have just happy to be there.

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He describes the objection as, “all men desire the apparent good, but have no control over the appearance, but the end appears to each man in a form answering to his character” (1114b).   This view argues that all people pursue that which seems good, but some people cannot see the true good, which is out of their control.   The immediate implication of this objection, if it is indeed true, suggests that “no one is responsible for his own evildoing” (1114b).

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The world we live in is filled with crime, evil, and injustice, but do people have the desire to do bad things knowing that they are bad, or do they do them thinking that they are good? In this essay, I examine Socrates argument, found in Plato’s Meno, that no one knowingly desires bad things. If Socrates were right, it would mean that it is impossible for someone to perform a bad action based on their desire for that bad thing. Instead, all bad desires result from the ignorance of the person performing the action in falsely believing that the action is good. Though Socrates presents a compelling argument, I argue that it is possible for someone to act badly, all the while knowing that what they desire is bad.

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Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Book ll, is about his idea of how people should live a virtuous life. Throughout this book, he explains that humans learn virtue from instructions and we learn virtue from practice too. Virtue is something that is very important because it is a moral habit that results in keeping our moral values. Aristotle believed that nobody is born with virtue, everyone has to work at it daily. After reading Nicomachean ethics, Book ll, my main conclusion of it is that us as humans are better off being virtuous than simply doing what we feel like doing at any moment in time.

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In Book I of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle brings up the idea that in order to discover the human good we must first develop a certain understanding and identify the function of a human being. Aristotle’s function argument is brought up through his belief that the human function is rational activity, meaning that our good as human beings is rational activity performed fine because this is what leads to living well. The good Aristotle tries to get across can be seen in many different forms depending on how it is viewed, because of the idea that the main function of anything is to reach a final end, the final end is considered the good. “The end of medicine is health, that of shipbuilding, a ship, that of military science, victory…” (Nicomachean,

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The Letter to Menoeceus by Epicurus was designed to serve as a guideline for the particular types of pleasures that people should strive for in order to achieve a happy and prosperous life. In the letter, Epicurus first puts forth the notion that there are particular aspects of life that should be disregarded as holding such a high level of important as they do such things as death and living in accordance with what is right in the eyes of the Gods. Ultimately, the focal point of the letter was Epicurus 's idea regarding pleasure and being able to maximize one 's pleasure was only the true and proper way to live. Especially, now as the phrase "a good life" is thrown around in such as cavalier fashion it seems that perhaps people are being led astray in their quest for happy and meaningful life. Presently, it appears that many people associate the

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In Aristotle's The Politics and Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle explains connections between life, the constitution, and law where the goal is to pursue good in life. He states that a city (polis) common goal is to achieving good, but men in politics are "political animals". In other words, participating in political activity, test a man's virtue because the man now has a responsibilty of pursuing good for the common people. A leader who is endowed good virtue, his followers will follow and the city as a whole will aim to do good. Aristotle shows that political activity is the key to good life and where men participating in it are accomplishing and exercising their authority in common interest which becomes the standard for absolute justice.

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In his philosophical novel, Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle claims that “everything...must be measured by something...in truth this one thing is need”(1133a26-1133a28). He alleges that need keeps everyone and everything together. From this quotation, he goes further and claims that without that if people did not need things, then there would be no exchange of goods. In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle argues that the exchange of goods and services keeps the city and the larger society together. Aristotle’s main idea in Nicomachean Ethics is that “reciprocal action governed by proportion keeps the city together”(Aristotle, C.J. Rowe, and Sarah Broadie 1133a1-1133a2).

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Aristotle states in the very first lines of Nicomachean Ethics that “[e]very art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim.” This quote exemplifies to me that there is an end goal to everything, and the end goal of ethics is to achieve happiness. By making an ethical choice, even if it is not very difficult to do, it helps us to develop an ethical character. This is very important so that making ethical choices in the future will be natural and there will be no hesitation in your mind if you are making the right decision, because you will understand the importance that there is in being ethical. Next, Aristotle shows that we can be ethical through performing virtuous acts, or acts of goodness.

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In his more specific discourse on the nature of happiness, Aristotle comes to the conclusion that happiness lies in the contemplative life because “contemplation is the highest form of activity” (Aristotle 268). Aristotle views the activities of the mind to be the most sophisticated element of human life, and thus he believes the greatest good must come from the greatest aspect of life. In this view of happiness, Aristotle assumes that “happiness is an activity in accordance with virtue,” and that in order to live the contemplative life, one must also live a morally virtuous life (Aristotle 270). This connection between morality and contemplation coincides with Aristotle’s view of the superiority of contemplation over all other human activities.

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Virtue ethics is an ethical system that measures morality as virtue. Being virtuous is having desirable or 'good ' character attributes. Aristotle taught that a virtue is the midpoint between two vices, which are extremes. This spot is known as the Golden Mean. It is the perfect spot between the two extremes of deficiency and excess.

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Discuss the implications of XunZi and Mencius’ views on Human Nature RE Philosophy Group 2 2015 Group Members: Chen Jin Yang (4) Li Ze Hua (15) Lu Shao Qin (18) Aaron Tan (25) Theodore Kuah (27) Introduction Human nature is an abstract concept, defined in modern terms as the general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioural traits of humankind.

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For hundreds of years philosophers have assigned knowledge the supreme role and have called knowledge the ultimate purpose and meaning of human life. Aristotle, the famous Greek philosopher said “theoretical wisdom, that is, knowledge of the first principles and of what follows from them, is by nature our purpose and is the ultimate thing for the sake of which we have come to be. This is the highest form of knowledge since it is knowledge with grounding of the highest things. Through this kind of knowledge one not only knows what follows from the first principles, but also possesses truth about the first principles.” Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872–1970) was a British philosopher, logician, essayist and social critic best known for his work in mathematical logic and analytic philosophy.

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This will help the customers get a very best experience. An unhappy employee can become the reason to ruin the brand experience for the customers. Studies have also shown that people surrounded by happy people are more likely to be happy as well. So Good moods are contagious but same holds true for bad moods as well. So it is very important to create a positive and happy work environment for the employees so that they can give their hundred percent at work.

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Have you ever dreamed to live well? Or Did you know someone who has lived a good life? If so, how can you define a good life? According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, the good life can be defined as “a life marked by a high standard of Living. The good life can be defined as a way that someone plans to live virtuously by having a great education, enough money, and helping others.

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