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Virtue In Aristotle's The Nicomachean Ethics

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After having had a black president, many Americans consider America to be a post-racial society. Apparently all it takes is eight years of a black man in the highest governmental position in the most powerful country in the world to neutralize the almost 400 years of oppression caused by the white man. Unfortunately, the math does not add up; having Barack Obama as president did not move America from the list of countries that hate some of its citizens to the list of countries that either loves or hates all of its citizens equally. As a matter of fact, equally as many argue that Obama’s legacy has created a demonstrably weaker and divided society. But America was never going to rid itself of its racial hamartia; whether “rooted in the heart” …show more content…

Virtue ethics, a moral theory concerned with the virtues and characters of people, is an ancient solution to a modern problem. The Aristotelian ethic places emphasis upon the one performing any action rather than the action itself. In The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle postulates that every action one performs aims at or shall aim some good. According to this Aristotelian view, every activity has in mind the good at its end otherwise there is no use in performing said action. (Those well-versed in philosophical scholarship know that Aristotle took ‘good’ here to mean happiness). Within this framework of virtue, Aristotle presupposes that all races and classes are included in the assertion that the primary purpose of mankind is happiness. Therefore, as humans are separated from the rest of creation due to their ability to reason, aminority status or skin color other than white is inconsequential. On this basis, Aristotle’s virtue theory discredits racism and vows for racial reconciliation. Discrimination, namely towards those different than yourself, is unwarranted because equality amongst others exists as a universally predominant end for humans as a whole. This theory disallows any and all prejudice or discrimination of differing groups for the sole happiness of those who believe themselves to be of a “superior” rank. This kind of ideal is flawed because it has, at its heart, a selfish and malicious unsociable

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In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle argues that the human good is the soul’s activity that expresses virtue. Aristotle concludes this from an invalid argument. On the one hand I do agree that the activity expressing virtue is a requirement for the human good. But on the other hand, I insist that the human good is a state and not an action. By modifying this argument, I believe we can reach a new conclusion that will help us better understand what Aristotle meant by these concepts.

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This principle lies at the heart of the great-souled man, the first of Aristotle’s peaks of humanly excellence. The great-souled man is chiefly concerned with—and strikes the mean with—external goods. The greatest of these goods is “the one that we assign to the gods, and at which people of high standing aim most of all, and which is the prize given for the most beautiful deeds; and of this kind is honor” (67:1123b19-21). A man who has achieved greatness of soul is deserving of great honors, but more importantly, he understands his own desert and acts appropriately.

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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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Aristotle describes virtue theory as an ethical theory that emphasizes an individual 's character rather than following a set of rules. Breaking it down even further to specify knowing right from wrong, being able to read an atmosphere by knowing what is right, and it is the midpoint between two extremes. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. display to be a virtue ethicists through his letter oppose to being a deontologist or utilitarian. Laws define a set of rules that the people should follow; however, there are unjust laws that are meant to be challenged.

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One of the main ideas in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics was that human beings capable of reason. This is what sets us apart from other species, our intellect ability. In the book, they make multiple claims that every single human being has the ability to be rational and use reasonable, while in “Feminists Ethics” claim that women are more caring and gentle and make emotional based decisions, simply because of their nature. Aristotle says that using emotion to guide decisions would lead to immoral actions and that we should use reason and wisdom to make out decisions, as our feelings and thoughts will always change, but reason does not. In virtue ethics, they claim that human beings are wired to be reasonable.

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The aim of Nicomachean Ethics is to determine what the good is which leads to the discussion of Eudaimonia and virtue. Aristotle’s opening sentence establishes that all actions aim at some good (1999, p. 3) so therefore good must be that which all people aim for. MacIntyre interprets that, “Good is defined at the outset in terms of the goal, purpose, or aim to which something or somebody moves. To call something good is to say that it is under certain conditions sought or aimed at.

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The relativist’s objection Aristotle’s writings are the best prototype of virtue ethics. Contemporary virtue theories do not grasp nor represents the Aristotelian theory, because they think that it is impossible to escape the charge of relativism in virtue ethics. According to the relativist approach, ethical goodness is relative to each society depending on its traditions and practices. It is thought that virtue can only be outlined locally with reference to a single locale. Relativists reject the idea that there is a general rule, based on specific virtuous actions, that leads to the good life i.e. they reject that there is a single virtue (or norm of flourishing life) that is able to flourish the life of all human beings.

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In “Ethical Virtue,” Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle demonstrates, and elaborates on the virtues of intellect and ethics, in order to fulfill happiness. The difference between the both, is that intellectual virtue grows from teachings and experience throughout time, and ethical virtue come from habits (493). “Thus the kinds of habits we form from early childhood are of no small importance; they matter a great deal - indeed, they make all the difference…” (494). In other words, one must exercise what they acquire, or learn, so by doing just things one becomes just. Furthermore, if one wishes to achieve happiness, they must aim at what is intermediate, meaning that virtue is a mean.

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Human rights rest upon two main principles: moral universalism and the belief in existence of a truly universal moral community that includes all human beings. The origins of moral universalism within Europe are accredited to the early philosophers Aristotle and the Stoics. In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle came up with the argument in support of the existence of what we call a natural moral order. This natural order is said to be the basis for all truly rational systems of justice that provides a set of comprehensive and acclaimed universal criteria that is said to be capable enough to evaluate the legitimacy of the 'man-made' systems. Aristotle distinguishes between the ‘natural justice' and 'legal justice’ in the following words: “the

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The last theory is Aristotle’s virtue ethics which states that we should move from the concern towards good action and to focus on the concern with good character. This paper argues that Aristotle’s virtue ethics is better than the other ethical theories. The divine command theory says that what is morally right and what is morally wrong is determined by God and God alone. People who follow the divine command theory believe that God is the creator of all things, therefore, he must also be the creator of morally right and wrong acts.

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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.

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Throughout history many great philosophers have attempted to unravel the origins of virtues by developing moral theories of their own. This document is designed to provide the reader with an overview of some of the more popular theories concerning morals. Three of the most popular moral theories are… Utilitarianism, Kantianism, and Aristotelianism. Though Utilitarianism, Kantianism, and Aristotelianism differ in many ways, they also share similar fundamentals. Utilitarianism is a highly acclaimed theory that is morally based on consequentialism.

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In the past thirty or so years, the world has repeatedly found itself in the situation of dealing with multiple transnational financial crises. The contributing factors for each of course vary, however there are certain patterns and likenesses that can be picked out and analyzed in hopes of better understanding how these events came to take place. This all assists in the realization that each of these issues were not in fact single, isolated problems but rather repercussions to globalization of capital. Due to the long-lasting nature of these events and the complexity and interconnectedness of global economic systems, the solutions that might have been successful historically are not necessarily applicable anymore. It is only in examining

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The idea of virtue ethics was first introduced to the world by Aristotle over 2,300 years ago in 325 BC (Rachels 173). Virtue ethics operate on the belief that people develop good character by looking at the virtues they admire in other people and emulating them. In order to do this, a person must ask themselves what kind of person they want to be and focus on choosing characteristics not specific people to emulate. Unfortunately, virtue ethics were quickly overshadowed by other perspectives on ethical theory as Christianity gained popularity and values changed. As time went on people stopped asking themselves, “What traits make a good person?”

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Aristotle claimed that virtues are ‘hexis’ – often translated into ‘habit’. Many dispute this translation and prefer to use the term ‘disposition’. Whatever the translation we use, he seems to be referring to us having the ‘appropriate feelings’ in the face of particular situations. Aristotle claims that ethical virtues involve a median between two extremes. On one side of the spectrum we find deficiencies, and on the other excess.

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