Hemati
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Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics
Books II-IV
Book II: What Virtue Is
 “ethics” comes from the Greek “ethos” which means “character,” and “arete,” the
Greek word for virtue, can also mean “excellence” (Aristotle defines virtue in II.6)
II.1-3 Types and characteristics of virtue
◦ Two types of virtue: intellectual virtue (can be taught) and moral virtue (learned
by habit – requires experience and time, like the way an artist learns his craft)
◦ Virtue is a disposition, meaning a tendency or readiness to actualize a certain
quality when the situation calls for it (potential → actual)
◦ There are no absolute rules for virtues. They take practical wisdom – knowing
the right thing to do at the right time with the right intent and in the right way
◦ Virtue consists of having the right attitude toward pleasures and pains, and
these attitudes are toward 3 general types of object of choice and avoidance:
▪ Choice (pleasures) – noble, advantageous, pleasant
▪ Avoidance (pain) – base, injurious, painful
◦ It is difficult to develop virtue
II.4-6 Unlike art, when a person displays virtue, it is not merely import what action he
performs, but also the condition of his mind and heart at the time.
◦ 3 necessary conditions of a virtuous person (we need exemplars)
▪ knowledge (of what he is doing and that it is the right thing to do)
▪ choice (choose to do the right thing for its own sake, not as a means to some
other end)
▪ character (action flows out of a virtuous character that is firm and
unchangeable over time)
◦ What type of thing is virtue?
▪ It is not a passion/feeling or a faculty
▪ It is a disposition or state of character – standing well or badly in relation to
passions
▪ A moral virtue is a disposition to choose the mean between to vices
(extremes) of a feeling appropriate to the situation (definition at II.6)
II.7-9 Characteristics of Extremes and Means
 Some things are bad in themselves and have no mean
 The appearance of vice is relative to the observer's perspective
 Some excesses or deficiencies are further from the mean than their opposite.
 The mean is hard to attain
 We should flee from the more contrary vice first, especially noticing which vice
we tend toward
 We should guard against the vice that most involves pleasure
Book III: Moral Virtues of Courage & Temperance
III.6-9 Virtue of Courage
III.6 Mean with regard to fear (or proper confidence in the face of fear), especially in face
of death (battlefield)
III.7 The proper motive of courage is honor (or dignity)
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Two vices – rashness (excess) and cowardice (deficit)
Five forms of pseudo or fake courage:
(a) The soldier who fights for fear of dishonor
(b) The veteran who shows no fear in the face of what he knows to be a false alarm
(c) The spirited soldier aroused by anger or pain
(d) The sanguine man who is unafraid due to overconfidence
(e) The soldier ignorant of the danger he faces
III.9 Courage is especially admirable and difficult because it involves enduring pain.
III.8
III.10-12 Virtue of Temperance1
Mean with regard to bodily pleasures (and pains in a lesser way). Related most to
the senses of touch and taste (food, drink, sex). Feel appropriate amounts of pleasure,
especially in things conducive to health and fitness.
Two vices – *self-indulgence (excess) and insensibility (deficit)
The self-indulgent person feels not only excessive pleasure with regard to physical
sensations, but also excessive pain when deprived of these pleasures. Most like animals.
Book IV. Moral Virtues
IV.1-2 Virtues concerned with money
1. Virtue of Liberality
Mean with regard to giving/spending and taking wealth (esp. giving). Giving the
right amount to the right people at the right times brings pleasure (if it is given grudgingly it
is not liberal). There is no strong attachment to one’s wealth and resources are managed
well.
Two vices - prodigality (excess) and *illiberality (deficiency). Prodigality is better
because it is the result of foolishness rather than vice and can be easily remedied.
2. Virtue of Magnificence
Mean with regard to spending large sums of money (like donations). Requires good
taste.
Two vices – vulgarity/tastelessness (excess) and niggardlyness/penny-pinching
(deficit)
IV.3-4 Virtues concerned with honour
3. Virtue of Proper Pride (or magnanimity)
Mean with regard to self-worth, or knowing to what extent one is worthy of great
honor. This person is great and knows it, and can therefore accept honors knowing they are
deserved (without taking excessive pleasure in them). Being aware of their greatness and
status, prideful people are uncomfortable when put in positions inferior to anyone and
always seek their rightful superior place: “his gait is measured, his voice deep, and his
speech unhurried.”
Two vices – empty vanity (excess) and *undue humility (deficit). Neither vice is so
much bad as mistaken.
3. Virtue of right ambition
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Aristotle says courage and temperance are virtues with regard to our irrational parts.
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Mean with regard to desire for smaller honors.
Two vices – extreme ambition (excess) and no ambition (deficit)
IV.5 Virtue of Good Temper (or patience)
Mean with regard to anger
Two vices – *irascible (excess) and un-irascible (deficit). The excess is in people
with hot tempers, and worse, people who hold grudges and remain irritable.
IV.6-8 Virtues concerned with social intercourse
IV.6 Virtue of Friendliness (or amiability)
Mean with regard to general pleasantness in social conduct.
Two vices – obsequiousness2/flattery (excess) and quarrelsome/surly (deficit).
IV.7 Virtue of Truthfulness (or sincerity)
Mean with regard to truth.
Two vices – *boastful (excess) and mock-modest/ironic (deficit). Mock-modesty or
self-deprecation is acceptable unless it is overly pretentious, and it is preferable to
boastfulness, which is especially blameworthy when the boasting is directed at making
undeserved gains.
IV.8 Virtue of Ready Wit
Mean with regard to pleasantness in amusement or conversation. Involves being
tactful.
Two vices – buffoon (excess) and boorish (deficit). The boorish person is
uninteresting and easily offended (can’t take a joke, no sense of humor), and the buffoon is
too eager to get a laugh (ex. someone who has to be the center of attention)
IV.9 Quasi-virtue of Modesty
Mean with regard to feeling shame. Not properly a virtue but a feeling that a wellbred youth ought to be capable of. Involves feeling the right amount of shame at the
appropriate times.
Two vices – bashful (excess) and shameless (deficit)
2
I had to look this word up, and basically it means showing servile complaisance or
deference, fawning, or servile compliance.
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