ARISTOTLE ON VIRTUE
“Virtue lies in our power, and similarly so does vice; because where it is in our power to act, it
is also in our power not to act...” ― Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics
Aristotle considered two kinds of reasoning. These are theoretical and practical
reasoning. Theoretical reasoning gives us knowledge of fixed principles or philosophical wisdom
while practical reasoning gives us a rational guide to our moral action under particular
circumstances in which we find ourselves, and this is practical wisdom. What is important about
the role of reason is that without this rational element, we would not have any moral
capacity. However, Aristotle believed that goodness is in us all potentially. Aristotle argued that
moral virtues do not arise by nature. Morality for him is developing habits, the habits of right
thinking, right choice, and right behavior (Stumpf and Fieser, 2003). In carrying out a morally
virtuous life, one needs the intellectual guide of practical wisdom in steering the self toward the
right choices and actions (Bulaong, Jr. et.al., 2018).
Aristotle believed that a person’s act is directed to a particular purpose, aim, or goal. The
Greeks called it telos. It may be the reason, purpose or objective of one’s action. For instance, one
pursues college for a particular purpose. For Aristotle, these are not the chief good that people
should aim. Aristotle believed that human beings have a highest goal, which is the highest purpose.
It is happiness, which the Greeks called eudaimonia. We choose honor, power, fame, money
because they are instrumentality or means towards happiness.
How to attain happiness?
For Aristotle, the general rule of ethics is to act in accordance with Right Reason. This
means the rational part should govern the irrational part. He described the soul as having two parts:
rational and irrational part. We’ll find here an influence and similarities with Plato’s claim.
Aristotle claimed that the irrational part is divided into: a.) vegetative part- that gives us
the capacity to take in nutrition and sustain our biological lives; b.) appetitive part- that gives us
the capacity to experience desires, which in turn prompts us to move around and fulfill those
desires. Both of these irrational parts oppose and resist Reason, the rational part. As a
manifestation, there are instances when our mind tells us not to something but our body says
otherwise. The conflict with the rational and irrational part raises the problems and subject matter
of morality (Stumpf and Fieser, 2003).
The attainment of happiness for Aristotle is acting in accordance with reason. This means
that the rational aspect is controlling the irrational part. Achieving the highest purpose of a human
person concerns the ability to function according to reason and to perform an activity well or
excellently. This excellent way of doing things is called virtue or arete by the Greeks. Aristotle
was quick to add that virtue is something that one strives for in time. One does not become
excellent person overnight (Bulaong, Jr. et. Al., 2018).
Virtue as the Golden Mean
Excerpts from the book Socrates to Sartre and Beyond (pages 93-94)
Human passions are capable of a wide range of action, all the way from too little to too
much. Consider our appetites for food. On the one hand we can become dominated by an excessive
desire to eat. On the other hand we can have a deficiency in our appetite for food to the point of
starvation. The proper course of action--that is, the virtuous course-- is the middle ground
or mean between excess and deficiency. We should seek out this middle ground with all of our
passions, such as those of fear, confidence, lust, anger, compassion, pleasure, and pain. When we
fail to achieve this middle ground, we expose ourselves to vices of excess or vices of deficiency.
We control our passions through the rational power of the soul, and thereby form virtuous habits
that lead us to spontaneously follow the middle course. The virtue of courage, for example, is the
mean between two vices: cowardice (a deficiency) and rashness (an excess). Virtue, then, is "a
state of being, "a state apt to exercise deliberate choice, being in the relative mean,
determined by reason, and as the person of practical wisdom would determine." Therefore,
virtue is a habit of choosing in accordance with a mean.
The mean is not the same for every person, nor is there a mean for every act. Each mean is
relative to each person to the degree that our personal circumstances vary. In the case of eating,
the mean will obviously be different for an adult athlete and toddler. But for each person, there is
nevertheless a proportionate or relative mean, which is the virtue of temperance. This stands
between two extreme vices, namely, gluttony (excess) and starvation (deficiency). Similarly, when
we give money, liberality is a virtuous mean between the vices of prodigality and stinginess. There
is no fixed amount of money that constitutes the virtue of liberality; instead, the dollar figure is
relative to assets. Although a large number of virtues stand between two extreme vices, there are
other actions that have no mean at all. Their very nature already implies badness, such as spite,
envy, adultery, theft, and murder. These are bad in themselves and not in their excesses or
deficiencies. We are thus always wrong in doing them.
Moral virtue, then, consists of cultivating habits which will spontaneously incline us
to take the middle course of action- or simply avoid bad conduct in the case of actions like
theft and murder. Plato had listed four main virtues (later called "cardinal" virtues), which
Aristotle also endorses, namely courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. In addition to these,
Aristotle also discusses the virtues of magnificence, liberality, friendship, and self-respect (Stumpf
and Fieser, 2013).
In short, moral virtue is a state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean, that is,
the mean relative to us, this being determined by a rational principle, and by that principle by
which the man of practical wisdom would determine it. -Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics.