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Aristotle, in his Nicomachean Ethics, talks about the attributes of virtue
and the golden mean. In my opinion, the theory of virtue that Aristotle explains
plays a significant role in being a stable and functioning society because rulers
must be virtuous in order to create a peaceful society. It is also essential for
people to be virtuous so that they can live together peacefully and develop basic
interactions.
Firstly, Aristotle states, “the virtue of man also will be the state of
character which makes a man good and which makes him do his own work well”
(Aristotle, 2009, p. 29). To be more precise, virtue is that which makes man reach
a self-sufficient excellence and makes his actions equally excellent. For instance,
Aristotle states that a horse's virtue is not only in excellence in itself, but also
that it is effective in the horse's functions (Aristotle, 2009, p. 29). Moreover, in
order to be virtuous, what a person should do is to be moderate in his actions.
According to Aristotle, the way to be moderate is to target the intermediate that
is relatively to us and avoid actions that are excess and defect (2009, p. 30). To
put it simply, there is a golden mean in every single event and virtue is in
behaviour in the golden mean. Therefore, in order to be virtuous, what is the
intermediate must be aimed.
After determining what is virtuous and how to be virtuous, if we focus on
the role that virtue theory plays in society, first, for a prosperous and peaceful
society, the actions of rulers must be virtuous because every decision of the
politicians affects the lives of individuals in the society. For this reason,
politicians are responsible to the society in their every behaviour, and the excess
and defect actions of the rulers harm the individuals in the society. For example,
the two fundamental areas in which rulers are evvffective in human life are
politics and economy. According to Aristotle “With regard to feelings of fear and
confidence courage is the mean” (2009, p. 32). Based on this, we can say that a
ruler should be courageous in certain politic issues. If a ruler exceeds in
fearlessness, he/she could put his country at serious risk like war. If a ruler is a
coward, namely, he/she exceeds in fear, he/she cannot fulfill his obligation to
protect his country and people. In addition to this, it is necessary for a ruler to be
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virtuous in economic terms. Furthermore, according to Aristotle, the mean is
liberality, the excess is prodigality and the defect is meanness in economic
conditions (2009, p. 32). A ruler uses the taxes that the state collects from the
people when making public expenditures. Where ruler is wasteful, the budget
will not be enough to meet the needs of the entire population. In the case where
ruler is stingy, the people will pay a lot of tax but receive less service.
Consequently, politicians harm their people when they go to extremes in their
decisions, so for a functioning and stable society, rulers must be virtuous.
Another point is humans are social creatures. For this reason, they need to
communicate with each other, to establish various bonds with each other, in
short, to live together. For a stable and functioning society, it is important for
people to be virtuous in their relationships because people can connect with each
other only by meeting certain moral values. These bonds are established in
different areas such as marriage, friendship or business relations, and where
they all meet is the principle of meeting people on a common ground. For this,
people should be virtuous in their behaviour, that is, they should aim for
intermediate by separating from excess and defect actions. However, it should be
noted that intermediate is relatively to us (Aristotle, 2009, p. 30). Therefore, the
intermediate of every single event is different. For example, People's behaviour
creates an impression on others. Someone who exceeds in anger will not be able
to convince people that he will be a good friend or partner. On the other hand, the
person who falls short on anger will also be seen as apathetic and indifferent in
their relationships. In this case, reasonable human relations will not be
established and these individuals will disturb the peace of the society.
Furthermore, Aristotle states that intermediates of various events cannot be
found because these events are extreme in nature and that these behaviours do
not have a virtuous side (Aristotle, 2009, p. 31). The majority of these behaviours
refers to crimes in the legal order, so people's virtue is also related to not
committing crimes. As a result, for a functioning and stable society, it is
significant for people to be virtuous, that is, to establish quality relationships
with each other and to avoid extreme behaviours.
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In conclusion, Aristotle's virtue theory explains that it would be virtuous
for people to aim for the intermediate in their behaviour. For a prosperous
society, first, the rulers must be virtuous, that is, they must not go to extremes in
their actions, because the decisions of the rulers affect the lives of the people. In
addition, for the peace of society, people should be able to establish vigorous
bonds with each other. This is possible by being virtuous.
Ömer Faruk Deligönül
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Works Cited
Aristotle. (2009). Nichomachean Ethics. (D. Ross, Trans.) Oxford University Press.