University of the Philippines Ethics 1
One Page Summary of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics – Book I and II
The Guide on How to Live the Best and Meaningful Life (Based on Aristotle’s Nicomachean
Ethics – Book I and II)
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What is the best and meaningful life?
For Aristotle, the best and meaningful life there is must lead to eudaimonia1 which is a
sense of happiness you can attain when you’re flourishing in your own chosen path.
What does human flourishing means?
According to Dr. Larry Arnn, human flourishing means that the virtues of being a human
are actively engaged. That’s why Aristotle did not like to sleep because he said that the
moments where you are truly being a human are moments when you are exercising your
virtues or living under your virtues. 2
What do you mean by individual virtues?
Aristotle recognized that numerous situations with different purposes and functions having
a set of virtue for all of them are impossible. He said that there are different virtues for
different situations, purposes, and functions which in ethics, called the pluralistic account
of virtues. However, Aristotle, being an organized man, categorized virtues into 2 kinds,
intellectual virtues are virtues for the mind, and moral virtues are for practical situations.
How do can we be virtuous then?
➔ Finding the teleios of being a human.
Teleios is the complete, end purpose of a being, in this case, being a human. It is intrinsic
to us, meaning it is can be found inside all of us. According to Aristotle, to find teleois, we
must find what makes us unique, a character that makes us humans. Fortunately for us,
Aristotle already found it which he called “rational element”. And the functions of this
rational element are to know and to guide choices and actions.
➔ Recognizing virtue as a mean
Aristotle stated that virtues are found between its excess and its deficiency. In Greek,
phronesis3 is the process of careful deliberation before taking an action and only concerns
with things that under our control and can be converted into actions. To find virtues, the
middle ground, we need phronesis which uses our rational element. Aristotle recognized
that phronesis takes time and is challenging to do but he comforted us by saying that we
can save time if we can learn it. And by doing it again and again, it becomes easier as it
will become a part of our character.4
➔ Teleios of a human being.
The goal of phronesis is for us to be good and just, which is also our teleios. All individual
virtues must be based on our teleois. Aristotle stated that we can decide on ourselves what
kind of path we want to take. As long as, we practice being good and just all the time on
our own efforts then we can attain eudaimonia.
The ultimate good, the end goal
Larry P. Arnn, “Lecture 3: Happiness,” Introduction to Aristotle’s Ethics. Video, Copyright 2020 Hillsdale
College.
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Can also be called practical wisdom or wisdom in action
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Greek concept called hexis
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