PHIL1003 Ethics and Society
Semester I 2010-2011
Lecture 4: Aristotle - Virtue Ethics 1 [these notes are the text from the Powerpoint
used in class]
Reading: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, extracts.
Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
Aristotle was a student of Plato. He attended Plato’s school (The Academy) in Athens.
After the death of Plato, he founded his own school in Athens (The Lyceum).
Aristotle, his philosophy and his followers were known as “peripatetic” - which roughly
means “walking around” - because that’s the way Aristotle conducted his classes.
Historical trivia about Aristotle: he was the tutor of Alexander the Great.
One of the most famous representations of Plato and Aristotle is in Raphael’s fresco
“The School of Athens” (1509-10).
Here is a detail:
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QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Raphael’s fresco “The School of Athens” (1509-10).
Note the different hand gestures - what might be the philosophical significance of that?
Also, if you look closely, you can see that Aristotle is holding a copy of his “Ethics”,
which is the book we are reading.
The extracts we’re reading come from The Ethics, or The Nicomachean Ethics (there is
also a book by Aristotle called The Eudemian Ethics).
Nicomachus may have been Aristotle’s son, or the editor of the book (or both). The
book is based on teaching notes that Aristotle used in the Lyceum.
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Philosophical relation Plato—Aristotle
Points of similarity:
Both emphasise the close relation between politics and ethics.
Both divide the soul into conflicting rational and desiring parts (although Aristotle only
has two parts, not three).
Both have a fundamentally hierarchical view of ethics and politics.
Points of divergence:
Plato makes justice the highest concept in ethics;
For Aristotle, the Good is the highest, and the Good for human beings is eudaimonia
(‘well-being’).
Aristotle is less dualistic than Plato, and is more grounded in empirical investigation he also wrote works in biology, medicine, etc…
Aristotle’s Ethics:
It is categorised today as “virtue ethics”.
This is contrasted with the two other dominant theoretical approaches in contemporary
Western philosophy:
Deontology (ethics of duty) – Kant
&
Utilitarianism (ethics of consequences) – J. S. Mill.
What is virtue ethics?
The Greek word which we translate as “virtue” is arete, which literally means
“excellence”.
So, this is a very different idea from, for example, the common idea of virtue.
And, what is “ethics” for Aristotle?
The Greek word ethike (ethics) is derived from ethos (habit).
Aristotle acknowledges this, and says there is a close connection between
ethics/morality and (good) habits.
So, Aristotle’s ethics focuses on the things, including habit, which make a person and
their life “excellent” as an example of human activity.
The basic building blocks of his approach are:
Every human activity, no matter how banal, has an end, an aim, a goal - a telos.
So, for example: why did you set your alarm clock last night?…etc…
Also, there is a hierarchy of ends or aims.
The highest end towards which all our activity is directed, is ‘the good’.
The end at which we aim in our practical moral activity is the absolutely good - this is
the subject matter of political science.
But, what is the good for the individual human being?
Many conflicting opinions exist, and in this discussion, according to Aristotle, we can
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only hope for limited precision.
If all our actions aim at ends, and if we can hierarchise these ends, then what is the final
end for which we aim in our active lives?
It is happiness (eudaimonia). We know this is the absolute good for human beings,
because it is final and self-sufficient.
We do not seek it for any other reason, but for it’s own sake.
We can ask the question: “Why did you set the alarm?”
But we cannot ask: “Why do you want to be happy?”
But, what is happiness?
Aristotle’s preliminary definition:
“Happiness (eudaimonia) is an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue” (see
reading, Bk 1, Ch.9, Section 7).
To make this more clear, we need to address the nature of the proper function of human
beings as such.
For Aristotle, function is a crucial explanatory device.
For example, we can only know what a good scissors is if we know the function of a
scissors.
Aristotle thought that human beings too have a funtion in this sense.
What is our function, as human beings?
To know our function, we must know our nature - what is our nature as human beings?
Our defining feature, vis-à-vis other life forms is our reason and our purposive activity.
We are unique among animals in engaging in purposive rational activity.
If we say that the purpose/function of a scissors is to cut;
Then the purpose/function of a good scissors is to cut well/excellently.
Similarly…
If the purpose/function of a human being is to engage in rational activity,
Then the purpose of an excellent (‘virtuous’) human being is to engage in exellent
rational activity.
Hence the definition we’ve just seen:
“Happiness (eudaimonia) is an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue” (see
reading, Bk 1, Ch.9, Section 7).
For Aristotle, unlike for Plato, the way we bring ourselvs to act like this is through
acquiring the right habits - by training ourselves to be excellent/virtuous in the various
spheres of life.
In contrast, Socrates thought that knowledge of the good was enough to make a person
act well…
Next time:
Acquiring virtues;
&
The ‘mean’.
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