Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
Book 1
1
What is meant here by ‘end’? (Note: It doesn’t mean ‘terminal point’.)
The end of medicine is what?
Bridle-making, a lower end, is pursued for the sake of higher ends. What
will these be?
2
When is an end or good the best or highest good?
Why must we find out what the highest good is?
How is this “finding out” something like political science?
3
A. issues a disclaimer here. Explain.
4
What is the word commonly used for this highest good?
There are four candidates commonly identified for designation as highest good.
List them here. 1.
2.
3.
4.
5
Common people think that happiness is what?
What do cultivated people say happiness is?
What do money-makers think happiness is?
What is A’s reason for rejecting each candidate?
6
Plato’s view is that there is a single idea of good or The Good. What is A’s position?
7
When is an end said to be ‘complete’? Does happiness qualify?
On page 9: The function or characteristic action of a human is what?
What makes a man excellent?
(Note: ‘virtue’ means ‘excellence’.)
8
The three classes of goods are: 1.
2.
3.
The best and finest good is what?
But…happiness needs “external goods” too. Why?
Can a poor man be happy?
9
Happiness is not the result of fate or fortune but results from what?
10
Look for this line in paragraph 9: “…activities in accord with virtue control happiness.”
Explain. Also, can a virtuous person lose his happiness when misfortunes come his way?
11
Can one’s happiness be affected after one’s death?
12
Virtue is praised, but happiness is ___________________________.
13
How does A. define happiness here?
The two parts of the human soul are the _____________part and the ____________part.
The two types of virtue are 1.___________________and 2._______________.
Book II
1
How are virtues of character (or, moral virtues) acquired? For example: how can a person
become brave?
2
Because “actions control the sorts of states we acquire”, we have to do the right actions.
Actions, though, may be ruined by either _________________or __________________.
3
What important role do pleasure and pain play in acquiring virtue? For example:
Does a brave man feel pleasure when he performs a brave act?
4
Performing a virtuous action, while it is necessary, is not sufficient. A. lists three conditions in
the person/agent doing the action that must be present.
List these three.
5
The human soul has three conditions: 1.______________2._____________ and
3.______________. Virtue is a ______________.
6
A virtue is neither excessive nor deficient. Virtue is a ____________because it aims at what is
intermediate.
7
Name the vices in the spaces provided.
deficient vice
the mean or virtue
bravery
excessive vice
temperance
generosity
magnificence
magnanimity
mildness
truthfulness
wit
friendliness
8
These three positions/choices are not fixed but are a sliding scale. A. gives two reasons for this
indefiniteness. List his two reasons.
9
Deciding where virtue lies, A. says, is hard work, and he uses a ship-steering metaphor to
describe this process of deliberation. How can we reach the mean? Summarize his answer.
Book III
1
There are two large classes of involuntary actions. What are they?
What are ‘mixed’ actions?
Involuntary actions are a subset of nonvoluntary. What distinguishes involuntary actions?
What role does ignorance play?
2
Why does A. say that children do not make decisions?
What connection does A. make between our decisions and our moral character?
3
What is the role of deliberation?
(Note: A. usually uses the word ‘principle’ to mean ‘cause’ or ‘origin’.)
4
According to A., can we wish for what is bad for us?
5
If humans seek the good, how can A. say that our vices are voluntary?
Book V.
What is A’s understanding of distributive justice?
Book X.
6
Why is happiness an activity rather than a state?
How does A. criticize pleasure-seeking?
A happy life is “a life in accord with _____”. Can the evil man be happy?
Why can’t a slave live a happy life? What sociological implications about Athens is A. giving us
here?
7
What connection does A. make here between understanding and happiness?
Can you think of better words for ‘understanding’?
Why is leisure necessary to happiness?
He writes: “…each person seems to be his understanding…” What is he saying about human
nature?
8
Why should the happy person have access to belongings or “external goods”?
Can poor people be happy?