An Introduction to
Ethics
Week Five: Aristotle
Aristotle
 Quick Recap of Kant
 Motive of duty and the Categorical Imperative
 Axe-wielding maniac
 Optimistic about human capacity
 ‘Inhuman’/’cold’
Aristotle
 Mill and Kant – Action based ethics
 Moral worth attributed on the basis of the
praiseworthiness/blameworthiness of action.
 Aristotle?
Aristotle
 Mill and Kant – Action based ethics
 Moral worth attributed on the basis of the
praiseworthiness/blameworthiness of action.
 Aristotle – Agent based ethics. Often paraphrased as:
‘not what it’s good to do, but what it’s good to be’. It
would be a mistake to think that Aristotelian ethics (or,
‘Virtue Ethics’) is not action guiding… (we’ll see why
soon).
 Aims to answer the question: ‘what sort of person
should one be’.
Aristotle – Quick Biog
 Born in Macedonia (circa 384BC)
 Died in Euboea (circa 322BC)
 Educated at Plato’s ‘Academy’
 Tutor to Ptolemy (father of Astrology) and Alexander
the Great!
Aristotle – Quick Biog
 Main works studied today:
 Physics
 Metaphysics
 De Anima
 Politics
 Eudemian Ethics
 Nicomachean Ethics
Aristotle – Quick Biog
 Our focus will be on the ‘Nicomachean Ethics’
Aristotle
 ‘Happiness is activity in accordance with virtue’
 Key terms:
1. Happiness
2. Activity
3. Virtue
 By the end of the next session, we should be able to
evaluate Aristotle’s (central) claim…
Aristotle
 ‘The Good’
 All human activity aims at some good, some goods are
subordinate to others.
 Two senses of ‘subordinate’
1. Some things are good instrumentally.
2. Some goods are valued less highly than others.
Aristotle
 ‘The Good’ – That which we aim to achieve.
 All action aims towards…
Aristotle
 ‘The Good’
 All action aims toward happiness.
 Quick problem – ‘happiness’.
 Translated from the Greek Eudaimonia.
 Happiness is not synonymous with Eudaimonia.
 Other (possible) translations include ‘well being’ and
‘flourishing’. Flourishing has become popular recently.
Aristotle
 Eudaimonia
 Eudaimonia can be affected after you die…
Aristotle
 Human Good/Human Well-Being/Human Flourishing.
 ‘The Good Man’ (sorry ladies).
 One who ‘flourishes’ (achieves
‘eudaimonia’/happiness).
 Good qua ‘man’.
 Qua?
Aristotle
 The ‘Ergon’ Argument
 Ergon = Function
 The good knife
 The good shoemaker
 Notion of an ‘excellence’ – x has some
proficiency/property that makes it a good x. x has an
excellence.
Aristotle
 Good shoemaker – good at making shoes.
 Good lecturer – good at giving lectures
 Good x – x is the standard by which we judge whether
a thing is ‘good’ or not.
 Good ‘man’? What is the relevant standard? What
‘property’ does a man have to have to be considered a
‘good man’?
Aristotle
 Our ‘unique’ function.
 ‘Orders of ‘soul’’
 Nutrition and (sometimes) motion (plant)
 Nutrition, motion, and perception (animal)
 Nutrition, motion, perception, and thought (human).
Aristotle
 Our ‘unique’ function.
 ‘Orders of ‘soul’’
 Nutrition, growth, and (sometimes) motion (plant)
 Nutrition, growth, motion, and perception (animal)
 Nutrition, growth, motion, perception, and thought
(human).
 ‘Brutish’ life is where one leads an essentially animal
life (resemblance to Kant?).
Aristotle
 Unique Function
 ‘The function of man is an activity of soul which follows
or implies a rational principle.’
 Is this true? Only humans follow (or imply) a rational
principle?
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVaITA7eBZE
Aristotle
 Aristotle’s response might be to ‘up the bar’ as to what
counts as ‘reasoning’ – is this satisfying?
Aristotle
 ‘Type’ – ‘instance’ distinction
 Good Man (ideal type) – William (instance)
 What is the difference between the two?
Aristotle
 Type – instance distinction
 Good Man (ideal type) – William (instance)
 What is the difference between the two?
 A ‘good man’ will display the relevant excellences – a
‘good man’ will be in possession of ‘the virtues’. Thus,
a good man is a virtuous man.
 What is a virtue?
Aristotle
 Virtues are things that help a human being function
well. Virtues are means to flourishing (remember Kant
on courage, health, intelligence &c.).
 Given that we want to function well (achieve
eudaimonia), we have reason to cultivate our virtues…
 Is this helpful on its own? What’s missing?
Aristotle
 What is a virtue?
 The ‘doctrine of the mean’.
 A virtue is the mean (average) between two vices. One
of excess, the other of deficiency.
 Example – ‘courage’ is a virtue
 Deficiency:
Aristotle
 What is a virtue?
 The ‘doctrine of the mean’.
 A virtue is the mean (average) between two vices. One
of excess, the other of deficiency.
 Example – ‘courage’ is a virtue
 Deficiency: Cowardliness
 Excess:
Aristotle
 What is a virtue?
 The ‘doctrine of the mean’.
 A virtue is the mean (average) between two vices. One
of excess, the other of deficiency.
 Example – ‘courage’ is a virtue
 Deficiency: Cowardliness
 Excess: ‘Foolhardiness’
Aristotle
 What is a virtue?
 Introduces idea of ‘proportionality’.
 A virtuous man will act relative to what the situation
demands.
Aristotle
 Distinction between moral virtues (‘states of character’)
and intellectual virtues (necessary for one to reason
well).
 Loaning your sister money example…
Aristotle
 How does one become virtuous?
 Training (‘upbringing’?), practice, habituation.
Aristotle
 Degrees of ‘goodness’:
1. Virtuous man – ‘sees’ what needs to be done and ‘just
does it’. (x is good, do x.)
2. ‘Continent man’ – sees what needs to be done, has a
think, then does it. (x is good, but should I do x? Yes.)
3. ‘Incontinent man’ (weak willed/’akratic’) – sees what
needs to be done, but doesn’t do it. (x is good, but I’ll
not do x.)
Aristotle
 Akrasia
 Humorous translation – ‘incontinent’
 Modern translation – ‘weak-willed’
 Ancient problem. If we know the ‘right thing to do’, why
do we sometimes fail to do this?
 Socrates – ‘no-one knowingly does wrong’ – really?!