Revised, 2/27/07
(Text, pp. 125-138)
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
The Concept of Eudaimonia
Dr. George Cronk
BCC Dept. of Philosophy
& Religion
Anthem
Overall Structure of A’s NE
I.
II.
The Human Good
Two Types of Human
Excellence: Intellectual
& Moral
III. Moral Excellence
IV. Freedom & Moral
Responsibility
V. Intellectual Excellence
VI. Concluding Discussion
on the Good Life
I. The Ultimate
Human Good
(Text, pp. 125-8)
The Human Good

The Nicomachean Ethics is an attempt to
describe what it takes for a human being to
live a good (i.e., happy) life.

The key concept in the NE is the idea of
eudaimonia, usually translated into English
as “happiness.”
The Goal-Directed (Teleological)
Nature of Human Conduct
All distinctively human (i.e., conscious,
rational, & voluntary) actions aim at some
good.
 Some goods are ends, and others are means
to an end.
 Ends are more valuable than means.
 Thus, some goods are higher than others.

The idea of the Highest
(or Ultimate) Good
What is it?
Eudaimonia: The Ultimate Good
Verbal agreement that the ultimate human
good is eudaimonia (“happiness”). Human
beings naturally pursue happiness.
 Substantive disagreement as to the nature of
happiness.

 Will
the pursuit of pleasure & the avoidance of
pain make us happy?
 How about money, status, & power?
Aristotle’s View of Happiness -General Characteristics




Finality & completeness
A pure end (not a means, not an end that is also
a means). Desired entirely for its own sake &
not for the sake of anything else.
Sufficient in itself. If you are happy, you don’t
need any other good.
Not one good among others, but an ultimate
good above all others.
Aristotle’s View of Happiness -Specific Nature
What is the distinctive & characteristic
function (ergon) of a human being?
 It is not life (vitality) (both plants &
animals are alive).
 It is not sentience (animals are sentient).
 The distinctive function of a human
being is reasoning (nous).

Excellent Functioning



Aristotle adds the idea of excellence (arete) to
the idea of distinctive function (ergon).
The function of a guitar player is to play the
guitar; the function of an accomplished guitarist
is to play the guitar excellently.
If the function of a human being is to live in
accordance with reason, then the function of a
self-actualized (truly happy, eudaimonic) human
being is to reason excellently.
Thus,

happiness (eudaimonia) results from
excellent reasoning & from living in
accordance with excellent reasoning.

Another formulation: Happiness results
from a rational life focused on the pursuit
of excellence.
However,

in addition to living in accordance with
excellent reasoning, human beings also need
“external prosperity” or “circumstantial
security” (money, friends, power, social
status, etc.).
Internal & External Goods
External Goods (Circumstantial Security)
Friends
Money
Status
Power
Internal Goods
Psychological (e.g., peace of mind)
Bodily (e.g., physical health)
Eudaimonia (Happiness) – a product of
Human Excellence (arete) (an internal good)
plus
Circumstantial Security (an external good)
II. Two Types of
Human Excellence:
Intellectual &
Moral
(Text, pp. 128-9)
Human Excellence (arete)
• Rational Dimension = Intellect
Self
• Nonrational Dimension
–Life, Nutrition, Growth
(Vitality; Basic Organic
Processes)
–Desire
Two Types of Human Excellence
Intellectual Excellence = the excellent
functioning of the intellect (correct thinking
& reasoning) -- corresponds to the rational
dimension of the self
Moral Excellence = desiring and acting in
accordance with reason -- corresponds to
the desiring dimension of the self
Questions to think about:
What about physical excellence?
 Is there a type of excellence corresponding
to the physical-biological level of the self?
 Why does Aristotle not include this level of
excellence? Should he include it?

(Text, pp. 129-134)
III. Moral Excellence
(Moral Virtue)
How is moral excellence (virtue)
acquired?
Early-life moral training (moral habituation)
and
Moral practice (repeated performance of
morally virtuous actions)
What This Means
Human beings have a natural
potential for moral virtue, and this
potentiality is actualized through
early-life moral habituation and
through the (life-long?) practice
and performance of morally
virtuous actions.
Moral Virtue in General: The
Doctrine of the Mean
Objective expression: Morally
virtuous feelings and actions are those
that avoid the extremes of excess (too
much) and deficiency (too little).
Relative expression: The moral mean
is relative to the individual and to the
circumstances in which the individual is
situated.
A Qualification
 The
doctrine of the mean does not apply to
absolute evils (e.g., murder) or to absolute
goods (e.g., the pursuit of wisdom).
 There is no deficiency but only excess with
regard to absolute evils.
 There is no excess but only deficiency with
regard to absolute goods.
Specific Moral Virtues
See Table of Virtues & Vices in text, p. 132.
See also following slides on courage,
temperance, & justice.
Apply Aristotle’s Table of Virtues &
Vices to yourself. Using at least three of
his virtue-vice categories, how virtuous
(or un-virtuous) are you?
The Major ("Cardinal") Moral Virtues
 Courage
(fortitude) -- fear & confidence;
endurance of pain
 Temperance -- pursuit of pleasure &
avoidance of pain
 Justice -- doing good with regard to others
Courage
The willingness &
ability to expose
oneself to danger &
pain when necessary
to the achievement of
some real &
substantial good
The coward shrinks or
runs from danger &
pain; & the reckless
person exposes
her/himself to danger
& pain even when it is
not necessary to the
achievement of a real
& substantial good.
Temperance
The willingness &
ability to forego
pleasure when
necessary to the
achievement of some
real & substantial
good
The mindless hedonist
always pursues pleasure
& always avoids pain,
no matter what; & the
“insensible” person fails
to enjoy the pleasures of
life at all.
Justice:
The Virtue of Doing Good
with Regard to Others
A just person is in the
habit of obeying the
law & of treating
people fairly.
An unjust person is a
law-breaker and/or
one who takes unfair
advantage of others.
There are, then, two forms of
justice:
1. Justice as
lawfulness
2. Justice as
fairness
Justice as Lawfulness

Good laws aim at the common good of society,
i.e., the production & preservation of the
happiness of the political community.

A system of good laws requires us to act in a
morally virtuous way, i.e., to exercise ALL of the
moral virtues, and it forbids ALL immoral
conduct. [Is this true? Should it be?]
Questions to think about:
Is a just person always morally obligated
to obey all laws, even bad laws? Why or
why not?
Under what circumstances is “civil
disobedience” justified? Examples?
Justice as Fairness

Giving and taking in accordance with
•
•

the principle of equality
and
the principle of assignment by desert or merit
This seems to amount to a principle of
equality or inequality of desert or merit.
Fair (Equitable) Distribution of
Goods & Evils

Should be based on equality or inequality of desert
or merit:

Equally deserving = equal shares

Unequally deserving = unequal shares in
proportion to inequality. That is, those who
are more deserving get more; those who are
less deserving get less.
Application to Penalties &
Punishments


Penalties & punishments should be imposed only
on those who deserve them, and no one should be
penalized or punished either too much or too little.
What about unequal penalties or punishments
imposed on the equally deserving? Mr. A & Mr. B
are guilty of murder, and both deserve the death
penalty. Mr. A is executed, but Mr. B receives a life
sentence. This seems unjust on the basis of
Aristotle’s theory of fairness, but where, exactly, is
the injustice?
The Retributive
Theory of
Punishment
The Law
-- Criminals deserve to be
punished (needs clarification).
-- Only criminals (& no non-criminals) should be
punished (needs clarification).
-- The punishment should be proportionate to the
gravity of the crime.
-- Where does deterrence fit in? Does it?
Questions:
Why does Aristotle call justice as
lawfulness “complete” or “universal”
justice?
Why does he call justice as fairness
“partial” or “particular” justice?
In what sense is justice a mean?
Summary to this point:
Eudaimonia = excellence + external security
Human excellence: intellectual & moral -living in accordance with reason
Moral excellence
• In general: pursuing the mean (except
where there is no mean)
• In particular: courage, temperance,
justice, & the other specific moral virtues
IV.Freedom & Moral
Responsibility
Next Slide
(Text, pp. 134-5)
Moral Excellence, cont’d -Moral Responsibility



Should we praise the morally virtuous and
condemn the morally vicious?
That is, should we hold people morally
responsible for what they feel and do?
If so, what is the basis of moral responsibility?
Under what circumstances does it make sense to
hold people morally responsible?
The Distinction between
Voluntary and Involuntary Action
Generally speaking, people may be held
responsible for their voluntary actions,
but not for their involuntary actions.
What, then, are the differences between
voluntary & involuntary action?
Two Types of Involuntary Action
Actions performed under compulsion, i.e., (1)
caused by a force external to the agent & (2)
the agent contributes nothing to the action.
Actions performed on the basis of ignorance
of the “particular circumstances” of the action
(agent, act, object of action, instrument, aim
or purpose, manner).
Voluntary Action
Not performed either (1) under
compulsion or (2) on the basis of
ignorance, but rather caused by the
agent with knowledge of the
“particular circumstances” of the act.
Distinction between volition &
choice
Some voluntary actions are not products of
choice. Examples?
 The nature of choice: requires thinking &
reasoning; a product of prior deliberation.
 Proper objects of deliberation: things that
are possible; things we can control; means,
not ends. [Not ends?]

Moral Freedom & Personal
Responsibility

Voluntary actions that result from
deliberation & choice are morally free.

Actions that are morally free may be praised
or blamed.
Questions to consider:

In what sense do praising, blaming,
rewarding, & punishing imply the reality of
moral freedom & personal responsibility?

Is it always morally incorrect to blame &/or
punish people for involuntary actions based
on ignorance? Why or why not? Examples?
The Determinism-Libertarianism
Debate in Metaphysics
Determinism: All human behavior is caused
(determined) by environment (e.g., “society”),
heredity, fate, etc. The individual is not free.
Libertarianism (“self-determinism”): At least
some human behavior is self-caused (i.e., chosen
by the individual).
Are you a determinist or a
libertarian? Why?
VI. Intellectual Excellence
& the Intellectual Virtues
(Text, pp. 136-7)
Intellectual Excellence

How is intellectual excellence acquired?
 Instruction
 Study
 Learning
Two types of reasoning
1 Theoretical
Reasoning
Intellect
2
Practical
Reasoning
The Realm of
Necessity, Eternity,
& Universality
The Realm of
Contingency,
Temporality, &
Particularity
Five types of excellent reasoning:
the five intellectual virtues

Practical reasoning
(1) Artistry & Craftsmanship (making)
(2) Practical wisdom (doing, acting)

Theoretical Reasoning
(3) Inferential knowledge
(4) Intuitive knowledge
(5)
Theoretical
Wisdom
VI.
(Text, pp. 137-8)
Aristotle’s
Conclusions
on the Nature of
the Good Life
Aristotle’s Conclusions
Why does Aristotle consider the life of
intellectual excellence (at the level of
theoretical reasoning) to result in the
highest degree of happiness?
 Why does the life of theoretical reasoning
bring us closest to the gods (or God)?
 Why does the life of moral excellence and
practical reasoning result in only a
secondary form of happiness?

Summary Chart on Aristotle's Theory of Happiness
Theoretical Reasoning
Rational Intellect
Dimension
Theoretical Wisdom
Inference
Intellectual
Excellence
Practical Reasoning
Human
Excellence
(arete)
(ergon)
Intuition
Making -- Artistry & Craftsmanship
Doing -- Practical Wisdom
Self
Eudaimonia
Desire
Moral
Excellence
Nonrational
Dimension
Life, Nutrition, Growth
(basic organic processes?)
Circumstantial
Security (external
goods)
The Mean
Specific Moral Virtues
Courage
Temperance
Justice
Etc.
Moral Responsibility
The
End