Aristotle's The Nicomachean Ethics: Aristotle

Aristotle outlined his theory of Virtue Ethics in his book Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle focused his idea of ethics on agents rather than acts. His main idea is focused on the idea of human character- how can you be a better person? In fact, Aristotle once said: “For we are enquiring not in order to know what virtue is, but in order to become good, since otherwise our enquiry would be of no use.” Aristotle is given the credit for developing the idea of virtue ethics, but many of Plato's cardinal values influenced his ideas. Virtue Ethics is focused on the person's actions, not the consequences of that action. Aristotle believed if you had good moral values, then your actions would be "good" in theory. Rather than defining good actions,

Some might have specific opposite opinions to the argument. Examples of objections could be in three different kinds of forms: ethos, pathos, and logos. Starting with ethos, some might use an example of their own country. For example, in North America, killing a family member for an honor related reason is not accepted by the judicial system, therefore, an honor killing in anywhere is wrong in human conditions. This statement confirms the credibility of the judicial system of North America, but is a fallacy of division. Since some countries with certain cultures actually allow an honor killing if the person is considered to brought dishonor on the family. For those societies, bringing disgrace on the family is more immoral than taking another’s

If we examine some arguments presented from both sides, opponents of the capital punishment claim that executing someone is nothing more than an immoral, state-authorized killing which undervalues the human life and destroys our respect for our government which itself says that killing is wrong. But the supporters of the death penalty think that certain murderers

There are many situations in law that self-defense becomes a crime, even when it is defending your life. Tom Joad, in The Grapes of Wrath, was put in jail for homicide. Although he was just defending himself, ""Yeah! My brother Tom. Better not fool with him. He killed a fella." "Did? What for?" "Fight. Fella got a knife in Tom. Tom busted 'im with a shovel."" (Steinbeck 328). Tom would have died if he did not hit the man with the shovel, even though he was just defending himself he had to go to jail for seven years. He was able to get out after four years due to good behavior. The morality versus law comes in play, having been charged with homicide when the man almost killed

First, if taking another person’s life will save someone else of equal or more harm, it is completely reasonable to take the chance of killing them by protecting another. It is shown in many modern events to this day, that there are situations like a person who had acquired hostages or is in the act of harming another, that police and other witnesses have to do whatever

Many tend to argue that it is unfair to take a human life away under any circumstances. One cannot deny the fact that it is devastating for anyone to die; however, if a person was attempting self-defense and killed another human, he/she does not deserve to be punished, because the individual was a victim being attacked in the situation. As stated in the article, “Self Defensive Overview,” “Self-defense is defined as the right to prevent suffering force or violence through the use of a sufficient level of counteracting force or violence.” People performing self-defense are not justified to be punished for murder. For example, in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Arthur Radley, a benign soul, protected two innocent children named

Aristotle’s thoughts on ethics conclude that all humans must have a purpose in life in order to be happy. I believe that some of the basics of his ideas still hold true today. This essay points out some of those ideas.

Virtue Ethics is neither deontological nor teleological, since it is concerned with neither duty nor consequences, but rather the state of the person acting. Aristotle believed that once you are good, good actions will necessarily follow, and this belief is at the centre of Virtue Ethics. Rather than defining good actions, Virtue Ethics looks at good people and the qualities that make them good. The non-normative theory, although very effective in determining the morality of individuals, is particularly flawed when applied to whole societies. This weakness is largely due to its imprecision and abstraction; however, before these weaknesses can be considered, it is necessary to give an account of the theory itself.

In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle explores virtues as necessary conditions for being happy. A virtuous person is a person with a disposition toward virtuous actions and who derives pleasure from behaving virtuously. Aristotle distinguishes between two types of human virtue: virtues of thought and virtues of character. Virtues of thought are acquired through learning and include virtues like wisdom and prudence; virtues of character include bravery and charity, which are acquired by habituation and require external goods to develop. As a consequence, not all people can acquire virtues of character because not all people have the external goods and resources required to develop that disposition.

Aristotle found that there are two kinds of virtues of the soul. First, there are virtues of thought, such as wisdom. Next, there are virtues of character, such as generosity. The main focus of his virtue ethics lies in the virtues of character. Aristotle assumed that these virtues are learned through habit. For example, whereas intellectual virtue may arise from reading a book, the adoption of virtuous character is inherited solely by practice. Therefore, it is through a person's upbringing that moral virtues are cultivated, and it is through the habit of thinking virtuously that one can excel towards happiness.

He is honored to be author of ‘The Nicomachean Ethics,’ which was in fact the 1st book ever written on the subject of ethics. The book is greatly influential, even in modern times. By an analysis of Aristotle’s literature, it can be observed that he primarily focused on preaching to be ‘virtuous’ rather than focusing on the theories of what ‘virtue’ is. According to him, in whatever way we choose to act, some action that is focused on achieving the desired end result or ‘good’ results comes from that person’s own perspective. Aristotle claimed that the maximum good which a person have desire to achieve is basically an end-point itself , a person’s action or struggles is for achieving that ‘end-point’, it may be regarded as a point of maximum satisfaction. Aristotle critically concluded that the happiness of a person satisfies these conditions completely, and hence the highest attainable good is regarded as happiness.

Virtues are gained through nurture, and backing his thought, he explained that if we are born virtuously then we could not become bad. Yet, there are a number of bad people in the world. Aristotle saw that virtue and duty had a strong connection. This is because duty is an act in accordance with law, which enforces perfections. Since laws keep us in line, and our duty is to follow these laws, virtues come if you commit your duty. It is a cycle that repeats itself in the positive and the negative depending how we act. Because Aristotle was a Christian, he saw God as everlasting, and overall, see’s god as an important figure to live up to. Aristotle laid the framework to what would be the future of ethics. Although what he had reported would be found eventually, his views are what most believed as the golden rule, and future philosophers would just string off his ideas.

As well as being a devoted biologist, botanist, moral philosopher, psychologist, zoologist and many more things besides Aristotle held a view about human nature that he interwove into his concept of virtue theory, this is described at some length in the text Nicomachean Ethics. It is this view on human nature that I intend to explain and discuss throughout this essay with reference to some more recent philosophers to show that Aristotle’s view was not only linked directly to Athenian society but has managed to stand the test of time. A point I will return to later in a yet to posted article ‘Can we Consider Modern Ethics to be Aristotelian or Nietzschean?’, this article is much better written and argues the points in greater detail. I must admit this was in fact a very early work of mine and although some editing has been made it still lacks the strength some of my later pieces possess.

First, Aristotle believes that humans should only focus on one goal and is to live a happy life by being virtuous. Therefore, we must acquire the highest good by choosing good acts over bad acts. The Highest good of human action is based on the activity of the soul by using virtue. Therefore, Aristotle believes that we need to focus on virtue because he is concerned with a persons’ character. For example, by not being virtuous can affect a person character because they are not showing moral standards. For example, temperance can effect on how we react to a situation .Also, temperance can affect us neatly because we are responding to the

When we first started learning about Aristotles’ theory, I did not understand the importance. Aristotle wrote, Nicomachean Ethics many years ago. It did not seem like any of it would pertain to my life. After reading into his theory, I found it to be quite interesting. It was a lot more relatable than I originally thought. When we know what we are looking for, we can find aspects of his theory everywhere.