Nichomachean ethics

1. Nichomachean ethics

2. Question 1 • What does Aristotle mean by saying that every action and pursuit is aimed at some good? • All activities are oriented toward a specific goal • goal or purpose of an action = end (telos) • Different types of activities have different ends: health is for medicine, vessels for shipbuilding, wealth for economics, bridle-making for the art of riding, etc.

3. Question 1 • Is there a conceptual distinction between the good and the end? • Yes • The end is the good considered as the aim or purpose of an action. • The concept of the good is broader than the end. We can use it to refer to perfections that arise from the essence or nature of things.

4. Question 1 How does Aristotle prove the existence of the final end? • The concept of the end is hierarchical. • In every action, there is a supreme good or an end that is pursued above all other ends; • This end is pursued not for the sake of another end but for its own sake. • Without this final end, Aristotle claims that we would end up in an infinite pursuit of ends, hence making our desires “empty and vain”.

5. Question 2 • How does Aristotle introduce the concept of happiness in his argumentation? • After discussing political activity as the highest form of activity, Aristotle introduced the concept of happiness in demonstrating which of all the goods achievable by human action is the “highest of all”. • He claims that although there is general agreement that happiness is the highest good, there is however disagreement as to what happiness or the content of happiness is all about.

6. Question 2 What are the four views as to what constitutes happiness? • Happiness is identified by pleasure – men who live the vulgar life • Happiness as honour – men who live the political life • Honour cannot constitute happiness because it is an external good. • It is something bestowed on the person by somebody else. • Honour is considered a good only if bestowed by men of practical wisdom or men of virtues. • Happiness as virtues – men of practical wisdom • Happiness by those who live the contemplative life

7. Question 3 What does Aristotle consider to be the chief good for man, and why? Aristotle considers the virtuous life to be the chief good for man. • Starting from the premise that the good “resides in the function” or activity (the flute-player, the artist, body parts), the good of man must reside in the function of man. • In analyzing the function of man, he distinguished man’s function as different from plants (life of nutrition and growth) and from animals (life of perception). • For Aristotle man is characterized by life that “has a rational principle” or the rational life. • Just as the function of a lyre-player is to play the lyre, the function of man as man is to use his reason. Man’s excellence or chief good lies in using his reason well, and he identifies this with the virtues.

8. Question 4 • Do virtuous actions or virtues give pleasure and why? • Pleasure is a state of the soul arising from the experience of love, one could say that virtuous acts can and do give pleasure to a virtuous person: “just acts are pleasant to the lover of justice and in general virtuous acts to the lover of virtue.” • He claims that the pursuit of pleasure as such may not necessarily lead to happiness as these tend to conflict; however, those who pursue virtue will never experience this same conflict as virtues gives harmony to all our actions.