Aristotle
§Born
§Father was a
physician.
§A student of
Plato’s for
20 years at Plato’s academy
§Tutored Alexander
the Great
§Founded his own
school,
the Lyceum
Plato’s Influence on
Aristotle’s Ethics…
his theory or account of whatthegood (happy) life is for a human being and what eachperson mustdo, if he/she wants to achieve it.
The Nicomachean Ethics was writetn as lecturenotes. The study retains Plato's view that being a good person, i.e. being virtuous, requires a reason-governed soul. But Aristotle's account of a good (virtuous, and therefore happy person) puts more stress on virtuous activity and its material requirements, such as friends, money, education, etc.
§Aristotle tends
to say straight-forwardly what he thinks.
§He starts from
what is best known
to us and works up to what he thinks is true in an abstract sense. (Plato tends
to do the reverse.)
§He often begins
by setting out
the views of ordinary people
(the “many”) and Plato (the “wise”).
…Method
§He then
reconciles the views of the many and the wise by means of his own view, which
he thinks is obviously better
than both of the many’s view and the view of the wise,
i.e. Plato’s view.
In the N.E. he starts by considering ‘Happiness’
Aristotle points out (p. 384-5)
that happiness is our ultimate goal.
Happiness is the “highest of all goods that our action can achieve” (p.
385).
It is that end of action that we pursue for its own sake
and that for which everything else that we do is done.
So he concludes...
“Will not then a knowledge
of this supreme good be
also of great practical
importance for the
conduct of life?”
(p. 385)
To consider
‘Happiness’…
Aristotle begins by noting at
the opening of Bk. 1 ch. IV of N.E.,
that people think of happiness as
being the same as the good life or doing well.
This equation is important.
By equating happiness
with doing well, Aristotle
makes clear that in his view
to be happy is not to be in a certain feeling state, but rather to be active,
or to be acting in a certain way.
So engaging in a certain kind of activity, namely, reason governed activity, is
for Aristotle at the core of being happy.
As a contrast, consider…
The Epicurean or Utilitarian
view of happiness, according
to which to be happy is to
experience pleasure, not pain.
So for these philosophers,
being happy is having certain
kinds of feelings – whereas for
Aristotle, being happy is to be
doing things in a certain way.
To support his own view, Aristotle…
First examines popular
views of being happy and
raises objections to them.
He points out:
§Many think
happiness is
pleasure, honor or wealth.
(1095a)
§But devotion to
pleasure is unworthy of a human being.
§And acquisition
of honor and wealth makes a person too dependent on the efforts of other
people.
His objections are
noteworthy.
They reveal two basic
assumptions that he makes
about being happy.
These assumptions are:
§Happiness
for a human
being should “correspond”
to the nature of a human being.
§Happiness
for a human being should result largely from a person’s own efforts.
The assumptions
imply that:
§Happiness
varies from
species to species,
(Dogs are happy when they sniff. Humans,
when they create.)
§Happiness is
attainable by
any member of a species in circumstances that are normal
for the species
To repeat…
Aristotle, starts
his account of happiness
by examining popular views
about happiness held by
people at his time.
He eliminates pleasure, honor
and the state of being virtuous as candidates for “doing well” or
being happy.
He then comes to his
own view… He begins
by considering what it is
“to do well” in non-moral cases.
Non-moral cases of “doing well”
are cases where a craftsperson or
a bodily part does or functions well. Moral cases are cases where
a human, acting simply as
a human being, “does well,”
(e.g., makes a prudent decision).
Aristotle’s approach is then
to argue by analogy. Just as
“doing well” for a craftsperson
or a bodily parts consists in performing one’s function well,
so “doing well” for a human being (considered solely as a human being) consists
in performing well the function of a human being.
This argument is called the
function argument.
Function Argument, 1098a
1. Doing
well for a member
of a kind, consists in
performing well the
distinctive function of
that kind.
2. Hence,
doing well for a person consists in performing well
the human function,
if humans have a function.
…Function Argument
3. Human
beings have
the distinctive function
of reasoning, both
practically & theoretically.
4. Hence,
human well-being (happiness) consists in exercising rationality in action, and
doing this well.
5. Doing
this well means
doing it in accord with virtue.
With respect to premise 3…
Aristotle’s reason for
thinking that human beings
do have a distinctive function,
is the fact that artisans
(like flute players), and
parts of bodies (like eyes),
have functions.
So it is likely that humans,
as such, have a function.
With respect to his
conclusion that doing well
is performing the function
of your kind well…
This is what is involved in the exemplary performance of
any craftsperson.
For example, a flute player
plays the flute, and plays it well.
To back up his conclusion, Aristotle says…
“The goodness or efficiency of a flute player or sculptor
or craftsman of any sort, and in general, of anybody who has some function or
business to perform, is thought to reside in that function; and similarly it
may be held that the good of man resides in the function of man, if he has a
function.” (p. 392)
We also need to ask what
it means to do an action
well or do it virtuously.
But before we go on to that
topic, first notice that Aristotle’s approach reconciles the view of the many
on happiness, and the view of the wise on happiness.
That is, an advantage of
Aristotle’s view is that
it links views of
‘Many’ and ‘Wise’…
§The happy life
is pleasant, as the many require, for one takes pleasure in doing what one is
best suited to.
§The happy life
aims at the good,
as the wise require, for the activity is guided by reason.
The fact that the happy
life is for Aristotle, one in
which reason guides a
person’s activities means that…
The core of the good/happy life
for a human being is reasoned, guided/governed activity.
Now we can go on to
ask what Aristotle
means by saying that
“to do [one’s function] well
is to act in accord with virtue.”
In explaining what it is to
do an action well, Aristotle
implicitly adopts one of
Plato’s ideas (Republic 349eff), according to which the good musician or
good medical man
does not under or over perform.
But does exactly the kind of action that is required under the
circumstances.
Accordingly,
Aristotle says…
“Virtue is of two kinds:
that of the intellect and
that of character.”
(1103a)
In other words…
Performing just the
right action in the given circumstances and so
to do well in those circumstances requires both practical knowledge and habituated
behavior.
Intellectual Virtues
§Located in the
rational
part of the soul.
§Acquired
primarily
through teaching.
§The most
important intellectual virtue for exercising rationality
in action is practical wisdom.
Virtues of Character
§Located in the
non-rational,
reason-guided part of the
soul.
§Acquired
through practice.
§Dispositions to
choose the
mean, relative to an individual.
With respect to virtue of
character, Aristotle says
(1107b)…
“Virtue [of character] is a
state involving rational choice, consisting in a mean relative
to us and determined by
[practical] reason.”
Mean Relative to Us
§It’s qualitative
rather than quantitative (not mathe-
matically determinable).
§It’s
relational rather than subjective (not a matter of preference).
§The mean for a
person varies, depending on circumstances but
it is always determined by reason.
So people in similar circumstances should perform similarly.
As an example of the
“relative mean,” Aristotle
says (1106a)…
“If ten pounds of food is
a lot for someone to eat
and two pounds a little, the
trainer will not necessarily
prescribe six pounds.”
For…
Six pounds is too much for the ordinary person, but for a
wrestler perhaps it is too little.
So virtuous action
requires…
§Not
“moderation”
§But rather
doing what is
prudent for a person with
your traits, in your situation,
at a certain time to do.
So happiness for a
human being requires…
§Practical
reason
(reasoned choice)
§Habitual
behavior (“activities”)
in accord with the mean relative
to an individual.
That is, a person
“does well” when:
§His/her
activities exhibit
practical reason and
aim at contemplation
(theoretical reason).
§His/her
activities are the result
of a habit (a settled disposition)
to choose the mean relative to
an individual.
Aristotle believes…
§This type of
life is
pleasantest.
§This type of
life makes
one most self-sufficient.
§This type of
life is most complete, contains most good things.
That is,
in Aristotle’s view…
The person who lives well,
habitually chooses means
that further intellectual pursuits.
For example, the person eats nutritious foods and exercises
in order to be better able to think about philosophical matters.
Furthermore,
The person who makes these “rational choices” is not
guided
by preference but by reason.
He/she considers his/her circum-stances, his/her available resources, and the
“goal of a good human life”, namely, contemplation, and chooses to do whatever
action in the circumstances is most likely to promote that goal.
External goods: the place
of these in the “happy life”
Aristotle says, “it is no easy
matter to perform noble
deeds without resources.
For in many actions, we employ,
as if they were instruments at
our disposal, friends, wealth
and political power.”
(1099b)
So “external goods” have
a place in the happy life.
They are not components
of “happiness”, but are
instruments which can be used
to increase a person’s theoretical activity, just as a library card is
not a component of a college course, but a tool for doing well in a course.
External goods
§Enable one to
more easily
exercise theoretical reason
(i.e., contemplate).
§Give you more
opportunities
to exercise practical reason
(i.e., engage in activities that
benefit others).
For example…
§Friends give
you
opportunities both to
discuss philosophy
and to be generous.
§Wealth gives
you more
leisure to contemplate, and
gives you more assets to
help others.
The generous person, says Aristotle (N.E. 1120a-1123b)
“Will give to the right people,
in the right amount, at the
right time, in proportion to his/her property, and for the right objects,
in both small and large matters; and he/she will do it with pleasure, because
activity, according to the relative mean, is pleasant for a human being.”
The question then arises…
In Aristotle’s view, does
having lots of external goods
(many friends, great wealth,
high social position) increase/enhance a
person’s happiness?
The answer is, I think,
“No”.
In Aristotle’s view a person
needs to be “adequately
furnished” with external
goods but beyond that the
increase in goods only extends
the sphere of one’s activities.
It does not enhance the
quality of one’s life.
Compare Job to
Timon of
Job can exercise virtue,
but due to his many losses,
his activity is severely
restricted.
So his happiness is
limited.
Compare Job to
Timon of
Timon has more opportunity,
due to his circumstances,
to exercise virtue.
So his happiness is
much more extensive.
The key to understanding Aristotle’s point of view…
Happiness isn’t for Aristotle
a feeling, such as pleasure.
It is the performance of a certain kind of activity, namely, rational
activity. Happiness is the exercise of
reason
in activities. The more extensive a
person’s reason involving activities, the wider the range (but not the quality)
of his/her happiness.
We turn next to the
topic of Friends…
In Aristotle’s view, friends
are one kind of external good. Friends
provide opportunities for generosity, for generosity
“is exercised mainly and in its most commendable form towards friends”. (N.E.
1155a)