Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle Dont expect more precision than

Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle

Don’t expect more precision than the subject matter admits of: • Before embarking on an examination of what the nature of the best life for a person, Aristotle offers the above caveat. • Wealth and courage are generally good, but have on occasion contributed to the ruin of people. • One should not expect precise proofs out of an ethicist or political scientist because they have to deal with things that are just generally true; similarly one should not expect approximate proofs out of a mathematician, who deals with things that are determinate and definite.

The Function Argument (briefly) 1. Every action is aimed at some goal (end). 2. Accomplishing that goal then is the “characteristic function” of whoever aims at that goal. In other words, what makes a thing what it is is the goal that it is aimed at. For example the characteristic function of a house builder is the goal of building good houses, and the characteristic function of a flute player is playing the flute well. What makes a house builder is that they have the goal of building houses well. Nobody else has such a goal. 3. Every goal has standards of quality that come with that particular goal Therefore, human life has a characteristic function. But what is the goal of human life, and what are the standards of quality for it?

The goal of human life • Aristotle says that everyone agrees that the goal of human life is happiness. • However, this is a translation mishap. When the modern English speaker thinks of happiness they think of the feeling of being happy (a sort of pleasure). • The word Aristotle used is εὐδαιμονία (eudaimonia), which means something more like “well-being” or “fulfillment” than “happiness”. • But what does happiness consist of?

Happiness • Aristotle dismisses some answers that others supply to the question “what is hapiness? ” • The masses say that the life of pleasure is happiness, but Aristotle contends that this is vulgar and not fitting of a human being. • Politicians say happiness is in honor, but Aristotle points out that requires other people to honor you. Surely someone could be live well without others honoring them.

3 lives: • The life of mere survival (the vegetative life): – This cannot be the characteristic life of a person because even plants do this, so there must be more to life for us. • The life of pleasure (the animal life): – This cannot be the characteristic life of a person because even animals do this, so there must be more to life for us. • The life of virtue and reflection (the best life for a person): – Since only human beings can live the life of virtue and reflection (uses our faculty of reason) this is the characteristic function of human life.

The Swine Objection • We will return to Aristotle’s account of virtue in the virtue ethics section. • For now, the important part of Aristotle’s account is that he provides a strong objection to hedonism as a theory of morality or prudence. • Briefly put, hedonism is the life of the pig in slop, and is not fit for a human being.