Nicomachean Ethics Analysis
Aristotle begins the Nicomachean Ethics by stating that, in all our actions and choices, we seek some good. The book is not an argument on why we ought to lead good, happy lives, but rather a description of the good life itself. Aristotle seeks to provide an account of the good itself, not to suggest that we should choose to be good. In stating that greater good comes from an end achievable in action that we wish for in itself, Aristotle suggests that there is something we can work toward in itself that gives meaning to our lives. In the Ethics, Aristotle argues that the highest of all these achievable goods is happiness. Happiness is the supreme good because it is an end good in it itself. The greatest good is something complete choiceworthy
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Our nature and capacity as humans makes our virtue achievable: “and so the virtues arise in us neither by nature nor against nature. Rather we are by nature able to acquire them, and we are completed through habit” (Bk. 2, Ch. 1, p. 2). Two different types of virtue exist: virtues of thought and virtues of character. Virtues of character are achieved in the compound part of the soul, in which the rational controls the non-rational. Virtues of thought pertain to the wholly rational part of the soul. However, we must go through difficult means to be virtuous, and so the majority of humans are not. Character cannot be merely theoretical, and we must practice virtues in order to attain them. Virtues can be achieved only through habituation: “a state [of character] results from [the repetition of] similar activities” (Bk. 2, Ch. 1, p. 7). To attain a virtue, we must first experience the excess and the deficiency of the virtue. The virtue lies in the mean, an intermediate between the two vices of excess and deficiency which is defined by reason. Aristotle claims that virtue, although difficult to attain, is what will make us good, and cause us to be
Our nature and capacity as humans makes our virtue achievable: “and so the virtues arise in us neither by nature nor against nature. Rather we are by nature able to acquire them, and we are completed through habit” (Bk. 2, Ch. 1, p. 2). Two different types of virtue exist: virtues of thought and virtues of character. Virtues of character are achieved in the compound part of the soul, in which the rational controls the non-rational. Virtues of thought pertain to the wholly rational part of the soul. However, we must go through difficult means to be virtuous, and so the majority of humans are not. Character cannot be merely theoretical, and we must practice virtues in order to attain them. Virtues can be achieved only through habituation: “a state [of character] results from [the repetition of] similar activities” (Bk. 2, Ch. 1, p. 7). To attain a virtue, we must first experience the excess and the deficiency of the virtue. The virtue lies in the mean, an intermediate between the two vices of excess and deficiency which is defined by reason. Aristotle claims that virtue, although difficult to attain, is what will make us good, and cause us to be