Paper on Aristotle and Relationships at Work
Name: Yuanwen Yang
Instructor: Marvin Brown
Course: Ethics: Business issues
Date: 09/20/2012
Paper on Aristotle and Relationships at Work Aristotle is known as one of outstanding thinkers revealing the ideas of eternal wisdom to humanity. No wonder that his ethical ideas on civic relationships still find their reflection in modern-day conceptions of successful life. In the following paper, Aristotle’s ethical findings on the best way of living described in his work “Nicomachean Ethics” will be compared to the findings by modern-day ethical specialists. Overall, evaluating Aristotle’s ethical postulates and the concepts of the best places to work by the Best Places to Work Institute, it appears that there are a lot in common in them, especially in such important areas as the importance of warm and respectful relationships with the surrounding people, the importance for an individual to be proud of one’s occupation, and the importance of having a properly developed workplace culture at one’s working position.
Aristotle’s Ethical Theory In his best known work on ethics which is titled “Nicomachean Ethics”, Aristotle discusses his ideas on eternal question of how men should live to be the most successful and contented with what they have. In particular, Aristotle explains his concepts on real happiness, virtue, deliberation, justice, and friendship which are the most important variables of civic relations. According to Aristotle, real happiness is not in pleasure, amusement, and entertainment, but it is in action that can be associated with virtue and highly moral way of living, since only virtue has true value for an individual and for those around him or her (Ostwald 25). The thinker also associates real happiness with contemplation as it is the highest form of morality characterized by completeness, self-sufficiency, continuity, and pleasure. For Aristotle, the happy life needs to concentrate on a single kind of good; thus, the happy life is a
Instructor: Marvin Brown
Course: Ethics: Business issues
Date: 09/20/2012
Paper on Aristotle and Relationships at Work Aristotle is known as one of outstanding thinkers revealing the ideas of eternal wisdom to humanity. No wonder that his ethical ideas on civic relationships still find their reflection in modern-day conceptions of successful life. In the following paper, Aristotle’s ethical findings on the best way of living described in his work “Nicomachean Ethics” will be compared to the findings by modern-day ethical specialists. Overall, evaluating Aristotle’s ethical postulates and the concepts of the best places to work by the Best Places to Work Institute, it appears that there are a lot in common in them, especially in such important areas as the importance of warm and respectful relationships with the surrounding people, the importance for an individual to be proud of one’s occupation, and the importance of having a properly developed workplace culture at one’s working position.
Aristotle’s Ethical Theory In his best known work on ethics which is titled “Nicomachean Ethics”, Aristotle discusses his ideas on eternal question of how men should live to be the most successful and contented with what they have. In particular, Aristotle explains his concepts on real happiness, virtue, deliberation, justice, and friendship which are the most important variables of civic relations. According to Aristotle, real happiness is not in pleasure, amusement, and entertainment, but it is in action that can be associated with virtue and highly moral way of living, since only virtue has true value for an individual and for those around him or her (Ostwald 25). The thinker also associates real happiness with contemplation as it is the highest form of morality characterized by completeness, self-sufficiency, continuity, and pleasure. For Aristotle, the happy life needs to concentrate on a single kind of good; thus, the happy life is a
Cited: Ostwald, Martin. Nicomachean Ethics, The United Sates: Prentice Hall, 1962. Print. What is a Great Workplace? 2012. Web. 15 Sep. 2012. <http://www.greatplacetowork.com/our-approach/what-is-a-great-workplace >.