Cortes, Honeybelle Huelar April 5, 2019

Masa, Keim Elisse Virtue Ethics

AB-Philosophy 1-2

LOVE FOR THE ‘‘OTHER’’ IN THE CONCEPT OF ARISTOTLE’S VIRTUE ETHICS

Many Philosophers who practice and have a notion of the Other manifested their means
and ideas of the Other, along the greatest minds who talks about the Others one example from this
is Jacques Lacan notion of the Other where we associated ourselves on the thinking that the Other
is manifested and we include ourselves on the society or to the Other. The anthropological other
or the study of the humankind has based on the differences and may be included on the study of
Social Science and Philosophy; responsibility of the subject towards the Other. But the Other might
also be identified with Society itself (Lacan, the concept of the Other from Kant to Lacan).1 So, by
this argument or the Idea of the Other justify the means of Us, an Individual, will always be
associated ourselves to the public or to the society.

For this paper that talks about the desire for the Other and for the influenced of Love we
will use every philosopher’s perspective of Love; Aristotle as the main philosopher for this paper

Kierkegaard conceptualized that the Christian version of Agape is the only true love.
Christian love is defined to reveal itself as the truth of the eternal. As an existentialist, Kierkegaard
wrote that all love with the attribute in anyway is or is not humane, but with the exception of any
Christian thought is ought to be a love that only remains in a considerate amount of time before it
is to be forgotten and to eventually be gone. He considered it as a love that is not permanent but
as a love to reach its peak only to die and wither afterwards.2 Kierkegaard is thought to have
regretted any of his chosen decision as a living and breathing human being. His fears of not having
the life and chance to play the part of those decisions he couldn’t choose made his life anxious and
somewhat unsatisfying. This thought of not experiencing all probable options is fear in itself and

1
(Benson 2018)
2
Agape perfectly describes the kind of love that is selfless, sacrificial and unconditional love originating from God
regardless of the circumstances. (William McDonald Winter 2017)
from this line of thinking, Kierkegaard made it apparent enough for people to assume that those
influences are within his writings as a big part of his life. "If you marry, you will regret it; if you
do not marry, you will also regret it; if you marry or do not marry, you will regret both..."3

For Aristotle love and friendship isn’t attainable without first achieving first love. the good
person must be a self-lover, for he himself will profit from doing good things. He believes that
self-love is a prerequisite to loving others.4 Self-love is expressed to be love of virtue. when
someone starts to love his self. He is already considering loving others not just for his own sake.
For Aristotle, he used “love” synonymously to the word “friendship” although he demonstrates
that friendship isn’t a true nature of love because you do not use your partner as a means to an end.

Happiness depends on the full actualization and realization of one’s rationality. And to be
virtuous, one must live according to reason. The knowledge that we have to attain the goodness
shall have an influence on others. Purpose is not just enough it has to affect the man's/object's sake
- the good. Thus, determining the role of the means of the activity is essential: it’s being, capacity
to lead to its end. Aristotle was determined to produce the thought and action that people must not
do what they seek as how much it is pleasurable it may grant them but instead to focus on the
notion of that action or activity to be in line as good. An action derived from goodness will produce
pleasure, but in contrast, a pleasurable act will not determine its amount of goodness. It only feeds
the person’s pleasure and not attain the goodness Aristotle mentions. For Aristotle, we shouldn’t
focus on things that leads us to pleasure only. Because too much pleasure can destroy ourselves or
others. our desire will eventually eat us, and we will lose reason. pleasure would lose its essence,
since pleasure is connected to virtue.

Love is easily the most difficult human experiences; it fully occupies and involves our
emotions, mind and bodies. Love doesn't settle for one meaning similar to the other person who

3
one quote from Kierkegaard that made people question whether any chosen choices of ours really made any
difference from the choices we did not choose (William McDonald Winter 2017)
4
(Goldman n.d.)
love other people because it composed a complex feelings and we must know that love is not the
same for everyone; love for them can be delusional and needy, a fun play, an adventure or many
of us feel that love is a desire. Desire for taking care of other people, the obsession for comfort and
wanting that person to stay and be with you for a long time. They consider everything for their
action and if we analyze it, we can see the ideas of desiring certain things to your loved one. It
seems like Love and Desire are very similar to each other, as for Aristotle, we are born with
citizenship and that is to be with the community, to perform our function as a human being, we act
in accordance with our arete (virtue), that involving ourselves with the Other make love possible,
or even pointing that “How to make Love” will be justified by the means of desiring what the
Other desires, "Desire is not a demand for an object: it's a desire for love, demonstrated by the
presence or absence of the other person." (Ecrits, 579) the possibility of Love and justifying it to
be true and pure, individual desire is good, wanting for the eudaimonia (happiness) for yourself is
not bad, and actually good for you because focusing in yourself will maximize your true
potentiality, but wanting the happiness of the states or the Other is more godlike than wanting
something for yourself only. So our Desire for the Other drives us to help Other people and when
it comes to loving Other, it involves the outside or external things that around us, Aristotle also
said that it also requires the outside forces or things that exist to fully extend our help with each
other; a person who happens to have friends, family, loved ones is more likely to be happy than
those at first who had nothing from the start. It means that happiness and love require the Other to
fully acquire the actuality of being in a society.

The philosophical views of the philosophers give a variety of impressions about love.
Loving others starts from loving yourself. In Aristotle’s view of love, we should put an effort to
build and bring the true happiness to each other to go deeper. We must seek to build relationships
of shared virtue. Pleasure stirs up passion which humans need to achieve our fullest selves. When
we reached our esteemed level of ourselves, we grow into our highest potential which leads us to
the extent of loving ourselves and loving others. It is good for man if it includes the goodness of
others. Love isn’t just a feeling but a settled intention.

In this paper we wanted to tell that focusing with the Other is not bad, but rather, can be
beneficial by: if you as an individual can’t feel anything, you don’t feel any love and by giving
love for the Other makes Love even more pure. It’s like you giving something you didn’t have,
and by the means of that, it’s hard for people to even give Love, and if you happen to comply and
to make someone feel the love you lack, it’s a beautiful thing to possess. What you give will soon
be reflected back to you, and if you happen to give someone what they lack, and what you gave is
love that you lack about, the Love that you don’t have will be given to you because it so happen
that you love someone.

Giving something that lacks about you to other people and giving it to the people who
doesn't want it, proves that Love will not always be based on material things; and those materials
cannot be simply associated as a symbol of Love and cannot be justified as being Pure Love to the
Other.

"Loving is to give what one does not have.. to someone who doesn't want it.” (Seminar XII)

Love is supposed to be unconditional, understanding that not everyone is capable of loving

you because of the preference or standard that they want, one must completely fulfill the standard
that Other people wanted, before they start loving the Other. For the conclusion, love requires the
Other; Loving doesn’t fully acquire the actual potentiality of its essence with the help of the Other,
we may feel love by yourself only, but you wouldn’t actually maximize the actuality of Love itself.