SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

AY. 2019 – 2020

THEME:

PHILOSOPHER’S PRINTS: BIOGRAPHIES AND NOTIONS

NICOMACHEAN ETHICS

ALYSSA M. HIDALGO

MAY 2020
 ARISTOTLE’S LIFE

Aristotle, one of the greatest philosophers of all time was born 384 B.C in Stagira in Northern
Greece. His father, Nicomachus served as court physician to King Amyntus III of Macedonia.
His parents died when he was young. At the age of 17, Aristotle was sent to Athens to study in
Plato’s Academy. He studied and worked in Plato’s Academy for 20 years. In 347, Plato died
and the control of Academy was passed to his nephew Speusippus. It is not clear if frustrations at
the academy or political difficulties are the reason why Aristotle left right after it was passed to
Speusippus. Plato spent five years on the Coast of Asia Minor as a guest of former students at
Assos and Lesbos. He took up pioneering research into marine biology. His wife is Pythias and
had a daughter also named Pythias. In 342, he was summoned by King Philip II in Macedonia to
tutor his son, the future Alexander the Great.

Aristotle returned to Athens in 335 B.C. He only rented space in the Lyceum, a former wrestling
school outside the city. The Lyceum attracted the students throughout the Greek world and
developed a curriculum. Lyceum served as one of the world’s first great libraries since
Aristotle’s principle of surveying the writings of students as part of the philosophical process.
They assembled all the manuscripts in the Lyceum.
Aristotle mostly spent his time at the Lyceum. He composed most of his approximately 200
works, of which only 31 survived. His known works are dense and almost jumbled. His
surviving works are grouped into four categories. The “Organon”, “Physics”, and
“Metaphysics”.

When Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C. anti- Macedonian forced him to flee Athens. He died
because of stomach disease. He also asked to be buried next to his wife. In his last year, he had a
relationship with Herpyllis and had a son named Nicomachus.

Some of Aristotle's Works

- Poetics
- Nicomachean Ethics
- Eudemian Ethics
- Metaphysics
- Politics
- Rhetoric
- Prior Analytics
 The three (3) Notions of the Human Person
Nicomachean Ethics

Virtue Ethics

In our life we always want to be happy, we want to achieve happiness. Happiness was “secure
enjoyment of what is good and beautiful” according to Plato but Aristotle disagreed. To Aristotle
we will only achieve true happiness if we are virtuous. In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle
pointed out how to achieve this happiness or how best to figure out this happiness in our life.
Aristotle claimed that our happiness depends on our virtue.

Virtuous person acts if they possess and live the virtues. As Aristotle states this “Every art and
every inquiry, every action and choice, seems to aim at some good, the good has rightly been
defined as that at which all things aim.”

To Aristotle achieving happiness is through friends, wealth, knowledge, health, etc. Getting what
we want to achieve is really something else that we can't explain because of happiness. For
example, my sister is a graduate in business. She aims at wealth and innovation. My brother is an
architect who aims at safe building. My father’s brother is a doctor who aims at health. My
cousin is a lawyer who aims at justice. According to Aristotle, we, the human beings to live a
complete life we must reason well.

Friendship is one of the most important virtues that a person must have to achieve happiness.
Being with a virtuous friend is like a blessing since you enjoy your time being true to yourself.
Find a friend for the long term and not for a short time. Happiness is not short-lived since
according to Aristotle happiness can be achieved at the life-end.

With that we will achieve our true happiness and if the person is virtuous. Aristotle pointed out
that the end of human life is happiness and the basic doings or activity is to reason a virtuous
activity.
 Virtue is a Disposition

Aristotle believed that feelings and capacities will not be complete if disposition is not part of a
group of things that make up the soul. ​Capacities are the things in virtue of which we are said to
be capable of feeling these: being angry, sad, etc. We are called bad and good because of our
virtues. And we have to learn how to respond to a given situation.

For example, here in the Philippines we are free to wear what we want. Girls wear crop tops and
short shorts, it is considered as girl’s clothing. Boys wear shirts and basketball shorts but they
can wear them if they want it. They prefer not to try those girl’s clothing, boys have a disposition
to wear shirts and basketball shorts.

We must learn/ make certain decisions in given situations. Virtue is the quality of being morally
good. Virtue is a character trait and not a behavior. It is a part of our soul. For example, during
the flag ceremony a girl got a call from his brother informing that their mother died a few
minutes ago. She ran while crying causing a scene and she pushed other people so that she can
go out as soon as possible. The character expressed by the girl is bad but looking at the situation
that happened to her is important. Even if the principal called her in his/her office to explain, she
cannot be accountable for the thought and feelings if she doesn't act on them. People can't be
held accountable for their emotions. Character traits are part of us, being an individual but virtue
is not emotion. We are capable of doing this but not everyone will also do that and we do not
satisfy these capacities. We cannot be held accountable for them.

We are responsible for the choices we make in every situation. We are responsible for the
choices we make based on vices (bad character) and virtues (good character). If you are a
virtuous person you will determine how you will act or behave in a given situation.

Based on Aristotle, since people may act differently in a given situation there are no bad actions.
Our action is good if we based on virtue and bad if we acted based on vice. Virtue is a
disposition. Virtuous people will make the right choice in given situations.
 Doctrine Of Mean

According to Aristotle, the mean in ethics cannot be determined mathematically. Rather it is a

mean “relative to us” or to whoever is trying to determine the right thing to do. For example, if
the food serving in Mcdo is too much (excess) and serving in Jollibee is too little (deficiency)
then choose Wendy’s. It is not too much and not too little for others. We must choose the mean
between extremes. Our moral virtues can be too much or too little but we must always choose
mean because that shows our virtue. To say that a man is good he/she should always choose the
mean only.
 SUMMARY

In his Nicomachean ethics, to Aristotle we will only achieve true happiness if we are virtuous.
Achieving our true happiness is through friends, wealth, knowledge, health, etc. We must choose
our happiness for the long term and not for a short term. Based on Aristotle, human beings live a
complete life if they reason wel..

He also believed that feelings and capacities will not be complete if disposition is not part of a
group of things that make up the soul. In every situation, we must learn what to do in a given
situation based on our virtue. Virtue is a character not a behavior. We are not accountable if
emotions control us. Virtue is a disposition. ​We are responsible for the choices we make based
on vices (bad character) and virtues (good character). If you are a virtuous person you will
determine how you will act or behave in a given situation.

For Doctrine of the Mean, appropriate emotional responses are not purely intellectual conditions.
Every skilled man knows how to avoid excess and deficiency. Aristotle says that we should aim
at a mean and look for the response that is not too much or too little to arrive at making wise
decisions.

CONCLUSION

Therefore, Aristotle believes that people will achieve their true happiness or eudaimonia if they
are good or virtue. If we are virtuous we will figure out the happiness we are looking for. Virtue
is a disposition. He believes that capacities and feelings will not be complete if disposition is not
part of it. It's part of the group that makes up our soul. We should learn how to act in every
situation. Being a virtuous person you will determine how you will act in a given situation.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Aristotle’s ethics (Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy)​. (n.d.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

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Aristotle​. (2001, November 11). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved May 30, 2020, from
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