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Kaylene Chavez
Dr. Baumeister
SPL 210 75
14 November 2021
Exploring Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics as a Form of Ethical Navigation
In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, readers are presented with realistic tools to navigate
different types of ethically complex situations that they may encounter throughout their lives.
Unlike Kant and Mill, who provide us with theories that aid us in ethical reasoning and decision
making, Aristotle provides us with a true-to-life framework in which we can use in a wide
variety of ethically challenging situations. Aristotle also acknowledges the difficulty of defining
one universal model that all humans strive for in every situation, explaining that “since good has
as many senses as being… clearly it cannot be something universally present in all cases and
single” (p. 8). Through examination of Aristotle’s central principles of happiness, character, and
virtue as they relate to his overall navigation theory, it is easy to see how these themes can be
incorporated into our daily lives as ways to handle diverse problems.
Unlike Mill’s theory in Utilitarianism, which operates on the idea that actions are right
when they promote happiness and wrong when they oppose happiness, Aristotle’s theory causes
us to think deeper about human good and happiness. When considering the idea of a universal
good, “both the general run of men and people of superior refinement say that it is happiness and
identify living well and faring well with being happy; but with regard to what happiness is they
differ, and the many do not give the same account as the wise” (p. 5). Aristotle emphasizes that
these differences likely originate from our upbringings, explaining that those who have educated
themselves on a subject undoubtedly are more knowledgeable about the subject than those who
have not studied it at all. Rather than explaining why it is important that we develop these ideals
during childhood and throughout our lives, Aristotle gives us practical ways in which we can
enact change in our daily lives (e.g. enhancing our education on such topics).
When posed with the question of whether happiness is God-given or acquired, Aristotle
believes that our intentions and actions directly influence our own happiness. Considering the
ambiguity between the two, he holds that “happiness seems, however, even if it is not God-sent
but comes as a result of virtue and some process of learning or training, to be among the most
godlike things” (p. 15). Throughout the text, it is evident that Aristotle places our happiness in
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our own hands by providing us with a set of tools to achieve such ends. Although he recognizes
there are many facets to happiness and we cannot consider it the only universal goal, he provides
us with principles applicable to change for navigating complex situations.
Although an essential component of Aristotle’s ethical navigation theory is the power of
repetition and education, another key concept that Aristotle says we must master to navigate
challenging situations is a virtuous character. Aristotle explains that it is not solely the
development of this facet, but more importantly, how we convey this part of ourselves through
our interactions with our environment. If we consider the idea that people deliberately choose
their actions based on their own set of moral principles, “…human good turns out to be activity
of soul exhibiting virtue, and if there are more than one virtue, in accordance with the best and
most complete” (p. 12). Aristotle immediately accompanies this thought by explaining that we
cannot consider a man virtuous or unvirtuous from one action, but rather the sum of his actions
throughout his lifetime. He also explains that we cannot assume a virtuous character from the
results of someone’s singular action, but similarly, all the actions throughout a man’s life.
The lifelong development of a virtuous character and responding to situations
accordingly is the basis of Aristotle’s navigation theory. Aristotle believes that the development
of this character must surely shine through a person’s actions if their moral principles are
steadfast, despite the inevitable fact that all people make mistakes. He says, “…the virtue of man
also will be the state of character which makes a man good and which makes him do his own
work well” (p. 29). He also explains the importance of intermediation between feelings such as
appetite and hunger, pleasure and pain, etc. Although we often have inclinations towards one
feeling or the other, Aristotle holds that this middle ground is the most virtuous place to be and
where we should strive to exist. It is this temperate nature that allows us to thrive according to
his principles and allows us to navigate ethically challenging situations throughout our lives.
Through the development of a virtuous character, Aristotle believes that we are easily able to
work through difficult, changing situations in our lives to achieve the ideals of personal
happiness.