Aristotle : Ethics

Aristotle believes that Ethics is not a science dealing with absolute and eternal truths but
an art, an art of living well. He viewed Ethics as a comparative method, comparing different
opinions regarding good and bad and arriving at a set of prudential directives.

1. Man - Man is a being composed of body and soul.

1.1 The soul is the part that animates and commands. The body is the part which is
subordinate, as the tool is to the artisan; and the slave to the master. The soul has two
parts:

1.1.1 Rational Soul – is completely independent of the body. It has two

subdivisions:

1.1.1.1 Speculative Intellect – pure thought and intellection

1.1.1.2 Practical Intellect – ordained toward action and determines
appropriate means to attain end.

1.1.2 Irrational Soul – closely united to the body. It has two subdivisions:

1.1.2.1 Desiring part – has three Progressive levels

1.1.2.1.1 Desires and tendencies which partially coincide with

the dictates of reason, wishes and desires (BOULESIS)
1.1.2.1.2 Spontaneous Impulses (THUMOS)
1.1.2.1.3 Unruly and irrational sense desires and covetousness
(EPITHUMIA)

1.1.2.2 Vegetative part – manifested by activities of nutrition, growth and

reproduction

1.1.3 The task of morality is to effect a harmonious combination between the

Rational commands of the Practical Intellect and the Docile wishes and
desires.

1.2 So the real man is seen to be his soul, and the fundamental activity of the soul is
reason.

1.2.1 Reason is the fundamental concept which is an all-encompassing, self-

instituting, self-governing order prevailing over all reality.
1.2.2 That man is rational means for Aristotle that man in some special way
participates in this all-encompassing Logos, not merely in a sense of being
governed by reason, but in a sense that man has within him a capacity for
immanent activity of self-instituting, self-governing order.
 1.3 Man is unlike the lower beings, whose specific activities are transitive activities:
activities initiated from without and terminated in a purpose outside of the individual
being. Thus, minerals, plants, and animal activities are determined by external
environment. Man is capable of starting from within, and end with a purpose within,
like intellection.

1.4 If reason (which is the immanent activity) is that which is specific to man or his soul,
then the end of man has to do with this. The end of man could only be the immanent
activity of reason itself brought to its fullest extent – namely the moral virtues within
the framework of the Polis, and the act of contemplation.

2. Happiness

2.1 Aristotle adopted a scientific or empirical approach to the ethical problem. Instead of
trying to discover the Nature of the good life for all by reflection alone, he examined
the behavior and task of various people in everyday life.

2.1.1 He noticed that there are those regarded as living good lives, and those
leading bad lives. He also noticed that the various lives considered as
good, all contain one common characteristic: Happiness.
2.1.2 Similarly, the lives of people regarded as bad all have in common the
characteristic of being unhappy.
2.1.3 Therefore, in answer to the question “What is the Good Life for Man?” the
answer is: “It is a life of Happiness.”

2.2 What is the meaning of happiness? Does it suggest a life of pleasure, success, fame?
In the Nichomachean Ethics, he gives a definition of happiness. IT IS AN
ACTIVITY OF THE SOUL IN ACCORD WITH PERFECT VIRTUE.

2.2.1 The above definition is not very clear because of its obscure terminology.
2.2.2 One interpretation is this: Aristotle is stressing the fact that happiness is
not something static, but that it is an activity. People tend to think that
happiness is something we arrive at – a certain fixed goal that awaits us if
we behave in certain ways. People who hold this view tend to think of it
as an object of sort, like London is an object one can reach at the end of a
trip. Once we finish our tour of life, we will have arrived at this goal of
happiness. But this is what Aristotle is denying. Happiness is not a goal in
this sense.

2.2.3 Happiness is something that accompanies certain activities, instead as

being the goal of those activities.

2.2.3.1 Example: Persistence – A person who engages in a course of

conduct persistently, does not arrive at a goal called persistence. It
is a way of doing things, of refusing to be defeated by
circumstances.

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 2.2.3.2 Happiness is like this: It is a way of engaging in the various
activities of life – eating, making love, working.

2.2.3.3 If a person engages in these things in a certain way, then we can

declare that person to be happy. Example: Person enjoys eating,
then he is happy. This is what he roughly means by saying that
happiness is an activity.

3. Theory of Knowledge

3.1 In his theory of knowledge, Aristotle maintains that knowing truly the good means
doing good constantly and constantly.

3.2 The wise men for example does not only know, love and appreciate virtue, but he
practices virtue and lives a life of virtue.

3.3 True knowledge means knowing what is best for you, for the attainment of your own
perfection and happiness.

3.4 Man’s perfection and happiness therefore consists in wisdom and virtue.

3.5 Since reason is supreme in man, then it should govern all of life’s activities.

3.6 A good and happy life is a well ordered one, guided by and lived in accordance with
reason.

3.7 An unhappy life is a disordered life dominated by passion and lower nature of man.

3.8 Happiness is found in virtuous living, the constant and proper exercise of reason in all
man’s activities.

4. Virtue

4.1 Definition of virtue: Virtue is a state of character, concerned with choice, lying in the
mean; i.e., the mean relative to us, this being determined by a rational principle, and
by that principle by which the man of practical wisdom would determine it.

4.2 Also, it is a rational measured activity following the rule of the “Just Middle”,
motivated by the right intention and proceeding from a permanent disposition
acquired through repeated exercise of the act.

4.3 It is mean 2 vices. Excess and defect are characteristics of vice; Mean is
characteristic of virtue.

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5. State of Character (Habits)

5.1 Moral virtues arise not by nature.

5.2 They also arise not contrary to nature.

5.2.1 Example: a stone which by nature moves downward can’t be habituated to

move upwards even if one tries to train it by throwing it up 10 thousand
times. Fire can’t be habituated to move downwards, nor anything else that
by nature behaves in one way be trained to behave in another way.

5.2.2 We are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by Habit.

5.2.3 The virtues we get by first exercising them, for these things we have to
learn before we can do them, we learn by doing. Men become builders by
building; Men lyre-players by playing the lyre.

5.2.4 This is different form those which come to us by nature – in which we first
acquire the potentiality and later exhibit the activity (like the sense) – it is
not in often seeing that we got these sense, but we had then before we used
them, and did not come to have them by using them.

5.3 It is from the same causes and the same means that every virtue is both produced and
destroyed.

5.3.1 Example: It is by playing the harp that both good or bad harp-players are
produced.

5.3.2 Men will be good builders or bad builders as a result of building well or
badly.

5.3.3 The same is true with virtue. By doing the acts that we do in our
transactions with other men we become just or unjust.

5.4 So states of Character arise out of like activities. This is why the activities we exhibit
must be of a certain kind; it is because the states of character correspond to the
differences between these.

5.4.1 So it makes a great or all the difference if we develop or form habits of

one kind or of another from our very youth.

5.5 There are three things found in the soul: Passions, Faculties, states of character.
Virtue must be one of these.

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 5.5.1 By passion means appetite, anger, fear, anger, envy, confidence, joy,
hatred, friendly feelings, and the feelings that are accompanied by pleasure
or pain.

5.5.2 By faculty, the things in virtue of which we are said to be capable of

feeling these – i.e., becoming angry, being pained, feeling pity.

5.5.3 States of character – the things in virtue of which we stand well, or badly
with reference to the passions. I.e., with reference to anger, we stand badly
if we feel it violently; we stand well if we feel it moderately.

5.5.4 Virtues and vices are not passions because we are not called good or bad
on the ground of our passions; and we are not praised or blamed for our
passions. Again, we feel anger and fear without choice- but the virtues are
modes of choice or involves choice. So they can’t be passions.

5.5.5 Virtues are not faculties for we are neither called good nor bad, praised
nor blamed, for the simple capacity of feeling the passions.

5.5.6 So virtues should be states of character.

5.6 State of character is a stable disposition developed through repeated action in doing
good (meaning by our choices). Repeated actions forma character. If characters can
be developed, it implies that we are potentially good persons. Choices shape us.

5.7 Aristotle does not agree with Plato that knowledge of a good will necessarily lead to
virtuous behavior. A knowledge of what we ought to do is not sufficient without the
kind of self-control/self-discipline necessary to ensure that we do it. For we can be
too easily led astray by the pleasures of other forms of behavior. We must therefore
receive a sound training in good habits when we are young, so that we come to
understand what the golden mean is for us, we will also have the self-control to
follow it.

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6. The Golden Mean

6.1 Classical ethical theories attempt to answer two questions: What is the good life for
the people? And How ought people to behave?

6.1.1 For Aristotle, the good life is a life of happiness. And people ought to
behave so as to achieve happiness.

6.1.2 Aristotle’s answer is to be found in the well-known formula called The

Doctrine of the Mean or the Golden Mean.

6.2 The Master of any art avoids excess and defect, but seeks the intermediate and
chooses this – the intermediate not in the object but relatively to us.

6.2.1 In art, excess and defect destroy the goodness of the work of art.

6.2.2 Then virtue must have the quality of aiming at the intermediate.

6.2.3 For example, fear, confidence, appetite, anger, and generally pleasure and
pain may be felt too much and too little, and in both cases not well.

6.3 But to feel them at the right time, with reference to right objects, towards the right
people, with right motives and in a right way – is what is both intermediate and best,
and that is characteristic of virtue.

6.4 Now virtue is concerned with passions and actions, in which excess is a form of
failure, and so is defect, while the intermediate is a form of success. Being praised
and being successful are both characteristic of virtue. Virtue is a kind of mean – it
aims at what is intermediate.

6.5 Man therefore must act according to the situation – correct place, correct time,
manner, measure. This correctness is not exact, but depends on the person. This is
not a mathematical certainty.

6.6 Medyo-medya – Not arithmetic medya, but aso not the medyo which is without
scaling.

Vice (Defect) Virtue Vice (Excess)

Cowardice Courage Rashness
(shows fear or timidity) (strength to venture, (reckless, hasty, disregard
persevere, withstand consequences)
difficulty)
Frugality Liberality Prodigality
(thrifty) (generosity) (wasteful, lavish, spendthrift,
extravagant)
Low self-esteem Humility Pride

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6.7 For Aristotle, being happy is like being well-fed. How much food will a person eat in
order to be well-fed? Aristotle says there is no general answer to this question in the
sense of fixing a specific amount.

6.7.1 It depends on the person, what sort of work he does, whether he is ill, and
so on.

6.7.2 Example, the athlete Milo is not satisfied with 6 plates of rice, but this is
too much for an ordinary person in general.

6.7.3 He who digs ditches will need more food than one who sits at a desk in
general. A large person will need more food than one who sits at a desk in
general. A large person will need more food than a small one is general.

6.7.4 The proper amount can be ascertained only by Trial and error. If we eat a
certain amount and feel hungry, we should eat more. The same amount
and feel uncomfortable, then eat less. The correct amount is the mean
between eating too much and too little.

6.7.5 Mathematical certainty: 2 is little and 6 is too much, 4 is Mean.

6.7.6 But mean is not to be interpreted as Average. If one kg. Is too little and 2
kg is too much, it does not mean that the correct amount of food is 1.5 kg.

6.7.7 I may or may not be – All one can say is that it is an amount somewhere
between 1 kg and 2 kg. This is the intended meaning of the mean.

6.8 It is the nature of things like Health and strength to be destroyed by its defect and
excess.

6.8.1 Health: food and drinks above a certain amount destroys health.
Food and drinks below a certain amount destroys health.

6.8.2 Strength: excessive exercise destroys strength.

Defective exercise destroys strength.

6.8.3 The same is true with the case of virtues like Temperance and Courage.

Deficiency: The man who fears everything and does not stand his ground
is a Coward.
Mean: Courage
Excess: The man who fears nothing and goes out to meet every danger is
rash. Sugod nang sugod.

Deficiency: The man who shuns every pleasure is insensible

Mean : Temperance

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 Excess: He who indulges in every pleasure is self-indulgent

6.8.4 So temperance and courage are destroyed by excess and defect, and
preserved by the mean.

6.9 In other words, virtue comes from the proper exercise of all man’s functions.

6.9.1 A function is properly exercised and an activity properly performed when

done in consonance with reason within rational bounds – which lie
midway between 2 false extremes.

6.9.2 Anything done excessively or indulged in excessively and insufficiently.

Or they would go out of bounds. And therefore becomes unreasonable,
improper, unfitting to man’s rational nature.

6.9.3 So to avoid extremes, man must practice Moderation.

6.9.4 Succinctly, the theory states: Mean is Moderation.

6.10 Mean is Relative

6.10.1 In order to achieve happiness, people must act moderately, they must act
so as to be striving for the Mean between two extremes. If they do this,
they will be happy.

6.10.2 But mean varies from person to person. If we look at the lives of people,
there are many good lives. What is common is that if people behave in
acordance with the mean, they will achieve happiness. There are many
ways of behaving, and therefore, there are many ways of being happy.

6.11 Patterns in Filipino Values

Deficiency Filipino Values Excess

Walang galang Respect for Elders Sipsip
Maramot Hospitality Mayabang
Walang Paki Bayanihan Uto-uto
Erehe Faith in God Fanatic
Ingrato Utang na Loob Alipin/Martir
Scrupulous Delikadesa Bastos

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6.12 Realizations

6.12.1 We can easily notice the deficiency and excess because they are ugly.
Ang maayos ay maganda.

6.12.2 Anything not done in right manner, time, place to the right person is ugly
action.

6.12.3 Virtue is what we do right… manner, time, place.

6.13 Consequences of this doctrine for Ethics

6.13.1 There are various correct ways of living for different people. What is
good for one may not be good for another.

6.13.2 Correct way of living for someone can be ascertained only by

experimentation and by trial and error.

6.13.3 This is relativist or empiricist view.

6.13.4 The rightness of choice is based on our particular context.

6.14 But not every action nor passion admits of a Mean. Some have names that
already imply badness. Example: shamelessness, envy, passion. Adultery, theft,
murder. These are actions which are always wrong. With regards to them, it is not
possible to be right.

6.14.1 Nor does goodness or badness with regard to such things depend on
committing adultery with the right woman, right time, right way, but
simply to do them is wrong.

6.14.2 So if something has no deficiency and excess, it is wrong.

6.15 A virtuous act is one which proceeds from right intention. The action is desired
for its own sake. Example is that of friendship. The goal is the relationship itself,
the mutual goodwill binding them, and not to acquire advantage or pleasure.

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7. This being determined by a rational principle

7.1 There are Five Intellectual virtues:

7.1.1 Understanding – ability to perceive self-evident propositions. Example:

Every whole is greater than the parts.
7.1.2 Science – demonstrative knowledge, the ability to demonstrate
conclusions.
7.1.3 Wisdom – Supreme science which brings order to the rest of our
knowledge.
7.1.4 Art – knowing how to make things; like carpentry, painting, technology

7.1.5 Prudence – practical wisdom. It is intellectual because its duty is to utter

judgment.

7.1.5.1 Prudence is an intellectual virtue yet it is also one of the four

cardinal virtues. Prudence means wisdom of acting, wisdom in
practice referring to human use.
7.1.5.2 It is a reasoned and true state of capacity to act with regard to
human good.
7.1.5.3 Its specific duty is to tell me what to do no matter how unique the
situation, how unprecedented (novel, unexampled) the
circumstance is.
7.1.5.4 To know what to do, I must rely on the judgment of practical
wisdom. So who is to decide whether such situation is a case of
emergency? It is the person who finds himself in that situation.
7.1.5.5 Prudence therefore functions in the moral organization of the
personality.
7.1.5.6 The intellectual virtues are virtues only in a loose sense. They
embody only qualitative readiness rather than both qualitative and
existential.
7.1.5.7 Aristotle says that the readiness of prudence is both qualitative and
existential.
7.1.5.8 It means that when you have art, you need an extra virtue to make
good use of it. When you have prudence, you do not need extra
virtue to make good use of it – it supplies this good use of itself.

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7.2 Aristotle spoke of the Four cardinal virtues as principle of acting morally: Prudence,
Justice, Fortitude (Courage) and Temperance.

7.2.1 Prudence – It is a virtue necessary for good decision making.

7.2.1.1 Two things to consider. a) What is the general norm? b) What is

the case at hand? Example: Bringing a pregnant woman to hospital
and violation of traffic rules. Prudence tells us to do what is
greater.

7.2.1.2 Prudence is learned by making mistakes – and may be able to

anticipate the consequence of the act.

7.2.1.3 It helps us to be careful in moral deliberations.

7.2.1.4 Being prudent means ability to decide not to decide.

7.2.1.5 It can be learned and formed by constant practice.

7.2.2 Justice – giving what is due to another one. Whether the other is a person,
community or institution. It is the firm and constant will to give one his
due. It involves a relation to another one. Thus paying taxes is a matter of
justice. To a political community.

7.2.2.1 General Justice – all embracing justice which includes all virtues
by which the parts of the community give the community its due.

7.2.2.1.1 For instance, drug addiction is vice opposed to virtue of

temperance. It also withholds from the community its
due. Citizens owe it to the community not to be drug
addicts.

7.2.2.2 Particular Justice

7.2.2.2.1 Commutative – Justice in exchange; Commands that

exchange of goods and services take place according to
strict equality of values. Since rights and claims of the
commutative justice are mainly based on contracts, it is
called just regulation of prices, in just remuneration of
work, and in insurance contracts.

7.2.2.2.2 Distributive – Demands that those in authority in a

given community see to the equitable distribution of the
benefits and burdens of community life. Individuals
and groups are not all equal in their qualifications,
resources, and dedication to the common welfare.
Therefore, the authority within the community must

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 distribute aids, burdens and honors in proportion to the
needs, capabilities and merits.

7.2.2.2.3 Contributive – Obliges the members of the community

to comply with the demands of the common good.
Within the state, contributive justice obliges the citizens
above all to pay equitable share of taxes, to comply
with social legislation, and to render military service. It
also obliges the authorities to contribute to the common
good by formulation and promulgation of appropriate
laws.

7.2.2.2.4 Social Justice – Demands the equitable distribution of

wealth and opportunity among social groups and among
nations according to their share in economic process,
their contribution to the general welfare and their right
to a life worthy of a human being.

7.2.3 Fortitude – Virtue which gives us the courage to avoid doing bad things
and the courage to pursue only the good.

7.2.3.1 Fortitude is relative to the difficult, the good which is hard to get
and the bad which is hard to avoid.

7.2.4 Temperance – Virtue which guides the drives, desires, and the passions of
the soul. It guides us to act in a way that makes us to be human.

7.2.4.1 The last two virtues are moral virtues of the sense appetite (as
distinguished from justice which resides in the rational appetite.)

8. And by that principle by which the man of practical wisdom would determine it.

8.1 Practical Reason/Wisdom – Apart from the moral virtues, Aristotle proposes a kind of
a master virtue – Practical wisdom. Practical Wisdom means knowledge and action.

8.2 As knowledge, Practical wisdom provides the insight into the truth, regarding the
intrinsic worth and excellence and beauty of the action to be done.

8.3 As action, practical wisdom is the practical intellect which properly decides to act. It
takes the appropriate means in the situation in view of the intended goal and takes
command of one’s desires and passions.

8.4 Prudence as man’s practical wisdom is the ability to decide rightly and reasonably in
varied situations, carrying what the norms require in relation to a particular case.

8.5 The word CARE-ful means you are able to make a decision full of care.

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 8.6 So moral deliberation is a process of being prudent – The moment to decide and not
to decide; To wait for the right time, the right place, the right person.

8.7 The man of practical wisdom is the man with a mature conscience.

9. Conscience

9.1 Conscience (by Norris Clarke) is part of the law of human nature and part of my
uniqueness. It is a remarkable gift of God, an inner voice that guides, commands to
do good.

9.2 It is our guidance and commander.

9.3 It is not just saying what ought to de, but it is a general orientation to do the good.

9.4 It tells you what to do in a particular demand here and now.

9.5 Conscience is the voice of God putting obligation on the individual person.

9.6 An experience of something higher that asks you to obey – the voice of God inside.

9.7 Conscience then becomes a “spontaneous intuitive quick emotion, not dependent on
education but on natural affinity with the good.” If you are a good person, you
recognize a good intuitively.

9.8 The mature conscience is committed to the good. It is an expression of the

commitment to the good. Your choice is what makes you a kind of person you want
to be.

9.9 Can conscience make a mistake? Yes, but you do not know while you are doing it.
You should follow even in an erroneous conscience.

9.10 Every person has reason. Reason guides us in action. It makes us responsible for
our actions. Prudence is a mature conscience.

10. The Polis

10.1 For Aristotle, unlike Plato, the communal life of the polis is the proper place for
the exercise of the moral virtues.

10.2 Unlike Plato, Aristotle does not consider the life of the polis as merely a means
for the attainment of the moral virtues and the good. The communal life of the polis
is seen in its essence to be the very life of the moral virtues and thus it constitutes one
of the ends of man.
10.3 The organized life of the polis is one activity whereby man precisely achieves his
humanity as a rational being.

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11. Contemplation and God

11.1 The speculative intellect is capable of:

11.1.1 Science (episteme) – a demonstration and derivations of conclusions from first

principles.

11.1.2 Intuition of the fundamental principles (nous). Mind, intellect which gives you
insight of action and principles of action.

11.1.3 The combination of the two is (sophia) WISDOM. Wisdom is a perfect science
which consists of CONTEMPLATING what Aristotle calls the most sublime
beings which would include eternal heavenly bodies – which were considered
divine (by Greeks) to most perfect being which is God himself.

11.2 God is seen by Aristotle as the First Motor. He is most perfect being, Pure Act, Pure
Reason, Pure Thought, No potency, (otherwise Imperfect).

11.2.1 He is not providential God nor creator or source of being of the first man.

11.2.2 He only constitutes a point toward which all other beings aspire.

11.3 So in contemplation, man is capable of attaining the apex of his possibilities. He

becomes like God.

11.3.1 Contemplation here is not an encounter of someone beyond man, but to engage in
the highest, most perfect type of reflection.

11.3.2 Contemplation for Aristotle remains an immanent activity, the most immanent
man is capable of, which constitutes man’s sovereign end and happiness.

11.3.3 For man to be capable of such an activity, Aristotle theorized that over and above
man’s ordinary human powers and possibilities, there must be something divine in
man, which alone is immortal in him, the Nous.

11.3.4 But Aristotle left unresolved the question whether this divine part proves
individual immortality or whether it means a kind of participation of the divine in
men which is reintegrated in the Godhead at the moment of man’s death.

12. Morality therefore is Human reasonableness.

12.1 In Plato, Morality is seen in terms of “the soul ordained toward the quest of the
absolute Good transcendent to man.”

12.2 Aristotle sees morality a s an affair of human reasonableness.

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 12.3 Immorality therefore is activity which is inordinate, excessive, disorderly,
unreasonable.

12.4 The fault of the person can be traced to ignorance or error in judgment.

12.5 Ignorance can be attributable to man himself for his failure to exercise discipline
over his lower passions – letting his intellect and judgment be clouded over.

12.6 The moral end of the human person is seen as something immanent is human
activity and achievable in life.

13. Criticism of Aristotle

13.1 Concerning the Middle Course. It seems plausible to hold that everyone ought to
follow the middle. But there are situations in which this advice will not do.
Example: there is no middle course between keeping a promise and not keeping a
promise. Either it is moral or immoral. Another is telling the truth. These seem
better analyzable by the Platonic view. They seem to be absolute virtues, not relative
to various people and situation.

13.2 Aristotle is primarily proposing a Philosophy of Moderation.

13.2.1 For him, happiness will result from Moderate behavior. This is true in
some cases, but there are cases in which only an immoderate behavior is
the proper behavior. Example: A person who is temperamentally
passionate and romantic may find that “moderate” behavior does not suit
him. One can’t be happy is always forced to control oneself in ALL
situations of life. For people of this temperament, the Aristotelian ethic
may not suit him.

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