SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY,

& NICOMACHEAN
ETHICS
GROUP 3
LESSON OBJECTIVES:
Identify and explain the Nicomaechan Ethics
Describe the relationship of science, technology to
Nicomaechan ethics
ARISTOTLE
NICOMACHEAN ETHICS
Is a philosophical inquiry into the
nature of the good life for a human
being.
VIRTUES
Aristotle sees virtues as character traits
and tendencies to act in a particular way.
ARISTOTLE'S 11
VIRTUES
COURAGE
is the midpoint between cowardice and
recklessness.
TEMPERANCE
is the virtue between overindulgence and
insensitivity
GENEROSITY
is the virtue of charity, this is the golden
mean between miserliness and giving
more than you can afford.
MAGNIFICENCE
is the virtue of living extravagantly, resets
between stinginess and vulgarity.
MAGNANIMITY
is the virtue relating to pride, it is the
midpoint between not giving yourself
enough credit and having delusions of
grandeur.
RIGHT AMBITION
is the disposition to aim at the
intermediate between empty vanity and
undue humility.
PATIENCE
is the virtue that control your temper.
TRUTHFULNESS
is the virtue of honesty, Aristotle places it
between the vices of habitual lying and
being tactless or boastful.
WITTINESS
is the virtue of a good sense of humor, the
midpoint between buffoonery and
boorishness.
FRIENDLINESS
lies between not being friendly at all and
being friendly towards too many people.
JUSTICE
is the virtue of dealing fairly with others, it
lies between selfishness and selflessness.
 Man's highest action and most complete happiness is a life of
contemplation of the highest goods. Man's intellectual capacity is his highest
capacity, and therefore his highest happiness resides in the use of that
capacity. The life of contemplation is so sublime that it is practically divine, and
man can achieve it only insofar as there is something divine in him.
Contemplation is the action which best fulfills all the qualifications that the
ultimate good should have, because it is the most continuous, complete and
self-sufficient of all actions.

For most people, mere exhortation will not be enough to make them
act virtuously. Consequently, good laws are necessary in order to make people
virtuous. Laws and proper education are necessarily especially for the young, in
order to train their passions and desires to be in accord with reason. Yet since
such a great number of men are not virtuous, laws are necessary not just for the
young, but for everyone.
NICOMACHEAN ETHICS
 BRIDGING THE GAP
BETWEEN ARISTOTLE'S
SCIENCE AND ETHICS