GEN 003 | PG1 LONG QUIZ REVIEWER
SAS 1
- SCIENCE deals with the leanings
new facts (Discoveries) and solving
problem (Scientific method while;
- TECHNOLOGY deals with creating
or inventing things that fulfill our
needs and desires or perform certain
functions. (Technology is the
application of understanding of
natural laws to the solution of
practical problems.)
;Science Contributes to technology
in many ways:
- New knowledge which serves as a
direct source of ideas for new
technological possibilities.
;Technology contributes to science
- Providing a fertile source of novel
scientific questions and thereby also
helping to justify the allocation of
resources needed to address these
questions in an efficient and timely
manner, extending the agenda of
science.
- Source of otherwise unavailable
instruments and techniques needed to
address novel and more difficult
scientific questions more efficiently.
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND
SOCIETY
- ANCIENT TIMES
-MIDDLE AGE
-MODERN AGE
;SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND
SOCIETY in the ANCIENT TIMES
(Through 599 BCE) divided into 3
periods:
- Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic,
Neolithic)
- Bronze Age
- Iron Age
1. STONE AGE
Paleolithic (Or Old Stone Age)
Mesolithic (or Middle Stone Age) and
Neolithic ( or New Stone Age)
 Paleolithic period (roughly 2.5
million years ago to 10,000 B.C.)
 Early humans lived in caves or
simple huts or tepees and were
hunters and gatherers.
 They used basic stone and bone
tools, as well as crude stone
axes, for hunting birds and wild
animals.
 They cooked their prey, including
woolly mammoths, deer and
bison, using controlled fire.
 They also fished and collected
berries, fruits and nuts.
 Mesolithic period ( about 10,000
B.C. to 8,000 B.C.)
 Humans used small stone tools,
now also polished and sometimes
crafted with points and attached
to antlers, bone or wood to serve
as spears and arrows.
 Neolithic period (roughly 8,000
B.C. to 3,000 B.C.)
 Ancient humans switched from
hunter/gatherer mode to
agriculture and food production.
 They domesticated animals and
cultivated cereals grains.
 They used polished hand axes,
adzes for ploughing and tilling the
land and started to settle in the
plants
2. BRONZE AGE (about 10,000 B.C. to
1,300 B.C.)
 Metalworking advances were
made, as bronze a copper and tin
alloy, was discovered.
 Now used for weapons and tools
for animal domestication, the
harder metal replaced its stone
predecessors, and helped spark
innovations including the ox-
drawn plow and the wheel.
 This time period also brought
advances in architectures and art,
including the invention of the
potter’s wheels, and textiles -
clothing consisted of mostly wool
items such as skirts, kilts, tunics
and cloaks.
 Organized government, law and
warfare, as well as beginnings of
religion, also came into play
during the Bronze Age, perhaps
most notably relating to the
ancient Egyptians who built the
pyramids during this time.
3. IRON AGE (roughly 1,300 B.C. to
900 B.C.) The discovery pf ways tp
heat and forge iron kicked off
 The metal was seen as more
precious than gold, and wrought
iron (which would be replaced by
steel with the advent of smelting
iron) was easier to manufacture
than bronze.
 A long with mass production of
steel tools and weapons, the age
saw further advances in
architecture, with four-rooms
homes, some complete with
stables for animals, joining more
rudimentary hill forts, as well as

 royal places, temples and other
religious structures.
 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN
“ANTIQUITY” (600 Through 529
BCE) - started with the rise of
Greek civilization
- Developed institutions such as
the Academy, Lyceum, and
Museum
- were the first to believe that
humans could understand the
universe using reason alone
rather than through.
 Characterized by war between
religion and science (DARK AGES)
 In the Middle Ages (530 through
1452), there was a decline of
science in Europe
- Use of currency replaced by
barter
- Poverty was endemic and
people suffered from wars,
piracy, famine, epidemics
 Chinise philosophy developed
theories on matter and living
beings.
 Revival of Western science
started during the last centuries
of the millennium
 Technological revolution took
place
 Vast improvements in
communication and
transportation.
 MODERN AGE (The Twentieth
Century)
 - Witnessed the greatest changes in
technology and science that humans
have ever witnessed.
- These occurred rapidly and affected
such a broad range of people.
- Scientists, inventors, and engineers
built upon the great inventions of the
19th century to expand the reach of
modern technology - for a citizen
1900
- Communication, transportation,
and agricultural was still primarily
local activities;
- 2000 and American citizen was part
of an interconnected global
community.
- These developments in science and
technology were also important in the
social and cultural changes of period.
- The great depression, the world
wars and cold wars, the
advancements in the universities and
industry.
SAS 2
WHAT IS SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION?
-It was the period of enlightenment
when the developments in the
fields of mathematics, physics,
astronomy, biology and chemistry
transformed the views of society
about nature.
-The ideas generated during this
period enabled the people to reflect,
rethink and reexamine their beliefs
and their way of life.
-Was the golden age for people
committed to scholarly life in science
but it was also a deeply trying
moment to some scientific individuals
that led their painful death or
condemnation from the religious
institutions who tried to preserve
their faith, religion and theological
views.
-COPERNICAN REVOLUTION-
 GEOCENTRIC MODEL
- In astronomy, the geocentric
model is a superseded description
of the Universe with Earth at the
center. Under the geocentric
model, the Sun, Moon, stars, and
planets all orbited Earth.
- Any theory of the structure of the
solar system or the universe in
which Earth is assumed to be at
the centre of it all. The most highly
developed geocentric model was
that of Ptolemy of Alexandria (2nd
century CE). It was generally
accepted until the 16th century,
after which it was superseded by
heliocentric models such as that
of Nicolaus Copernicus.
 NICOLAUS COPERNICUS
- HE was a polish astronomer who
put forth the theory that the
sun is at rest near the center of
the universe, and that the earth,
spinning on its axis once daily,
revolves annually around the sun.
This is called the heliocentric, or
sun-centered, system.
 NICOLAUS COPERNICUS
He devoted more time to his study
of astronomy. Until just before his
death,
Copernicus conducted most of his
astronomical observations and
calculations
there, usually working alone. His
observations were made with the
"naked eye,"
as the invention of the telescope
would not occur for decades after his
death. In
1514, he distributed a hand-
written, unpublished manuscript
entitled the Little
Commentary that included the
following axioms:
1) There is no one center in the
Universe.
2) The Earth's center is not the
center of the Universe.
3) The center of the universe is
near the Sun.
4) The distance from the Earth to
the Sun is imperceptible compared
with the distance to the stars.
5) The rotation of the Earth
accounts for the apparent daily
rotation of the stars.
6) The apparent annual cycle of
movements of the Sun is caused by
the Earth revolving around it, and,
7) the apparent retrograde motion
of the planets is caused by the motion
of the Earth from which one observes.
HELIOCENTRIC MODEL
-The heliocentric model is the view
that proposed the Sun as the center
of the solar system. It stated that the
earth revolved around the Sun, not
the other way round, as proposed by
the geocentric system. Although
the Copernican model also believed
the orbits of the planets to be
circular, they are actually elliptical. As
the earth is also just one of the
planets, the idea of the other planets
being made of something else
(‘aether’) was rejected.
-In our modern world, the credit for
discovering the heliocentric model
is given to Copernicus, and the
impacts of his theories and ideas have
been hailed as the Copernican
Revolution.
IMPACT OF THE HELIOCENTRIC
MODEL
-Despite his fears about his arguments
producing scorn and
controversy, the publication of
Copernicus's theories resulted in only
mild condemnation from religious
authorities. Over time, many
religious scholars tried to argue
against his model. But within a few
generation’s time, Copernicus’ theory
became more widespread and
accepted, and gained many influential
defenders in the meantime.
-
-The heliocentric model eventually
replaced the geocentric model. In
the end, the impact of its introduction
was nothing short of a
revolutionary. Henceforth, humanity’s
understanding of the universe
and our place in it would be forever
changed.
DARWINIAN REVOLUTION
-THEORY OF CREATION-
-At a broad level, a Creationist is
someone who believes in a god who is
absolute creator of
heaven and earth, out of nothing, by
an act of free will. Such a deity is
generally thought to be
“transcendent” meaning beyond
human experience, and constantly
involved (‘immanent’) in the
creation, ready to intervene as
necessary, and without whose
constant concern the creation
would cease or disappear.
-Christians, Jews, and Muslims are all
Creationists in this sense. Generally
they are known as
‘theists,’ distinguishing them from
‘deists,’ that is people who believe
that there is a designer
who might or might not have created
the material on which he or she or it is
working and who
does not interfere once the designing
act is finishing.
-The focus of this discussion is on a
narrower sense of Creationism, the
sense that one usually
finds in popular writings (especially
in America today, but expanding
world-wide rapidly). Here,
Creationism means the taking of the
Bible, particularly the early chapters
of Genesis, as literally
true guides to the history of the
universe and to the history of life,
including us humans, down
here on earth (Numbers 1992).
CHARLES DARWIN
-Charles Darwin was a British
naturalist who developed a theory of
evolution based on natural selection.
His views and “social Darwinism”
remain controversial.
WHO WAS CHARLES DARWIN?
- Charles Robert Darwin was a
British naturalist and biologist known
for his theory of evolution and his
understanding of the process of
natural selection. In 1831,
he embarked on a five-year voyage
around the world on the HMS Beagle,
during which time his studies of
various plants and an led him to
formulate his theories. In 1859, he
published his landmark book, On
the Origin of Species.
EARLY LIFE
- Charles Darwin was born on
February 12, 1809, in the tiny
merchant town of
Shrewsbury, England. A child of
wealth and privilege who loved to
explore nature, Darwin was the
second youngest of six kids.
 -Darwin came from a long line of
scientists: His father, Dr. R.W.
Darwin, was a medical doctor, and
his grandfather, Dr. Erasmus
Darwin, was a renowned botanist.
Darwin’s mother, Susanna, died
when he was only eight years old.
EDUCATION
- In October 1825, at age 16, Darwin
enrolled at University of Edinburgh
along with his brother Erasmus. Two
years later, he became a student at
Christ's College in Cambridge.
-His father hoped he would follow in
his footsteps and become a medical
doctor, but the sight of blood made
Darwin queasy. His father suggested
he study to become a parson
instead, but Darwin was far more
inclined to study natural history.
THEORY OF EVOLUTION
-The theory of evolution by natural
selection, first formulated in Darwin's
book "On the Origin of Species" in
1859, is the process by which
organisms change over time as a
result of changes in heritable physical
or behavioral traits. Changes that
allow an organism to better adapt to
its environment will help it survive
and have more offspring.
-Evolution by natural selection is one
of the best substantiated theories in
the history of science, supported by
evidence from a wide variety of
scientific disciplines, including
paleontology, geology, genetics and
developmental biology.
-The theory has two main points, said
Brian Richmond, curator of human
origins at the American Museum of
Natural History in New York City. "All
life on Earth is connected and related
to each other," and this diversity of
life is a product of "modifications of
populations by natural selection,
where some traits were favored in
and environment over others," he said.
NATURAL SELECTION
- Natural selection is the
differential survival and reproduction
of individuals due to differences in
phenotype. It is a key mechanism of
evolution, the change in the heritable
traits characteristic of a population
over generations.
-Charles Darwin popularized the term
"natural selection", contrasting it
with artificial selection, which in his
view is intentional, whereas natural
selection is not.
-Natural selection is a cornerstone of
modern biology. The concept,
published by Darwin and Alfred
Russel Wallace in a joint presentation
of papers in 1858, was elaborated in
Darwin's influential 1859 book On the
Origin of Species by Means of Natural
Selection, or the Preservation of
Favoured Races in the Struggle for
Life.
-He described natural selection as
analogous to artificial selection, a
process by which animals and plants
with traits considered desirable by
human breeders are systematically
favoured for reproduction. The
concept of natural selection originally
developed in the absence of a valid
theory of heredity; at the time of

- Darwin's writing, science had yet to
develop modern theories of genetics.
CHARLES DARWIN
CONTRIBUTION TO SCIENCE
-Darwin's greatest contribution to
science is that he completed the
Copernican Revolution by drawing
out for biology the notion of nature as
a system of matter in motion
governed by natural laws.
-With Darwin's discovery of natural
selection, the origin and adaptations
of organisms were brought into the
realm of science. The adaptive
features of organisms could now
be explained, like the phenomena of
the inanimate world, as the result of
natural processes, without recourse to
an Intelligent Designer.
-The theory of evolution conveys
chance and necessity, randomness
and determinism, jointly enmeshed in
the stuff of life. This was Darwin's
fundamental discovery, that there
is a process that is creative, although
not conscious.
DARWIN’S EVOLUTIONARY
THEORY
- Darwin’s theory of Evolution has
also prompted a renewal of
theological reflection on the
manner of God’s creative activity and
on the way God interacts with the
world.
-Darwin describes a world that is less
tidy and orderly. Indeed, he presents a
world that is much more complex and
dynamic. He observed an abundance
of forms of life, all struggling
for existence and adapting—from
generation to generation—to an ever-
changing environment.
-Although some religious
communities rejected Darwin’s theory
as inherently atheistic, many religious
traditions have embraced it and have
explored the ways Darwin has had a
positive impact on religious thinking.
Theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg, for
example, writes: “The theory of
evolution has given theology an
opportunity to see God’s ongoing
activity not merely in the preservation
of a fixed order but in the constant
bringing forth of things that are new.”
That is to say, Evolution can help
religious people affirm that
God’s creative work is a matter of
continuing engagement over time. As
a result, it is possible to acknowledge
the openness and flexibility of divine
creative activity.
SAS 4
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
-Sigmund Freud was an Austrian
neurologist who developed
psychoanalysis, a method through
which an analyst unpacks
unconscious conflicts based on the
free associations, dreams and
fantasies of the patient. His theories
on child sexuality, libido and the ego,
among other topics, were some of the
most influential academic concepts of
the 20th century.
Theories
- Freud's psychoanalytic theory,
inspired by his colleague Josef
Breuer, posited that
neuroses had their origins in deeply
traumatic experiences that had
occurred in the
patient's past.
-He believed that the original
occurrences had been forgotten and
hidden from consciousness. His
treatment was to empower his
patients to recall the experience and
bring it to consciousness, and in
doing so, confront it both
intellectually and emotionally.
-He believed one could then
discharge it and rid oneself of the
neurotic symptoms. Some of Freud’s
most discussed theories included:
Id, ego and superego: These are
the three essential parts of the
human personality. The id is the
primitive, impulsive and
irrational unconscious that
operates solely on the outcome of
pleasure or pain and is
responsible for instincts to sex
and aggression. The ego is the “I”
people perceive that evaluates
the outside physical and social
world and makes plans
accordingly. And the superego is
the moral voice and conscience
that guides the ego; violating it
results in feelings of guilt and
anxiety.
-Psychic energy: Freud postulated
that the id was the basic source of
psychic energy or the force that drives
all mental processes. In particular, he
believed that libido, or sexual urges,
was a psychic energy that drives all
human actions.
-Oedipus complex: Between the ages
of three and five, Freud suggested that
as a normal part of the development
process all kids are sexually attracted
to the parent of the opposite sex and
in competition with the parent of the
same sex. The theory is named after
the Greek legend of Oedipus, who
killed his father so he could marry his
mother.
-Dream analysis: In his book The
Interpretation of Dreams, Freud
believed that people dreamed for a
reason: to cope with problems the
mind is struggling with
subconsciously and can’t deal with
consciously. Dreams were fueled
by a person’s wishes. Freud believed
that by analyzing our dreams and
memories, we can understand them.
Development of Science in
Mesoamerica
-Mesoamerica includes the entire
area of Central America from
Southern Mexico up to the border of
South America. There is no doubt
that the Mesoamerican region is
rich in culture and knowledge prior
to the arrival of its European
colonizers. The Maya civilization is
one of the famous civilizations that
lasted for approximately 2,000
years. The Mayans developed the
technology for growing different
crops and building elaborate cities
using ordinary machineries and
tools. They built hydraulics system
with sophisticated waterways to
supply water to different
Communities.
 1. Oral Stage (Birth to 18 Months):
Child becomes focused on oral
pleasures such as sucking.
Difficulties at this stage could lead
to an oral personality in adulthood
cantered around smoking, drinking
alcohol, biting nails and they can be
pessimistic, gullible and overly
dependent on others.
2. Anal Stage (18 months to 3
Years): Focus of pleasure here is on
eliminating and retaining feces and
learning to control
this due to societal norms. Fixation
here can lead to perfectionism, a
need to control or alternatively the
opposite; messy
and disorganized.
3. Phallic Stage (Ages 3 to 6
Years): During the phallic stage the
child’s pleasure move to the genitals
and Freud argued
that during this stage, boys develop
an unconscious sexual desire for
their mothers and fear that because
of this their fathers
will punish them by castration. This
became known as the Oedipus
Complex after the Sophocles
tragedy. A fixation at the
stage could lead to confusion over
sexual identity or engaging in sexual
deviances.
4. Latency Stage (Ages 6 to
puberty): Sexual urges remain
largely repressed at this stage.
5. Genital Stage (Puberty Onwards):
This final stage leads to the
individual switching their interest
to members of the
opposite sex.
SAS 5
-Traditionally, art and science have
been treated as two separate
disciplines, but when they are
studied together it’s clear to see the
impact one has on the other. A great
deal of creativity is required to
make scientific breakthroughs, and
art is just as often an expression of
(or a product of) scientific
knowledge. Consider the science
behind mixing paint in the
correct proportions, or creating
perspective in a drawing, or even
imagining the dance of a quark.
-Visual art has been used to
document the natural world for
thousands of years, from cave
drawings of animals that
help today’s researchers figure out
yesterday’s fauna, to paintings of
centuries-old experiments that
show us how they were conducted.
-One of the most famous examples
of the interconnection between art
and science is the work of
Renaissance master Leonardo da
Vinci.
-While his Mona Lisa is probably the
most famous portrait ever painted,
da Vinci’s scientific drawings,
recently on exhibit at the Boston
Museum of Science, are smaller in
scale and intricately detailed and
annotated; and they demonstrate
that he was no less skilled as an
inventor and researcher.
-In fact, da Vinci’s talent as a bridge
engineer was proven in 2001, when
artist Vebjorn Sand built the da
 Vinci-Broen bridge in Norway using
the artist’s never-realized plans for
a bridge meant to stretch across the
Golden Horn in Istanbul. Rejected as
an architectural impossibility by the
Ottoman Sultan who commissioned
it, the bridge was built 499 years
after da Vinci designed it, proving
the Sultan wrong.
SAS 6
- is consistent with their
SCIENCE and CULTURE
| virtue of the recent achievements of
Scientific Theories
| -Science has conferred many gifts on
Cultural-Personal Factors and
Thought Styles
-In all activities of science, including
theory evolution, scientists are
influenced by cultural-personal
factors.
-These factors include psychological
motives and practical concerns
(such as intellectual curiosity, and
desires for self-esteem, respect
from others, financial security, and
power), metaphysical worldviews
(that form the foundation for some
criteria used in conceptual
evaluation), ideological principles
(about "the way things should be" in
society), and opinions of authorities
(who are acknowledged due to
expertise, personality, and/or
power).
- These five factors interact with each
other, and operate in a complex social
context that involves individuals, the
scientific community, and society as a
whole.
-Science and culture are mutually
interactive, with each affecting the
other.
-Some cultural-personal influence is
due to a desire for personal
consistency between ideas, between
actions, and between ideas and
actions.
-For example, scientists are more
likely to accept a scientific theory that
metaphysical and ideological theories.
SAS 7
- Science is creating wonders almost
every day. What was once sheer
fantasy is now almost a reality by
men of science.
modern life. Indeed, they are far too
many to be counted. Cooking, boiling
of water, burning of candle, curdling
of milk, electricity, motorized vehicles,
cell phones etc. make us realize the
presence of science in everyday life.
-To make it clear how deeply science
is interwoven with our lives, just try
imagining a day without scientific
progress. Just for starters, without
modern science, there would be:
no way to use electricity. From
Ben Franklin's studies of static
and lightning in the 1700s, to
Alessandro Volta's first battery,
to the key discovery of the
relationship between electricity
and magnetism, science has
steadily built up our
understanding of electricity,
which today carries our voices
over telephone lines, brings
entertainment to our televisions, and
keeps the lights on.
no plastic. The first completely
synthetic plastic was made by a
chemist in the early 1900s, and
since then, chemistry has
developed a wide variety of
plastics suited for all sorts of
jobs, from blocking bullets to
making slicker dental floss.
no modern agriculture. Science
has transformed the way we eat
today. In the 1940s, biologists
began developing high-yield
varieties of corn, wheat, and
rice, which, when paired with
new fertilizers and pesticides
developed by chemists.
no modern medicine. In the late
1700s, Edward Jenner first
convincingly showed that
vaccination worked. In the
1800s, scientists and doctors
established the theory that
many diseases are caused by
germs. And in the 1920s, a
biologist discovered the first
antibiotic.
-Scientific knowledge can improve the
quality of life at many different levels
— from the routine workings of our
everyday lives to global issues.
 WHAT IS THE SCIENTIFIC
METHOD?
-The logical process adopted by
scientists to develop knowledge of
nature and present it as acceptable
fact. This method is based on
gathering empirical data through
observation and experimentation and
the formulation an d testing of
hypotheses.
1 – MAKE AN OBSERVATION
 You can’t study what you don’t
know is there.
2 – ASK A QUESTION
 Once a scientist finds an
interesting thing to study, they
need to ask a question that
hopefully they can answer.
3 – DO BACKGROUND RESEARCH
 To find out the answer to your
question, you need to know what
potential answers are.
4 – FORM A HYPOTHESIS
 A hypothesis is a statement of
what you think the answer to
your question is. It’s different
from the question you formed
because it’s answering the
question you developed with a
specific prediction that you’ll go
on to test.
5 – CONDUCT AN EXPERIMENT
 How do you find an answer to
your hypothesis? You conduct an
experiment to test it! Depending
on what a scientist is studying, an
experiment can be very quick or
take years—some experiments
have even been going on for
hundreds of years!
6 – ANALYZE RESULTS AND DRAW
A CONCLUSION
 This is what we’ve all been
waiting for—what is the answer
to the question? In this step,
scientists take a step back, look at
the data, and decide whether to
accept or reject the hypothesis.
7 – REPORT YOUR RESULTS
 You’ve just tested an important
piece of information. It’s
something that nobody else in the
world knows.

SAS 8
 The Human Condition Before
Common Era
-Our early ancestors’ primal
need to survive paved way for
the invention of several
developments. Gifted with
brains more advanced than
other creatures, humans are able to
utilize abundant materials for their
own ease and comfort.
 The Human Condition in the
Common Era
-Position-wise, the humans of today
are much better off compared to
humans several centuries ago.
Advancements in medicine,
technology, health and education
ushered in humanity’s best yet, and
show no sign of
stopping. The following are some of
the notable COMPARISONS then and
now:
-(1) Mortality Rate. Due to
technology, lesser women and
children die during birth, assuring
robust population and strong
workforce.
-(2) Average Lifespan. Aside from the
reason that people engage
less in combat and are less likely to
die in treatable diseases now as
opposed to then, science is able to
prolong lives by enhancing living
status and discovering different
remedies to most diseases.
-faster. (3) Literacy Rate. Access to
education provided to more
individuals generally creates a more
informed public that could determine
a more just society.
-(4) Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Although not an indicator of an
average person’s lifestyle in a certain
country, it is often used to determine
the value of the country’s goods and
services produced within the territory
given a certain time period. Higher
country income is brought upon
by high productivity, often an
indicator of presence of technology.
 The Essence of technology
-Humanity has indeed come a long
way from our primitive ways, and as a
general rule, it is said that we are
more “developed” than we were
before.
-Modern humans are reliant on
technology in their search for the
GOOD LIFE.
-Science and technology has been, for
the most part, at the forefront of
man’s attempts at finding this
happiness. The only question at the
end of the day is whether science and
technology are taking the right
path toward attaining what it really
means to live a good life.
SAS 9
-Nicomachean Ethics is a
philosophical inquiry into the nature
of the Good life for a human being.
Every human activity aims at
some end that we consider Good.
Everyone agrees that the supreme
Good is HAPPINESS,
but people disagree over what
constitutes happiness. Common
people equate happiness with
sensual pleasure:
-this may be sufficient for animals, but
human life has higher ends. Others
say that receiving honors is the
greatest good, but honors are
conferred as recognition of
goodness, so there must be a greater
good that these honors reward.
-The Nicomachean Ethics is a book
written by Aristotle named for
Nicomachus, which in keeping with
the Greek practice of boys being
named after their grandfathers, was
the name of both Aristotle's father
and his son.
-What are virtues?
 Aristotle sees virtues as character
traits and tendencies to act in a
particular way. We gain them
through practice and by copying
'moral exemplars' until we
manage to internalize the virtue.
We become temperate by
practicing temperance,
courageous by practicing courage,
and so on. Eventually, the virtue
becomes a habit. In Nicomachean
Ethics, Aristotle discusses the
following eleven (11) virtues:
 Courage – the midpoint between
cowardice and recklessness. The
courageous person is aware of the
danger but goes in any way.
 Temperance – the virtue
between overindulgence and
insensitivity. Aristotle would view
the person who never drinks just
as harshly as the one who drinks
too much.
 Generosity – the virtue of charity,
this is the golden mean between
miserliness and giving more than
you can afford.
 Magnificence – the virtue of
living extravagantly. It rests
between stinginess and vulgarity.
Aristotle sees no reason to be
ascetic but also warns against
being flashy.
 Magnanimity – the virtue
relating to pride, it is the midpoint
between not giving yourself
enough credit and having
delusions of grandeur. It is a given
that you also have to act on this
sense of self-worth and strive for
greatness.
 Right ambition – a disposition to
aim at the intermediate between
empty vanity and undue humility.
 Patience – this is the virtue that
controls your temper. The patient
person must neither get too angry
nor fail to get angry when they
should.
 Truthfulness – the virtue of
honesty. Aristotle places it
between the vices of habitual
lying and being tactless or
boastful.
 Wittiness – at the midpoint
between buffoonery and
boorishness, this is the virtue of a
good sense of humor.
 Friendliness – while being
friendly might not seem like a
moral virtue, Aristotle claims
friendship is a vital part of a life
well lived. This virtue lies
between not being friendly at all
and being too friendly towards
too many people.
 Justice – the virtue of dealing
fairly with others. It lies between
selfishness and selflessness. This
virtue can also be applied in
different situations and has a
whole chapter dedicated to the
various forms it can take.
