Nicomachean ethics
CH
1
THE
NATURE OF OUR INQUIRY
Towards
end go actions and products.
All
head towards a higher end. The best is
political science because it aims at the good of all.
We
can only expect as much precision as the topic allows. Political science investigates fin and just
actions. There are a variety so must
exist only by convention, not by nature.
For
politics you must know much. Young men
seek action and passion and so aren't good at this.
WHAT
IS THE GOOD FOR MAN?
Political
Science aims at the best that is gotten to by action. Is it the form of the
good? There are many goods. There is the good of doctors, of carpenters
etc. Then is there a good in and of
itself? If so it would not be something
man could attain, and of no use to a carpenter.
Now
all goods aim at something. Happiness is the supreme because it isn't for the
sake of something else.
And
it must be a full life as one day doesn't make a summer. Also the act v. thought. Thought can be good without producing
good. But the action produces good.
.
Many
men find their happiness in conflict because their sources of happiness are not
noble.
You
need the right equipment to do noble things.
Happiness seems to need good fortune.
Those wretches and childless and ugly aren't so often happy.
To
be happy is to be virtuous as this is the most permanent happiness. It is even more long lasting than the
knowledge of the sciences.
KINDS
OF VIRTUE
Intellectual
versus Moral
Happiness
is an activity of the soul. Politics
must know something of the soul then as a man who is going to heal the eye must
know of the whole body.
There
is the rational and irrational part of the soul.
One
part of the irrational is the nutritive.
The irrational that goes with nursing and embryos is powerful. All species have it.
Then
there is the part that deals with lack of self-control (incontinence). It is human. it is the part that listens to
appetites. It is in part rational as it
is warned with reason.''
Virtue
also is divided in two. One part is
intellectual (philosophic understanding
and wisdom). The other is moral
(liberality and temperance).
We
more often praise a man of being good tempered than understanding
BOOK
2 MORAL VIRTUE
Intellectual
v. Moral
Intellectual
comes via teaching
Moral
comes via habit
From
this it can be seen that none of this comes from nature.
Like
a stone cannot be habituated to move up hill. The natural needs no training.
As
men become lyre players by playing the lyre.
Thus
legislatures make good citizens by forming good habits in them. This is the wish of every legislator.
So
we need good training.
These
things cannot be prescribed exactly, but must avoid excess and defect.
Ex.
Exercise, drink food, temperance and courage.
When
know you have a virtuous disposition when you take pleasure in doing good.
[So he would
respond to utlitarians that pleasure and pain must be
in balance, people get pleasure and pain from different things (and all aren’t
equal). The utilitarian might respond
that you can tell what is good and evil via the GHP.]
There
are three objects of choice and three of avoidance:
The
noble, the advantageous and the pleasant.
The
base, the injurious, and the painful.
You
must not only do acts that are virtuous, but do them with virtuous understanding
and intent.
Thought
is important, but not enough. Many
listen to their doctor's advice. But
don't act.
DEFINITION
OF MORAL VIRTUE
Since
there are three things in the soul: passion faculties, states of character,
virtue must be one of these.
With
all the passions we must find the mean.
But neither the virtues or vices
are passion because we are neither praised or blamed for them.
It
is a state of character
Good
men are good in but one way, but the bad in many.
But
not every action admits of a mean: too much/little murder, adultry.
We
must drag ourselves away from the tempting extreme.
MORAL
VIRTUE CH 3
We
are only held responsible for what is chosen and voluntary.
If
men endure pain it shows character due to volition.
That
which is good is that done by choice.
Choice is make by thinking. (One doesn't count following appetites as
choice).
Both
children and animals have voluntary actions, but not choice.We
choose what we believe to be good and possible.
Moral
virtue
implies we think before choosing.
We
don't deliberate on things that that are steady patterns. We deliberate about things that are in our
power. Normally we deliberate about
means and not ends. Doctors ask how to
get health, not if health is good.
A
wish is for the end. A good man
chooses the right wish. Mostly this is
faulted by a confusion with appetite.
Virtue is concerned with means, that over which we have power.
Legislators
punish the bad and honour the good, unless ignorance
is to blame, due to belief in choice.
People
who choose the wrong ends don't do so voluntarily as it is their best guess,
ignorance and character. This wans't their character early on. But now it is.[ Seeing different ends and different characters that incline a
person towards those ends he is desparate to save
ethics and choice.]
SEveral virtues.
Courage is a means to
an end of less fear.
The
end of every activity is corresponding to a state of character. Courage comes
from a sense of honor/nobility. It
doesn't come from passion or thought (that is used to diminish the fear, to
approach it rationally, but it is still there) or from being sanguine (that is
borne of not expecting a bad outcome).
Temperance
The
lover of learning and honor is concerned not just with what he loves , but how
he loves (like a lover). THey nor gossips are temerant.
Temperance
is in relation to bodily pleasures that
other animals share in; touch and taste.
Not
with odour, cdolor or
vision.
In
food it isn't the pleasure of taste (like wine tasters), but in eating.It is not refined.
The same goes for sex.
BOOK 5 -
(required)
Justice: Its
sphere and outer nature: in what sense
it is a mean
All
men mean by justice that kind of a character which makes peole
disposed to do what is just, act justly and wish for what is just.
The
just are lawful and fair (because the opposite arent')
The
law, rightly-framed is for justice, and therefor,
being lawful is being just.
Justice
is measured best in relation to our neighbor..
The
worst sort of man is bad to himself and his neighbor. The best good
to both, the middlin'
Virtue
is a state without qualification.
Justice in relation to neighbor.
The
unjust man is grasping for goods. Goods,
like prosperity, are good in the universal sense, but bad for some individuals.The unjust man may grasp at the bad and think
it good (as the lesser of two evils).
To
have sex for money is grasping. But to
do it for lust is self-indulgent. Only the former is against the law. So there is a difference between what is
unjust and what is unlawful. Also, there
is particular justice, which is concerned for what the good man wants, and
universal, which is unlawful, disgraceful and now what here concerns him.
There
is the law concern: injustice. And the
virtue concern: unjust.
All
that is unjust is unlawful, but not all that is unlawful is unjust. (110)
Two
kinds of justice division starts: distributive and retributive. Either can be voluntary or involuntary.
DISTRIBUTIVE
This
must be equal. People quarrel over what
they deserve. Each should get what he
merits.
Democrats
say merit is being free. Oligarchs see
it as wealth and Aristocracy supporters with excellence.
What
is just is proportional. Evil is one who
has too much or too little.
RECTIFICATORY
Here
the merits are only relative to the injury.
They are not relative to the merits of the individuals. The judge
returns the unjutly got gains. When noone has such
gains, each has their own.
This
is not reciprocity. If an official is
hurt then another shouldn't be hurt in exchange. If men return evil for evil the city cannot
hold together. People that exchange
goods are inequal (doctor and farmer). Yet the exchanged must somehow be
comparable. Money smooths
this and keeps exchange possible and society together.
The
just is the intermediate between acting unjustly and bieng
unjustly treated.
The
goal is not to give all equally, but what is their proportion.
A
man may act unjustly though he didn't mean to.
I didn't know you were married.
Justice
only exists between political men who are self sufficient and governed by
law. For law exists for the unjust
only.
We
don't allow a man to rule, but rational principle because a man behaves in his
own interest and becomes a tyrant.
Justice mostly exists between eqals.
NATURAL
AND LEGAL JUSTICE
Natural:
that which exists everywhere and not by people's thinking.
Legal,
that which was originally indifferent, but when laid down is not indifferent
(what a ransom is , or how many goats should be sacrificed). Fire burns both
here and in persia.
Laws are different.Measurement is a good
example.
JUSTICE:
IT"S INNER NATURE INVOLVES CHOICE
To
the extent that people do things involuntarily they recieve
no blame and aren't injust. Returning money due to fear, or not returning
it due to inability are ony just or unjust
incidentally.
Injury
without meaning to is a mistake
Injury
by action that went awry is mis adventure
Injury
by volition without deliberation is an act of injustice
Injury
with forethought is done by an unjust and vicious man.
When
men fight they are not in full charge as they are enraged. They don't dispute the fight, but the blame.
If
a man accepts a bad business deal, or is drunk do we say he was treated unustly voluntarily? No, being unjustly treated in not
voluntary.
People
that take the bad side of a deal due to modesty chose that and werent treated unjustly.
We
can commit acts of injustice, but to do them as a result of a certain state of
character is neither easy nor in our power.
There
are differnet levels of injustice relative to your
character. Good men cannot act very
unjustly.
Are
equity and just the same. Equity is superior to legal justice. The legal deals
with universsals which don't apply to any particular
situation. The judge shoots for equity,
but is hampered by not knowing all the facts.
He does a good approximation. This is also his guid
in matters in which there is as of yet no law.
And
the good man is not "stickler for his rights in a bad sense but tends to
take less than his share though he has the law on his side, is equitable, and
this state of character is equity
The
equal maybe more fair than the legal. It
is a corrective to the legal.
Can
a man treat himself unjustly? If you
stab yourself in anger, This is unjust to you, but you were acted against unjustly
voluntarily. Then you act against whom
unjustly? The state.
No
one can commit adultery with his own wife or burglarize their own home.
Metaphorically
there is a justice between pats of a man himself. Mutual justice as between the ruler and ruled.
BOOK
SEVEN – INTELLECTUAL VIRTUE
We
divided virtues of the soul between those of the intellect and those of
character.
The
rational part of the soul includes the contemplative and the calculative.
The
object of contemplation is truth ,k that of calculation is truth corresponding
with right desire.
There
are three things in the soul which control action and truth – sensation reason
and desire. Sensation is with the lower animals also. What affirmation and
negation are in thinking, pursuit and avoidance are in desire. Virtue is a state of character concerned with
choice and choice is deliberate desire, therefore, both the reasoning must be
true and the desire right.
The
efficient, not final cause of right action, is choice.
There
are five:
1) Scientific
knowledge. It is of what is necessary
and therefore eternal.
Induction is the starting-point which
knowledge of the universal presupposes, while syllogisms proceed from
universals. There are starting points
from which syllogisms proceed that aren’t syllogisms.
2) Art: art is
identical with a state of capacity to make, involving a true course of
reasoning. All art is concerned with
coming into being.
3) Practical
wisdom: The knowledge of how to secure the ends of human life.
It is a mark of practical wisdom to be
able to do univeral philosophical wisdom. This is a part of practical means
wisdom. It is different from art as art
has something other than itself as an end.
Good action is an end in itself.
4) Intuitive
reason: This is what grasps the first
principles. Science demonstrates, but
not the 1st principle. This
is assumed.
5) Wisdom: Wisdom is the most finished of the forms of
knowledge. Lower animals have practical
wisdom. This is different than
practical, which is different for each individual. Philosophical wisdom is particular to each
species.
Practical wisdom is concerned with
things that are possible to effect and possible. Practical wisdom is concerned with
implementation of philosophical wisdom.
Therefore, men should have both.
A boy may become a mathematician, but
not a philosopher.
MINOR INTELLECTUAL VIRTUES CONCERNED
WITH CONDUCT
Excellence
in deliberation is neither of knowledge or opinion; for there is no such thing
as correctness of knowledge (since there is no such thing as error that is
knowledge) and correctness of opinion is truth.
Excellence
in deliberation involves reasoning. The
incontinent man will be clever and practical but do evil.
Qualifiers:
It
is possible to attain even good by a false syllogism. It is possible to attain it by long
deliberation while another man attains it quickly. Excellence in deliberation must be in
relation to a particular end.
The
place of intuition:
Judgement is the right
discrimination of the equitable: the place of intuition in morals.
The
equitable man is a man of sympathetic judgment.
Judgement comes by nature. This is shown by
each time of life having its own kind.
THE RELATION OF PHILOSOPHIC TO PRACTICAL WISDOM
What are the uses of these qualities of mind?
1)
first they are good in and of
themselves as they are virtues of the two parts of the soul.
2)
They produce not a thng apart from themselves , but virtue.
3)
Virtue makes us aim at the right
mark, and practical wisdom makes us take the right means.
4)
Some people who do just acts
aren’t just. Just afraid of being
busted.
A good one must act as a result of choice and
for the act itself. There is natural and
strict/real virtue.
One may be
brave by birth, but it must be aimed at good ends.
Whereas
Socrates thought good comes from rationality, Aristotle says it involves
rationality.
BOOK 7:
CONTINENCE AND INCONTINENCE: PLEASURE
The three
kinds of vice to be avoided are vice, incontinence and brutishness.
Men become
gods by excess of the opposite of brutishness.
Continence
and endurance are good. Incontinence and
softness bad. The incontinent man,
knowing that what he does is bad, does it as a result of passion, while the
continent man avoids them due to intellect.
It is odd
that a man with right judgment can be dragged around by passions as a
slave. So Socrates said men are
incontinent by ignorance. But this view
contradicts plain facts.
It is not
lack of practical wisdom that makes a man incontinent. In fact, he may be better at it.
If your desires are weak then there is no virtue in
resisting them. Incontinence,
furthermore, cannot be in regard to any object.
It would be better to be one who does what is pleasurable cause you
think it good, than to be wise and incontinent.
For he is easier to cure cause, you can change his mind.
BOOK 7 – CONTINENCE AND INCONTINENCE: PLEASURE
There are three kinds of moral states to be avoided: vice, incontinence, and brutishness.
Men become gods by excess of virtue. As a brute has
no virtue or vice, neither does a God.
The continent man is ready to abide by his
calculations. The incontinent the
opposite.
What of the incontinent man? Socrates thought it strange that when one had
knowledge passion could drag it around like a slave. Hence, soc. Said there was no incontinence,
only ignorance. He imagined people to
have an iron will.
The plainly contradicts apparent facts.
Rescuing soc. Many say that the man who acts
incontinently hasn’t knowledge, but opinion.
Some men are practically wise, but incontinent, but
don’t act to their ruin.
Funnily, the definition of continence involves
having bad desires. And one who does
something mindlessly, wouldn’t be better than someone who does something
against better knowledge. So is
ignorance better then?
Strong, continent men aren’t as likely to behave
badly as noncommittal persons.
A person may just act on opinion (not knowledge) for
universal knowledge is not particular.
Particular is active and can be swayed.
Those who have just begun to learn a science can
string together its phrases, but do not yet know it: for it has to become part of themselves and
that takes time.
Incontinent persons are like the asleep, mad or
drunk.
For it is not in the presence of what is thought to
be knowledge proper that the passion occurs.
Some pleasures are necessary, but admit of excess.
Some things are worthy of choice in themselves (e.g.
victory, honor, wealth and good and pleasant things of this sort) but admit of
excess. No one blames a man of excess
honor or wealth. One who is excessive
is said to be incontinent in regards to one of these only. He is not generally incontinent.
There is a brutish state as in the case of the
females that rip open pregnant women and devour infants. They are not incontinent. They are unconsciously brutish (not in
contrary to principles). They have no better part.
Others are just resulting from custom or habit. We would not call one raised with too much
sex, and into it via habit incontinent.
Money, gain, honor and such are really not really
incontinence, but only called so by metaphor.
Incontinence in respect to anger is less disgraceful
as you haven’t as much control and it can be just and is done quickly without
reflection. Appetite is a conscious slow
violation.
Those relating to pleasures
are incontinence. Those relating to
pains softness and endurance.
The self-indulgent man is
worse than the incontinent. The
incontinent man knows he’s done wrong.
Endurance consists in
resisting pain, while continence consists in conquering. It is as not being beaten is different from
winning. So continence is more worthy a
choice than endurance.
The self indulgent man is
incurable, the incontinent man curable.
Incontinence is not a vice. For
incontinence is contrary to choice, while vice is in accordance with choice.
Incontinent people are not
criminals, but can do criminal acts.
For virtue and vice
respectively preserve and destroy the first principle [what is his first
principle? [179)]
Some refuse to yield to
appetite, they are continent. Some refuse to yield to arguments. They are obstinate.
There is a type that takes
less pleasure in bodily things than he should, but this is rare.
A man has practical wisdom
not by knowing only, but knowing how to act.
So those with practical wisdom aren’t incontinent, but the clever often
are.
Pleasure and good are
different by definition. Pleasure is a
hindrance to thought. Children and brutes pursue pleasure. There are pleasures that are base and objects
of reproach. Pleasure cannot be the best thing, because it is not an end, but a
process.
Discussion:
Some things are good and
some good only for a particular person.
There are actuall pleasures that involve no
pain or appetite (contemplation). When healthy or sick men take pleasure in
different things.
The only pleasures with an
end different than themselves are those where we are perfecting our nature.
The view that pleasures are
bad because some are unhealthy is like saying healthy things are bad cause they
are bad for money making.
Pleasurefacilitates learning and practical wisdom.
All men think the happy life
is pleasant and weave it into their life plans
People who say those on the rack for good are still happy are nuts. We need fortune (though it can be a problem
in excess).
Bodily pleasures are likely
to be abused because all men share in them and some think there are no
others. Pleasure is wrong when it is
seen as an escape from pain. Especially
the pain of not having pleasure. This
leads to torment. But natural
pleasantness that leads to action of a healthy nature is not bad.
BOOK 10 – PLEASURE,
HAPPINESS
Pleasure
So basic to us that our
definition of education has to do with the steering of the rudders of pain and
pleasure. To make them enjoy the things
we ought and hate what we ought has the greatest bearing of virtue of
character.
Some say facts instruct
best, others that we are slaves of pleasures.
True arguments need to be useful in life as well as true.
But is pleasure a good?
Some say it is evil. What we desire is good, however, due to us
all pursuing it.
Does pleasure have proportions and movement? It does, but can still be a good. Even the heavens, be they still, move in
relation to something.
And pleasures of learning and smell and sight do not
presuppose pain.
Pleasures derived from noble sources are different
from those derived from base sources,
you cannot get the pleasure of the just man without being just. So there are degrees. We would not seek the child’s pleasure
(though it had no pain).
And we’d like many things even without pleasure
(seeing , remembering).
Neither is the pleasure good or all pleasure
desirable.
Seeing is complete and lacks nothing. We don’t add to it.
Senses are active in relation to an object and a
sense which is in good condition acts perfectly in relation to the most
beautiful of its objects.
This activity will be the most completely and pleasant.
Certain human things are not doable
continuously.
Do we seek life for the sake of pleasure or pleasure
for the sake of life?
Some things delight some and pain others. But all that seems good to a good man should
seem so. If he finds some things tiring that others value, they don’t know what
is good.
Now those activities are desirable in themselves
from which nothing is sought beyond the activity. And of this nature virtuous actions are
thought to be’ for to do noble and good deeds is a thing desirable for its own
sake.
People put amusement in such a category. But it would seems strange if we were to take
the trouble of life and suffer hardships just to amuse oneself.
Pleasant amusements are not of this nature. They are
to relax to recharge so that we can get back to work. Besides serious things are better than
laughable things.
Happiness that is highest is in accordance with the
highest virtue. Contemplation is the
most complete and knowable
happiness.
Complete means self sufficient. The just man needs
someone to be just to. Philosophers do
it alone!
We do what we do for the sake of leisure, wars are
for peace. When in peace/leisure we
think. All else is work and a means
towards leisure.
God must be a thinker, more than body, this is
because he isn’t temporal and part of particular times or places. When we think, we are communing with what is
immortal and divine in us. We should
seek our highest potential. Reason is,
more than anything else, man. Gods are
blessed with no need and what do they do?
Think.
Morals need passion.
They aren’t complete. Liberal men
need means to do liberal deeds.
Animals, can’t contemplate and so can’t truly be
happy (via reflection).
But you also need external support. But don’t do that in excess.
Do arguments work?
If arguments worked, they would work. But most go by, not shame, but fear.
Passions seem to yield to force, more than
arguments. The character must be taught
to have pleasure in what’s good and revulsion in the bad.
Things are not painful when customary.
Good men are corrected by arguments, bad men by
pain.
But to live temperately and heartily is not pleasant
to most people (the young especially).
They should , therefore, have their nurture and occupations fixed by
law. Therefore, no democracy?????
There should be public care for such things, but if
not, parents should.
We must make ourselves, therefore, capable of
legislating.
Private school teaches best as it is more
specialized to the individual needs.
Expert teachers can deduce what a student needs via
repeated experience.
Ultimately, however, legislation requires
experience. Sophists teach, but don’t
do. Politicians can’t teach their kids
this skill or they would have.
Experience is what is needed.