Notes on main themes and questions from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics to prepare for the final exam. Notes on topics including happiness, function argument, parts of the soul, virtue, doctrine of the mean, justice, voluntary action, decision, incontinence/akrasia, pleasure, friendship
Argument that happiness is the highest good................................................................................................ 5
Argument that there is a highest good................................................................................................................5
What is the highest good?...................................................................................................................................6
Why is Aristotle trying to find the highest good?........................................................................................... 7
What is happiness/living well according to Aristotle?....................................................................................7
Inclusive vs dominant end view...........................................................................................................................7
Do we need external goods to be happy?...........................................................................................................8
Can we be happy during our lifetimes?...............................................................................................................8
Can our happiness change after we die?.............................................................................................................8
Virtue produces happiness............................................................................................................................ 9
Objection- happiness is a life of study.................................................................................................................9
THE FUNCTION ARGUMENT.......................................................10
What is a function?..................................................................................................................................... 10
Relation between a thing’s good and its function.............................................................................................10
How does the function relate to happiness?................................................................................................ 11
Summary of the function argument NE1.7................................................................................................... 11
What kind of argument is the function argument?.......................................................................................12
Human Beings have a Function.................................................................................................................... 12
The Craft/Organic Parts/ analogy......................................................................................................................12
The Human Function is Rational Activity...................................................................................................... 13
The Elimination Argument I.7............................................................................................................................13
PARTS OF THE SOUL................................................................15
What is the soul?........................................................................................................................................ 15
Parts of the soul in Aristotle’s De Anima...................................................................................................... 15
The part of the soul that has reason and thinks........................................................................................... 15
,The part of the soul that has reason as obeying reason................................................................................16
Why does this distinction matter?............................................................................................................... 17
Relation between the two parts.................................................................................................................. 17
Parts of the Soul and Kinds of Virtue........................................................................................................... 17
What is virtue?............................................................................................................................................ 17
Relationship between virtue and function................................................................................................... 18
What is virtue of thought?.......................................................................................................................... 19
What is virtue of character?........................................................................................................................ 20
What is the difference between virtue of thought and virtue of character?..................................................20
Natural vs full virtue................................................................................................................................... 21
How is virtue acquired?............................................................................................................................... 21
Virtue of thought acquired through teaching 2.1..............................................................................................21
Virtue of character acquired through habituation 2.1......................................................................................21
What is acting virtuously?........................................................................................................................... 22
The Doctrine of the mean............................................................................................................................ 23
Background to the doctrine of the mean..........................................................................................................23
What is the doctrine of the mean?....................................................................................................................23
The mean relative to us.....................................................................................................................................24
Objections to the doctrine of the mean............................................................................................................26
Specific Virtues........................................................................................................................................... 26
Virtues of character...........................................................................................................................................26
Virtues of thought Book VI.................................................................................................................................30
What is general justice?.............................................................................................................................. 40
What is special/particular justice?............................................................................................................... 41
What is political justice?.............................................................................................................................. 42
What is justice in distribution?.................................................................................................................... 42
What is justice in rectification?.................................................................................................................... 43
Some questions about willingness and justice............................................................................................. 43
How do the two types if justice relate to one another?....................................................................................43
Is (special) justice a mean?................................................................................................................................44
, What is the difference between doing injustice and doing an unjust act?.......................................................46
Can one suffer injustice willingly?......................................................................................................................46
Can you do injustice to yourself?.......................................................................................................................47
Is doing justice up to us?....................................................................................................................................47
What is decency?........................................................................................................................................ 47
What’s the difference between voluntary and involuntary acts?..................................................................47
What is praise?...................................................................................................................................................48
What makes an action involuntary?............................................................................................................ 48
How can ignorance affect the action?.......................................................................................................... 49
Unwilling and non-willing acts...........................................................................................................................50
What are mixed acts?.................................................................................................................................. 51
What is an action?...................................................................................................................................... 51
Why does Aristotle make a distinction between voluntary and non-voluntary actions?...............................52
Are we to blame for our character?............................................................................................................. 52
DECISION AND DELIBERATION..................................................54
What is acting on decision?......................................................................................................................... 54
Relationship between decision and voluntary action........................................................................................55
What relevance does it have to Aristotle’s ethics?.......................................................................................55
What is deliberation?.................................................................................................................................. 57
What is incontinence or akrasia?................................................................................................................. 57
Why does Aristotle discuss akrasia?............................................................................................................ 58
What type of supposition does someone have when they act incontinently?...............................................58
Weak akrasia vs impetuous akrasia............................................................................................................. 63
How does the impetuous person act against their decision?...........................................................................63
Does Aristotle’s explanation of akrasia apply to both?.....................................................................................64
Intemperance vs incontinence..................................................................................................................... 65
Simple incontinence vs incontinence with respect to…................................................................................66
What is pleasure?....................................................................................................................................... 67
Pleasure is an activity.........................................................................................................................................67
Pleasure in the subjective sense or the source sense.......................................................................................68
Pleasure is not a ‘perceived becoming’.............................................................................................................69
Pleasure and the good................................................................................................................................. 70
Is pleasure a good?............................................................................................................................................70
Are most pleasures good?.................................................................................................................................70
Is pleasure the good?.........................................................................................................................................71
In what ways can pleasure be bad?...................................................................................................................71
Which pleasures are good?................................................................................................................................71
Also in II 3................................................................................................................................................... 72
Two treatments of pleasure........................................................................................................................ 72
VII 11-14.............................................................................................................................................................72
X 1-5...................................................................................................................................................................73
What is friendship?..................................................................................................................................... 74
Different types of friendship....................................................................................................................... 76
Three causes of love..........................................................................................................................................76
Friendship for pleasure......................................................................................................................................76
Friendship for utility...........................................................................................................................................77
Virtue/character friendship...............................................................................................................................77
How do the types of friendship relate?.............................................................................................................77
General Things to Remember
Not polished literary works- may have been lecture notes
The Common Books- Book V, VI, VII also appear in Eudemian Ethics
o May not have been written for NE so should perhaps be discounted if conflict
o Most think that Eudemian Ethics was first, but this is contested
o some suppose that VII 11-14 belong in the Eudemian Ethics, and that the common books
were inserted into an incomplete version of the EN to fill a lacuna (Kenny).
NE assembled by other people-
o may not have been put together or put in that order by Aristotle
Dodgy views
o Thought women to be naturally inferior
o Thought some human beings are naturally slaves (unable to make proper decisions
about their own lives) and should be the property of other human beings
o Not just a product of the time
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