Nicomachean Ethics
Book II & X
Aristotle
In Book II of Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle talks mostly about virtue and being virtuous. He says that virtue is character; it’s what makes us see if we are good or bad. He argues that for you to become good you have to do goodness and act good. If you act good the habit of being good will make your character that of a good person. He uses the example of a builder. A builder becomes a builder by building; a good person becomes good by doing good and making it a habit to do good. In order to be good you have to do good. Aristotle then discusses how one does good. He says that in order for you to do good you must avoid excess and deficiency. Being good is requires balance, a mean. Anything in excess is harmful. This mean is relative. Goodness is not universal and it is relative to each person. We must each find this average of good that applies to your own case. As humans we grow up and naturally we want to avoid displeasure and go after pleasure. Aristotle believes that often this isn’t the right thing; sometimes the good thing is having pain and displeasure if it means doing what is good. We must condition ourselves to choose what is good not what gives us pleasure. He then questions weather it is possible to do good with out trying to be good. Meaning that good happened on accident. Aristotle doesn’t think this is good enough. He says that you have to do the good action and still have to be good when you’re doing it in order for it to really be good. He believes that by being good it becomes easier to do goodness. Goodness is something that builds on its self. I agree with this, however I disagree with his argument about the brave man. He says that a man who claims himself to be brave should not feel pain in being brave. If you train yourself to be brave, when you are brave you don’t feel displeasure in it. You are not brave if you do. I believe that if a man feels displeasure or fear towards something but still faces it, it makes him even braver.
Aristotle concludes that it is possible to be bad in many ways and only one way to be good. He says that the trick is finding this balance in relation to yourself. Choose the lesser of two evils when you don’t know what the right way is. In order to be virtuous you must act virtuously, you become more good as you do more good. Good requires practice and you get better it, actions make you good.
In Book X Aristotle talks about happiness and he believes that the most perfect form of happiness comes from reason. Those who know are happier than those who seek, because wisdom is the best kind of happiness. He thinks that philosophers have the best kind of happiness. As further proof of wisdom being the best kind of happiness, Gods contemplate and think. Contemplation and thinking is the best type of happiness. The best kind of happiness is the happiness that is connected to the best virtue. Reason is the best kind of virtue and since philosophers are better at reaching reason than others they are happier.