...Apply Aristotle Doctrine of the Mean in Contemporary Society Introduction Aristotle aims at achieving flourishing happiness throughout life. This explains the reason why Aristotle holds that; happiness can be achieved when everybody embraces virtues, According to Aristotle virtues involves a mean of two evils. This is explained under the Doctrine of the mean. The doctrine of the mean connects to Eudaimonia, and experiences some elements of success and failure in contemporary society. Application of The Doctrine of the mean The Eudoimonia was derived from Greek, and can be translated into varied terms. These terms are aimed at defining prosperity and success in life. The term is a noun, which forms its roots from a combination of the well and evil words in Greek. Examination of the word structure explains the reason why the word can be derived into varied definition. The literal definition of the words is “well-spirit.” This definition is quite unclear to its best. However, the definition of Aristotle is commonly used to ensure standard definition of the term (Curzer 56). Aristotle holds that Eudaimonia involves a synergy, which comprises of both well acting and well feeling. This means that; an individual can only act well when he or she feels well. The idea behind Eudaimonia is concerned with a good feeling derived from acting well. This feeling can be attained when an individual experiences a warm glow. Contrarily, Aristotle is not a Hedonist, because he does not link happiness...
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...From seeking enjoyment to avoiding grief, most people's goal in life is about achieving happiness. However, how to define and obtain happiness in one's life and also living it virtuous can be challenging. When we consider the questions of how we should live our lives, we often seek for some method or schematic that we can apply to help us classify our actions and qualities as good, bad, or indifferent. Such a means of methodology would surely make it easier to determine what the right thing to do is. In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle formulates a concept in which we can integrate into our lives to measure and characterize our actions and choices. This concept is called the Doctrine of the Mean and according to Aristotle if we utilize his...
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...Aristotelianism When it comes to Western philosophy, Aristotle is considered to be one of the greatest contributors. He believed that humans were distinctly defined by their character traits rather than their behavior. Aristotle supported this belief by explaining the concept of achieving eudaimonia through living virtuously. Through evaluating his theory of human nature we are given the answers to three of the most common questions humans face today. These common questions are: 1. What should we strive for, and how do we achieve this goal? 2. What makes us special if anything? 3. What tends to go wrong in the pursuit of our goal? Aristotle teaches, “everyone aims, ultimately, for eudaimonia”. Eudaimonia is the Greek term, which means human flourishing. For the ancient Greeks, the term flourishing relates to one being successful in life. “Aristotle realizes, of course, that there are many different opinions about just what eudaimonia is” (to be successful). “In order to sort through these opinions, separating the plausible from the true, Aristotle discerns three preconditions for a proper understanding of eudaimonia”. “According to Aristotle, whatever eudaimonia is, it must be such as to be final, self sufficient, and the end of action”. In order for eudaimonia to be final, it cannot be achieved for the sake of something else. This means that our goal of achieving eudaimonia should not serve to meet another goal. A good example of a non-final goal would be one setting...
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...Date__________________ Southeast Missouri State University Spring 2011 Dr. Cesarz Dept. of Pol. Sci., Philosophy & Religion Exam III (ITV) UI 400 Business & Ethics Multiple choice: Choose the option that best answers the question or completes the statement. Some of the questions are paired and to be read together. 1. Contrary to some contemporary writers who appear to base human rights on the decision of a governing body, human rights are more securely based on __________, which can be traced back from the works of modern thinkers such as Locke & Jefferson to medieval & Roman thinkers back to Plato & Aristotle. (a) communitarian theory, (b) natural law theory, (c) egalitarian theory, (d) conventionalism. 2. The type of virtuous social order envisioned by Plato is called a __________. (a) democracy, (b) plutocracy, (c) meritocracy, (d) elected monarchy. 3. One of the basic ways in which one develops a virtuous character is from _______. (a) role-modeling, (b) having “peak experiences” & moving on to a higher stage, (c) just conforming to one’s culture, (d) studying philosophy. 4. Aristotle’s moral theory argues that _________________ is the primary end of human action. (a) following one of two extremes, (b) promoting utility, (c) acquiring virtues, (d) the happy life. 5. Another way of describing the end referred to in...
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...CLEMENTINA DIKE JEFFERSON COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES PHYLOSOPHY 115 (Critical Thinking) Eudaimonia means flourishing. For Aristotle, Eudaimonia is a habitual, virtuous activity, it is continuous. Eudaimonia is something that is proper to the person and that cannot be taken away. It does not depend on pleasures of life or honor bestowed on one by people which are temporary. It is a life rational living throughout ones life. Eudaimoina is the good that we all seek or should seek because it is full development and exercise of our human capacities in accordance with excellence or virtue throughout our entire life. For one to be happy, all his choices should be done in a good and excellent way – a life of reason which cannot be taken away. According to Aristotle, the defining function of a human being is “activity of soul in accordance with reason. ”He asserts that guiding our emotions with reason or being rational in an excellent way, according to virtue could lead to happiness. Virtue (Arête) is a life of excellence. It is a disposition to choose in a certain way, which is appropriate to that virtue. It encompasses all things, it is not partial. Virtue is learnt by practice and repetition. It is not inborn. It should be learned from childhood so that one does not need to struggle within himself to do good but is emotionally attached to doing good. Intellectual virtue is the innate understanding of the character virtue as being good and their contraries...
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...Aristotle and David Hume developed accounts of ethics that remained true to their own empirical philosophies that are different from more traditional accounts with the overall theme of how a virtuous person would live their life. In contrast, David Hume developed his own account of sentimentalist virtue ethics that challenges, or pushes back on, the virtue ethics Aristotle. According to Aristotle, we should be virtuous people – and as virtuous people do virtuous things. Instead of talking about particular actions and the rules according to which they are undertaken, then, Aristotle requires us to look at virtues, or qualities of character. Within Aristotle, the emphasis is more on character traits than on rules or obligations. Moral agency is not merely a matter of which rules to follow, but a whole way of life, which requires a unity of thought and feeling, which is characteristic of what Aristotle called ‘virtue’. What is a virtue, and what is the virtuous life? Aristotle’s definition is cited by Boetzkes and Waluchow: virtue is “a state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean, i.e., the mean relative to us, this being determined by rational principle, that principle by which the man of practical wisdom would determine it.” Virtue is a kind of disposition, but that’s not all – for virtue is a disposition to choose well. For Aristotle, virtuous action is action that emerges from one’s disposition to choose the middle point (or golden mean) between two vicious extremes;...
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...Aristotle and the Soul Aristotle believed that the soul is the form, or essence of any living thing. He believed that the soul was connected to the body, and was not a distinct substance from the body. What Aristotle means by the soul isn’t exactly what we mean by the word today. In most modern religions, such as Hinduism, Judaism, or Christianity, the soul is commonly imagined as an immaterial something that rides around in the body but is capable of existing on its own in a purely spiritual state; perhaps awaiting reunification with the old body or perhaps a way to transfer into a new one. Oddly, that kind of view is in some ways closer to Democritus’s views than Aristotle’s views in that it pictures the body as a kind of machine. What Aristotle...
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...Introduction Aristotle is considered to be one of the greatest philosophical thinkers of all time. His writings compose of searching 'what is the purpose of life' and 'function of man'. His goal was to know what makes a person’s life well and how we get there. Aristotle believes that the nature of morality is grounded in the function of persons, meaning that we must act in order to become happy and fulfilled. What are the functions of persons and how does one acquire virtue? To live a good life is to aim towards living a good life by acquiring habits that make one become good by doing good. Essentially human activity is aimed towards acquiring happiness for themselves and others to achieve a status of well-being. The idea is that moral excellence is an activity that is in our power and we practice this activity through reasoning. An individual doesn’t do anything for no reason, an individual has reasons as to why one does things, and we act with ends in mind whatever those ends may be. According to Aristotle the ultimate end is to contribute happiness to oneself. A person is always searching for happiness by aiming towards what makes him happy and this doesn’t take a day, it takes a lifetime. Aristotle has an idea as to what the functionalist accounts of persons are which I will introduce in Section two. Next in Section three, I will discuss the connection between virtue and the function of persons. Lastly in Section four, I will elaborate on the doctrine of the mean as described...
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...section_________________________ 5/2/12 Southeast Missouri State University Spring 2012 Dr. Cesarz Dept. of Pol. Sci., Philosophy & Religion Exam III UI 400 Business & Ethics Multiple choice: Choose the option that best answers the question or completes the statement. Some of the questions are paired and to be read together. 1. Contrary to some contemporary writers who appear to base human rights on the decision of a governing body, human rights are more securely based on __________, which can be traced back from the works of modern thinkers such as Locke & Jefferson to medieval & Roman thinkers back to Plato & Aristotle. (a) communitarian theory, (b) natural law theory, (c) egalitarian theory, (d) civil rights theory. 2. The type of virtuous social order envisioned by Plato is called a __________. (a) democracy, (b) plutocracy, (c) meritocracy, (d) elected monarchy. 3. One of the basic ways in which one develops a virtuous character is from _______. (a) role-modeling, (b) having “peak experiences” & moving on to a higher stage, (c) just conforming to one’s culture, (d) studying philosophy. 4. Aristotle’s moral theory argues that _________________ is the primary end of human action. (a) following one of two extremes, (b) promoting utility, (c) acquiring virtues, (d) the happy life. 5. Another way of describing the end referred to in question...
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...Logic Main article: Logic Logic is the study of the principles of correct reasoning. Arguments use either deductive reasoning or inductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is when, given certain statements (called premises), other statements (called conclusions) are unavoidably implied. Rules of inferences from premises include the most popular method, modus ponens, where given “A” and “If A then B”, then “B” must be concluded. A common convention for a deductive argument is the syllogism. An argument is termed valid if its conclusion does indeed follow from its premises, whether the premises are true or not, while an argument is sound if its conclusion follows from premises that are true. Propositional logic uses premises that are propositions, which are declarations that are either true or false, while predicate logic uses more complex premises called formulae that contain variables. These can be assigned values or can be quantified as to when they apply with the universal quantifier (always apply) or the existential quantifier (applies at least once). Inductive reasoning makes conclusions or generalizations based on probabilistic reasoning. For example, if “90% of humans are right-handed” and “Joe is human” then “Joe is probably right-handed”. Fields in logic include mathematical logic (formal symbolic logic) and philosophical logic. Metaphysics Main article: Metaphysics Metaphysics is the study of the most general features of reality, such as existence, time, the relationship...
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...else, satisfies all desire and has no evil mixed in with it. Yet, there are many different views of what sorts of life satisfy this formal definition. Aristotle specifically mentions the life of gratification, the life of money-making, the life of action, and the philosophical life, moreover, the life of contemplation or study. Although he has no patience for a life that is solely based on one’s materialistic possessions, he believes that it is morally proper for humans to seek after material possessions to provide for their sustenance. However, supporting one’s life through material possessions makes the attainment of happiness possible. There are several ways in which Aristotle approaches the question of what happiness consists of. First, Aristotle notes that flourishing for plants and animals consists in their functioning well according to their natures. So one question we should ask is this: What is the proper or peculiar function of a human being? The function of man, something unique to him, is “an activity of soul which follows or implies a rational principle” (Nicomachean Ethics, Part 7, Line 29). Aristotle writes, “Human good turns out to be activity of soul in accordance with virtue, and if there is more than one virtue, in accordance with the best and most complete” (Nicomachean Ethics, Part 7, Line 33). This means that the active use of reason is man’s special function. This is not simply the use of reason, but the “excellent use of reason” which is virtuous activity...
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...Plato was one of the first to develop the concept of a political utopia. In The Republic, he attempted to outline the guidelines for a just society. Plato's Utopia appears, at first to be an excellent idea. However, his perfect society is less than the ideal, even from the contemporary perspective. Aristotle, through "The Politic” attempted to understand the nature of man in a "realistic" view. What Plato called ideal, Aristotle called unfeasible. He tries to make rationale judgment in the management of his ideal of a society, through understanding human behavior and logic, making it what he would deem a more realistic society. As humans we tend to care more about our individual needs prior to the needs of others. The values that we express reflect our own self-interest, where the good of the individual was the main concern and was not the same as that of the State. Plato saw this to be determinate to society based on the awareness that Guardians, such as civil leaders and assistants would care more about their individual desires, and their needs; disregarding anything else to fulfill their pleasures. "On this basis they will then be free from faction, to the extent tat any rate that human beings divide into factions over the possession of money, children, and relatives" (Stephanos 464e). Plato recognized this to create factions among individuals, where these divisions' main concerns were to themselves, their family, and to others that were close to them. Families create that...
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...Aristotelian Virtue ethics is the most developed of the classical philosophy. Virtue Ethics is concerned with the development of ‘virtues’ within a moral agent. Aristotle argues that a ‘virtue’ is an ethical quality that lies between excess and deficiency. His book ‘Nicomachean Ethics’ features a table of personality traits in which there is ‘excess’ and ‘deficiency’ and the doctrine of the mean, which outlines the optimum development of an ethical quality, but it is relative to the people involved, it is described in the book as ‘that which is neither excessive nor deficient, and this is not one and the same for all’. One example he uses in the table of virtues is ‘Shame’, in which shamelessness is excessive and shyness is deficient while modesty lies between them and is the doctrine of the mean. In modern times, Scholars have criticised Aristotle’s Virtue ethics for being too relative, vague and self-centred. Many Modern Ethicists have written their own theories of virtue ethics to try and address some of the issues. Aristotle’s teachings of virtue have been criticised by J.L Mackie, Louden and Sidgewick for being too vague for actual application. Sidgewick said that it ‘only indicates the whereabouts of a virtue’. Benjamin Franklin’s Virtue Ethics attempts to address the vagueness of Aristotle’s teachings. Franklin was a utilitarian who believed that all actions should bring about the ‘greatest good for the greatest number’- he believed that in order for this to work...
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...In Aristotle’s Doctrine of the Golden Mean, he describes how virtue and vices relations to everyday life. The way he describes the value of virtue is that it lies between to extremes. The two extremes, excess and deficit, are determined by rational principal, and then applied to an individual's situation. Virtue as a state of character is a matter of how we stand with regard to the passions. Aristotle’s rule of the mean only works on an individual level, in other words it is not transferable the way it is in algebraic terms. The mean response to a situation would be found on the extremes of a personal experience as opposed to two different individuals opinions on a similar situation. This idea can be illustrated in two ways. If a college student is at a party and decides to drink they must decide how much to consume. An extreme would be drinking a dangerous amount and a deficit would be not drinking, the goal through Aristotle’s Doctrine of the Golden Mean is...
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...of Knowledge Rene Descartes is one of the most renowned rationalists of the modern age who asserts that knowledge can be obtained by means of reason. He claims that in the acquisition of knowledge one should be able to distinguish what is true and what is false. This leads to his opposition against the idea of experience as a source of knowledge As Descartes claims it, one should not rely on experience as a source of knowledge for the reason that experience is deceptive as how a person's sensory organs can bring deception with the way he or she perceives things (i.e. the bending of the pencil when submerged in water). Descartes furthers states that because of this fallibility of experience one cannot really arrive at true knowledge by merely being dependent on what he or she perceives through experience. As a result of Descartes treatment of experience, he suggests that to attain genuine and true knowledge, one should defer his or her judgment on things that are represented to him or her by experience unless such are presently proven to be unquestionable. Descartes is a perplexity in many ways. Although he has a refreshing distaste for the voodoo logic of his day steeped as it was in the questionable science of the scholastic movement, when provoked he was equally capable of skewing his own thinking when confronted with the entrenched doctrine of the church. His philosophy and logic, called Cartesian was important because he substituted mechanical interpretations of physical...
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