Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

1. Describe/explain the life of Socrates. (Special attention: Why didn’t he write anything?) Socrates was born in Athens, Greece around 470 BC. In the time, he was well known for his conversational and teaching skills but he never actually wrote anything so everything we know about his life comes from the texts of his students Aristophanes, Xenophon and the most famous one, Plato.

Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Book ll, is about his idea of how people should live a virtuous life. Throughout this book, he explains that humans learn virtue from instructions and we learn virtue from practice too. Virtue is something that is very important because it is a moral habit that results in keeping our moral values. Aristotle believed that nobody is born with virtue, everyone has to work at it daily. After reading Nicomachean ethics, Book ll, my main conclusion of it is that us as humans are better off being virtuous than simply doing what we feel like doing at any moment in time.

Moral virtues to some may seem outdated in the contemporary times, however, they are necessary in most aspects of day to day life. For example, according to William W. Fortenbaugh in Aristotle’s Conception of Moral Virtue and Its Perceptive Role, “[…] good deliberate choice requires both moral virtue and practical reason” (77). Making a good decision requires guidance and moral virtue accompanied by practical reason help to make it. This, “good deliberate choice,” is what makes moral virtues needed still in today’s society and support Aristotle’s moral theory. Whether the good deliberate choice is helping someone else or doing what is morally right, they are usually shadowed by a virtuous undertone.

“Every skill and every inquiry, and similarly every action and rational choice, is thought to aim at some good; and so the good has been aptly described as that which everything aims. But it is clear that there is some difference between ends: some ends are activities, while others are products which are additional to the activities. In cases where there are ends additional to the actions, the products are by their nature better than activities.” (Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics, as translated by Crisp, 2000, p. #3) Aristotle was the first philosopher who wrote a book on ethics titled, Nichomachean Ethics.

The main topic of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is eudaimonia, i.e. happiness in the “living well” or “flourishing” sense (terms I will be using interchangeably). In this paper, I will present Aristotle’s view on the role of external goods and fortune for the achievement of happiness. I will argue that he considers them a prerequisite for virtue. Their contribution to happiness is indirect, via the way they affect how we can engage in rational activity according to the relevant virtues. I will then object that this view threatens to make his overall account of happiness incoherent.

Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics begins by exploring ‘the good’. Book I argues that, unlike other goods, “happiness appears to be something complete and self-sufficient, and is, therefore, the end of actions” (10:1097b20-21). In other words, happiness is the ultimate good. But how does one achieve happiness? Aristotle formulates this in the context of work, since for all things, from artists to horses, “the good and the doing it well seem to be in the work” (10:1097b27-28).

In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, he outlines the different scenarios in which one is responsible for her actions.  There is, however, a possible objection which raises the possibility that nobody is responsible for their actions.  Are we responsible for some of our actions after all?   If so, under what circumstances?

The notion of human rights, natural rights, and moral rights all emphasize universal law, laws not invented by any government. Natural law and natural rights deals with rights made by government, or given by God. Gortius articulated the modern notion of becoming a moral person. “ In this sense a right becomes moral quality of a person, making it possible to have or do something lawfully”(Gortius, 135). Hobbes believed that right of nature, implies a person should protect them self by any means necessary.

The Nicomachean Ethics begin with a simple concept-- everyone wants happiness. In Book 1 of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle explores what happiness is and how to achieve ultimate happiness and good life. In the passage, 1097b22-1098a18, also known as the “function argument”, he further explores the happiness as the chief good concept by examining human function and the good that comes along. In this passage, Aristotle’s thesis is that the good of humans resides in human function of activity with reason (rational activity). From this thesis, we can imply that the good performance of function can lead to ultimate happiness.

In his book Nicomanchean Ethics Aristotle explains and differentiates voluntary and involuntary actions and expatiate on all the factor that contribute in deciding on the nature of our actions. The purpose of this differentiation is essential for the study of virtue ethics and more importantly for the study of jurisprudence “to the assigning of both of honors and of punishments” onto individuals. Aristotle firstly describes factors that causes actions to be involuntary or voluntary, such as ignorance, compulsion and choice. The understanding of such factors and their relation to our actions are also important to understand the principles explained by Aristotle. Voluntary actions is defined by Aristotle as actions that have their principle

Book I of Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics is devoted to determining whether there is some ultimate good or end that all human actions seek. Aristotle argues that all human actions seek some sort of good, and that there is an ultimate good that we wish for only because of itself, which allows us to wish for other things (NE 1094a5). He argues that we can not choose everything for the sake of something else, because this would lead to an infinite number of choices leaving desire to seem empty. The good that we desire for no other reason other than itself will be the best or ultimate end to human activity (1094a20). He tries to establish this end by giving certain criteria that ends must meet in order to be considered the best good.

In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, the concept of happiness is introduced as the ultimate good one can achieve in life as well as the ultimate goal of human existence. As Aristotle goes on to further define happiness, one can see that his concept is much different from the 21st-century view. Aristotelian happiness can be achieved through choosing to live the contemplative life, which would naturally encompass moralistic virtue. This differs significantly from the modern view of happiness, which is heavily reliant on material goods. To a person in the 21st-century, happiness is simply an emotional byproduct one experiences as a result of acquiring material goods.

2.3 International human rights norms The idea of Human Rights is universal concept for all mankind and it has evolved gradually through the world. It is based on natural rights. The Magna Carta(1215), Petition of Rights (1628), Bill of Rights(1689), Charter of New Plymouth (1620), State of Virginia declaration of rights (1776), French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen(1789), Bill of Rights in America (1791),Babylonain laws, Hittile laws, Dharma of the Vedic period in India and sangam literature etc. have roots for the protection of rights of man.

Although the modern foundation of ‘human rights ' arose from magna Carter in 1215, the document did not give rights, but guaranteed certain ‘liberties '. The first concept of the term ‘human rights ' is attributed to John Locke (1632-1704) in his work entitled: ‘ An Essay Concerning Human Understanding '. Although Locke did not use the term ‘human rights’, his efforts laid the foundation that people should be allowed to advance their potentials in the society in so far such acts do not harm other individuals. Human right wore an international mantle after mantle the 2nd World War and has now been documented in international mantle after the Second World War and has now been documented in international, regional and national

Aristotle advanced the philosophy of ethics, where he demonstrated that it is a means of achieving an end to happiness. However, happiness means many things to different people. To Aristotle, the most adequate way to pursue happiness is through the virtue of excellence. In his writings, Aristotle connected his therory of virtue to economics, and leadership as well. It is a matter of connecting ones personal ethics to that of ones business ethics.