midterm- aristotle Flashcards
what can be used as a form of guidance
pleasure/pain
What are the common beliefs as to what happiness is that Aristotle proves wrong
honor, pleasure, wealth
What is the good
That which everyone seeks
What is the highest good
The good that is being pursued for its own sake, not as a means to any other good, it is essential to life
What are the two things that happiness is
It is the highest good, and it is complete
What is a happy human
Has everything he/she needs to complete their function
Three things to have for function
- Conform to their function
- Have all the necessary things needed to perform function
- Over a complete life
What allows us to perform our function
Our virtues- we are given virtues from nature, but we can only activate them and become virtuous through our actions
What are the three parts of the soul
Rational- virtues of thought formed by experience and study
a. Practical
b. Theoretical
Part of the soul that gives the body life
Nonrational- virtues of character formed by habit, pleasure/ pain
a. Appetitive
b. Vegetative
Book I concept:
Happiness
Book II concept:
Virtues of Character
____ or ____ determines character
pleasure, pain
How are actions and virtues related
Our actions are based on pleasure vs. pain, and we need to do actions in order to be virtuous !
A virtue is a ___, and is a mean between two ___.
state, vices
The virtues we possess causes us to be
in a good state, and able to perform our function well!
virtue =
Aim at what is intermediate, THIS IS THE BEST CONDITION
Everyone has different means, but what is the same for everyone?
Our nature and our target, we just have different personalities and different communities that cause us to hit the target differently
How is ethics objective yet subjective
objective- we are all given the same nature
subjective- we all give the center of the target differently
____ –> ___ –> ____
Deficiency, Mean, Excess
How do we hit the mean or target?
We aim at either vice and adjust accordingly, we either pull back with more tension or we make it more loose
Book III concept
Preconditions of virtue
Name the four types of actions
Voluntary
Mixed
Nonvoluntary
Involuntary
Voluntary actions
Are known, you choose to do them, there are two types
a. Done with knowledge- you know what you’re doing you just don’t know if its ethical
b. Done in ignorance- drunkness, we choose to get drunk which causes our bad actions
Mixed actions
Actions that are done because we are forced to do something good or bad, involuntary because someone is making us do it, but voluntary because we actually end up doing that thing
Nonvoluntary
Actions done by ignorance without pain or regret (ex: holding the door for someone accidentally )
Involuntary
Actions done by ignorance with pain and regret, things you would not have done if you knew you were doing it (ex: hitting someone with your car)
What is fear
The expectation of something bad, what is frightening varies from person to person
What is most frightening
death
The brave person
Stands firm against the right things, and fears things at the right time/ way
____ –> bravery –> _____
cowardice, rash
What is temperance
The mean concerned with pleasures
Pleasures from the soul vs. pleasures from the body
soul- thought, not body, getting pleasure in healthy food
body- objects of appetite, pleasure out of mcdonalds
___ –> temperance –> _______
intemperate- voluntary and caused by pleasure
cowardice - caused by pain
How can we see things that appear to us how we really are?
If we form our virtues, which allow us to form our character
Book IV concept
Different types of virtues
Generosity is the means of
giving and taking wealth
The generous person gives
at the right times, from the right sources, to the right people
Give the two vices to generous
Wastefulness –> Generosity –> Ungenerosity
The wasteful person
gives to the wrong people
The generous person uses rationality to
decide when to give and how much money to give, it is not just random acts of kindness
Give the two vices to magnificence
stinginess –> Magnificence –> Vulgarity
what is being vulgar
buying first round of drinks because you’re having a good day, lord henry, displays wealth
what is the act of magnificence that krom gave
buying the first round of drinks because your daughter is getting married
the magnificent person spends money on ____
the common good
The magnanimous person
thinks of himself worthy of great things and actually deserves them
____ is superior to receiver applies to which virtue
giver, magnanimity
to be magnanimous
you must be fine and good and possess all the virtues
give the vices of magnanimity
pusillanimous (people who are great but are unaware) –> magnanimity –> vanity
Why is magnanimity no the absolute best virtue
is is only in relation to one self
Book V concept
justice- the ultimate virtue
The just person aims at
what is good- is an overreacher, maybe this makes it the best too because he is always reaching for something great instead of the magnanimous person already thinks he has everything great
the just person is abiding to the
law and is fair
The just person is a virtue in relation to
one another, happiness is in relation to the whole community
The two types of justice
general justice and special justice
general justice
justice done by government law but unjust / viscous in the way you are doing it (ex: latrobe bikes )
Special justice
relating members of the community to one another
two types of special justice
a. distributive justice
b. rectificatory
distributive justice
donations, tries to make us equal, must come from someone in charge- ex: boss giving employees bonus)
rectificatory justice
measure of the value depends on the need
a. voluntary- a contract, buying something off of someone
b. involuntary- someone punching Dr. Krom- he suffers from a loss
