Freedom and the Art of Balance - Essay Example

Freedom and the art of balance in going from potentiality to actuality. (Aristotle) Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, a of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He had a brilliant and futuristic mind and had a vast knowledge in different fields, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theatre, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology (Nichomachean Ethics). The present article discusses the ethical view of Aristotle.IntroductionAccording to Aristotle ethics is a practical science and it needs to be done practically and not through reasoning.

It is a kind of general knowledge which an individual possess. This is a reason that he wrote various treatises on ethics. The most noticeable one is Nichomachean Ethics. In this Aristotle pointed out the virtue ethics which demarcated the proper functioning of every article of thing. He said that what is fact is truth for e.g. an eye is only a good eye as long as it can see as the proper function of eye is sight. Also, he identified the best activity of the soul as eudaimonia (a sense of happiness that suffuses the good life) and in order to attain the good life one must live a balanced life and avoid anything in excess.

This excess could hold different meaning for different people and also for different situations and exists as a golden mean between the two vices- one is an excess while other is a deficiency (Nichomachean Ethics).This is essential to define the quality of a person's habits or character as the man of excellence or the thing of excellence is said to have virtue and this in its highest forms is associated with potential for happiness (Nichomachean Ethics).Book 1 defines the subject matter and emphasizes on the Goal-directed ethics and is often called teleological.

In this Aristotle stated that everything has a purpose or end. For instance a good knife has a purpose to cut and therefore must be sharp. In the similar manner every human has also a purpose this might be different than what he has thought, i.e. people have lot of aims set in the mind but most of them may not be of interest in themselves, one must start with what he/she already knows. Therefore happiness is not a mood but an achievement of life by virtuous actions.The book also defines character-centered ethics as the good deeds done by good people and their actions cannot be considered as an isolated act but in relation to the virtuous deeds.

The overall human function is the soul's activity and also that the essence of being human is to possess the ability to reason (Nichomachean Ethics).Book II is based on Moral virtue and comprise of characteristic or personal virtues today and points out courage, temperance, liberality, magnificence, pride gentleness, agreeableness and above all the truthfulness and wittiness of a mankind. It discusses the golden mean where there is an equilibrium needs to be maintained. This is in association with a healthy soul lives in healthy body.

The second pillar states that we should strive for what is relative to us, while the third pillar states that each virtue falls between two vices (excess or deficiency). This forms a triad of vices. It is imperative that proper participation in each of these three pillars is necessary for a person to lead a virtuous and therefore happy life (Nichomachean Ethics).Book 3, encompass courage and temperance, the will and profligacy. According to Aristotle, courage is largely concerned with the feelings of confidence and fear.

It is a mean between the two vices and vices a sense of honor and also finds connection with pain and also pleasure. One must have courage to face fears (Nichomachean Ethics).ConclusionAristotle gave a profound view about the ethics and morals and also provides vices for the defining freedom and the art of balance between excess and scarcity to formulate the condition of having potential ethics and making them practice in actuality. ReferencesNichomachean Ethics. Translated by Terence Irwin (2nd ed ed.). Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co.

ISBN 0-87220-464-2.(Hereafter referred to as Irwin), 1094a, p. 1.; Irwin, p. 406.