Aristotles Ethics - Essay Example

Aristotle’s Ethics For Aristotle, there are two kinds of virtue: moral and intellectual virtue. Moral virtues are not innate according to Aristotle but they are acquired. For instance, an individual becomes trustworthy by acting truthfully. Examples of moral virtues are humility, truthfulness, moderation, and generosity. On the other hand, intellectual virtues are those personality traits that are required for correct thinking and desired action. He classified intellectual virtues as productive such as craft knowledge, theoretical such as wisdom and mind and lastly practical such as practical prudence. Happiness is the central core of living, which depends entirely on cultivation of virtues. According to Aristotle, playing the mean is the way of cultivating virtues that includes moral virtues for the attainment of individual happiness. Human beings make choices depending on the circumstances that surround them by choosing on one option and neglecting the other. Aristotle believed that his task of ethics was to come up with the highest and the best good that is found in human life. He argued that all human activities always aim at some recognized higher end that we always consider as good. Most activities that human beings incur in are a means of achieving a higher end. He discussed the nature of vices and virtues that are involved in evaluating morals, the conditions that ascribes moral responsibility towards an individual agent and the methods that one incurs to achieve happiness in life. Aristotle rounded off his explanation of what constituted achievement of true happiness by stating that pleasure is not good in itself because it is incomplete according to its nature. The activities that people engage in are associated with their own distinctive pleasures. Therefore, human beings are directed and guided in nature by their choice or preference for participating in pleasant activities rather than in unpleasant activities. True happiness lies in behavior that leads to virtue, since this alone provides genuine value and not just amusement. In sum, he held that contemplation is the highest form of ethical activity because it is self-reliant, complete, and continuous. Aristotelian ethics states that every activity posses a final cause and the aim for the same good. There is no infinite regress that is associated with extrinsic goods hence there must be highest good, which all human activities aspire which he referred to as happiness. Virtues are opposed to intellectual capacity therefore, virtues of characters happen due to dispositions to act in a given way in response to some similar situations and the habits that one has which makes him behave in a certain way. Good conduct arises from habits, which can be acquired through recurring actions and corrections that makes ethics a practical discipline. Each virtue is a state that naturally seeks its own means, which is relative in its nature. The virtuous habit of any action is an intermediate state between opposed vices of deficiency and excess. In application of this theory of virtue, Aristotle asserts that flexibility is paramount as friendliness is far from deficiency than its excesses. This is because few human beings are inclined naturally to undervalue pleasure; however, it is unusual to ignore or overlook either of the extremes but to regard the virtue opposite the other vices. Aristotle’s ethics are governed at moderate rates, which have dominated the western cultures for a very long time. Ethics being a practical science focuses on human nature that works on accepting a moral responsibility. Nevertheless, moral evaluation of action presupposes attributions of responsibilities to human agents. This does not apply to all attributions, as responsible actions must be taken voluntarily. Aristotle gave out two conditions under which human actions become voluntary. First, he asserted that actions which are produced by external forces are taken as involuntary which the agent is not fully responsible for. Secondly, involuntary actions may be one that is performed out of ignorance. For all decisions that people make to act in a voluntary way, they rely on deliberations about choice among the alternative actions, which an individual could perform. Despite the fact that virtues are habits of disposition, which act in a definite way, Aristotle argued that these habits are acquired when one engages in suitable conduct on definite situations and that in so doing; it requires that one think about what he or she engages in doing certain act in a given way. In addition, there is no demonstrative knowledge of sort employment in aesthetics and science judgment in relation to craft that is relevant to morality. The understanding of morality can be applied by exploring origin of things while wisdom traces any demonstrable connections, which are among them. Prudence or practical intelligence is the thinking mode that provides morality in an adequate way. This comprehends a true character of individuals and the community welfare, which applies the results to guidance of human actions. To act correctly, one coordinates his desires with the correct thoughts over correct ends or goals. Deliberative reasoning considers the extent at which each one of them could contribute towards achieving the appropriate end or goal, engaging in the action voluntarily and making deliberate choices to act in a certain way, which best fits its end. Therefore, intelligence is the basis of acquiring virtue though it differs from intelligence. Aristotle disregarded Socrates belief about knowledge on what is right always leads to doing the same thing. The greatest enemy of moral conducts is the failure to act well on the occasion when deliberations on what may be wrong. Therefore, incontinent agents do suffer from weaknesses of will, which prevent carrying out measures considering conformity that they have reasoned out. This is failure of intelligence, as the individual may not draw appropriate connections between moral rule and particular applicable cases. The prospect that applies to great pleasures obscures one’s perceptions of what is good. Aristotle refuted that this difficulty should not be fatal towards achieving virtues. The roles of friendship and human relationships are elements of a vital good life. This is because no one would ever choose to live without friends even if he has all the other good things in life. He outlined three types of friendship basing on the intended aims and goals. First, friendship based on pleasure exists when two individuals discovers they have a common interest concerning any activity they wish to pursue unanimously. The participation of friends in any activity leads to a greater pleasure to each of the participants than it could apply to an individual person. Another form of friendship is grounded on the utility when two people come up to benefit each other through coordination. The focus is on the benefits that will be acquired rather than enjoyment the two acquire. He argued that friendship that focuses on the good arises when two people participate in an activity develops the goodness of the other. In this case, good is the relevant factor, in that pleasure and utility do not apply. Pleasure to Aristotle, is incomplete and it is never good in itself. Therefore, valuable activities are associated with own distinctive pleasures. People are guided in life by natural preferences that engage in pleasant activity as compared to the unpleasant ones. Genuine happiness is in action, which leads to virtues because this alone provides the true values and not amusement. Contemplation is the only recognized moral activity due to its continuous, self reliant, pleasant, and complete. Intellectual activities involve human beings approaching divine blessings and realizing the genuine virtues. Work Cited. Aristotle. Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. Print. Read More