Unit 2
180. (a) What does money naturally measure, according to Aristotle's analysis? Why? (That is, in other words, when money fulfills the purposes that human nature needs it for, what is it treated as measuring?)
DEMAND. Because, human nature needs money in order to facilitate trade - yet trade itself would not occur in the first place if people did not want what each other have. So the way moneycan facilitate trade is by measuring how much people want things.
165. (a) According to Aristotle, which is worse - Over-reservedness or Exaggeration? Why?
Exaggeration is worse. It is worse in itself because it does not really even loo like the right amount of talking about oneself (Truthfullness).
(d) Why is being "sanguine and hopeful" not the same as true courage, in Aristotle's view?
These people might refuse to face the situation if they truly understood how dangerous it is.
120. MULTIPLE CHOICE: A person who DID have a reasonable way to know the truth of what he is in fact doing, but who decided not to look as hard as a reasonable person would to ascertain the truth, is in a condition of . . . . a. vincible ignorance b. invincible ignorance
A
111. What does it mean for one vice to be "worse in itself" than the opposite vice in the same area of life?
A one vice can be worse than the opposite extreme. (Aristotle says that cowardice < rashness, stinginess < prodigality, excessive anger < angerlessness, etc...)
(b) What's unique about the relationship of the vice of being "Over-Reserved" with the opposite vice of being an Exaggerator when it comes to communicating thoughts about yourself?
A person who is EXTREMELY Over-Reserved (too little talking about oneself) actually ends up drawing attention to himself and thus ends up becoming an Exaggerator in that way. (For instance, extreme over-reservedness can be like saying, "Hey, everyone, look at how humble I am, look at how I don't answer your reasonable questions about my achievements, in order to make you ask about them more")
(d) Who are "the sanguine and hopeful" who are listed as people with a false type of courage in Aristotle's list?
ANSWER: people who underestimate the danger of a situation in itself. (Here you are underestimating the situation itself which is around you.)
118. (a) What is the difference between absolute invincible ignorance and practically invincible ignorance?
Absolute Inv. Ign. is when one has absolutely no way at all of finding out the answer (messages across sea hundreds of years ago). Practically inv. ign. is when one has no reasonable way of finding out the truth (door stop rules).
Universal justice is another name for the sum total of all the virtues insofar as they ____________________________________________.
have an impact on others.
171. What are the two subdivisions of particular justice?
"Connective Justice" and "Distributive Justice"
100. What very famous definition does Aristotle propose for a "moral virtue"? MEMORIZE AND UNDERSTAND!
"A state apt to exercise deliberate choice, being in the relative mean, determined by reason, & as the person with practical wisdom would determine."
175. Aristotle's account of the various types of justice makes sense to a lot of people. But society still has lots of disputes about justice. What kinds of disputes can arise among people about justice, even when they agree that distributive justice is different from corrective justice?
(1) whether a situation calls for corrective justice or distributive justice (or a mix of the two), (2) whether the items in a given exchange are in fact EQUAL in value (corrective justice), and (3) what standard should be used to decide who gets how much honor, power, wealth, possessions, etc. in a distribution (distributive justice).
136. To what extent is an action done by habit voluntary, and why?
(HINT about the WHY part: because voluntariness concerns the extent to which the will is engaged in an action.)
178. Based ultimately on the way human nature is built, money CAN help us to live more excellently by fulfilling three functions that are not as easily fulfilled in a barter economy. What THREE functions does money naturally and legitimately serve, according to Aristotle? Name and explain them.
1) Money makes it easier to appy corrective justice since it provides a quick numerical comparison of the VALUES. 2) Money ENCOURAGES exchanges. 3) Money can STORE value more permanently than goods.
94. What four conditions must ALL belong to an action in order for it to be considered a "morally excellent/virtuous" action, according to Aristotle?
1. It must be the right type of action in the relative mean. 2. One must know what they are doing. 3. The action must be chosen/enjoyed for its own sake and not merely for the sake of reward. 4. The action rises from a firm habit.
109. (a) According to Aristotle, for every virtue there are ____ vices. Why?
2. Because there is a vice of habitually aiming at not enough of something and there is a vice of habitually aiming at too much of that same thing. The virtue is between these two extremes.
121. MULTIPLE CHOICE: Suppose I suspect that there is a law against the type of stock transaction that I am about to perform. A legal dictionary is next to me, and I open to the page marked "insider trading." As I start to read the relevant pages, I see the beginning of an argument that is probably (but not certainly) going to end by condemning the type of trade that I am about to perform. Therefore, I quickly close the book, so that if I am arrested, I can honestly say that I "didn't know for sure that what I did was wrong." What exactly is this type of ignorance called? a. affected vincible ignorance b. crass vincible ignorance c. practical vincible ignorance d. lazy vincible ignorance e. absolute vincible ignorance
A
124. MULTIPLE CHOICE (CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER AND EXPLAIN IT): An action done because of invincible ignorance is . . . a. involuntary b. less voluntary than one done with full knowledge, but still voluntary c. fully voluntary
A
128. An action done because of antecedent passion is . . . a. less voluntary than one done without passion, and possibly even involuntary b. fully voluntary
A
139. MULTIPLE CHOICE: Which of the following names the virtue of having the right amount of boldness? a. courage b. perfected self-mastery c. insensibility d. rashness e. none of the above
A
190. Which is easier to reform - a person with a vice, or a person with Imperfect Self-Control, according to Aristotle, and why?
A person with Imperfect Self-Control because at least that person still himself recognizes that he ought to change his behavior. The person with a vice refuses even to agree with the statement "I ought to change my behavior" because his enslaved reasoning part (enslaved to the lower parts of his soul) actually justifies his depraved conduct with rationalizations (bad arguments that his lower parts want to be true so that they can get what they want). That person might even be proud of his conduct!
154. (a) What is an example of an event or action where you might be called upon to exercise the virtue of Magnificence?
A wedding
132. (a) MULTIPLE CHOICE: An action done because of intellectual fear is . . . a. less voluntary, and possibly even involuntary b. fully voluntary
A. because you did not choose the difficult circumstances (which reduces voluntariness), and you might or might not be blameworthy for how you responded to those circumstances (depending on whether you chose to respond to them reasonably)
95. Look at the list of features that you provided in answer to the last question. According to Aristotle, which of those must be present in order for an action to be morally permissible (that is, "okay")?
ANSWER: At the very least, the first condition: the action must be of the right type (that is, in the relative mean). Without that, you have a downright BAD action, objectively.
(b) Which deals more with regulating our Spirited Part and its handling of pain - Courage or Perfected Self-Mastery?
ANSWER: Courage
161. (a) What SPECIFIC bad effect does Small-Mindedness have, according to Aristotle? (b) NOTICE how the answer to part (a) might also help us to see why Aristotle claims that Small-Mindedness is worse than Vanity, though some might disagree with his claim.
ANSWER: He claims it deteriorates one's character by tending to result in aiming at less excellent activities than one is really capable of. Thus (in Aristotle's view) the person ends up not practicing and developing and maintaining the great virtues that he actually used to have.
(d) TRUE or FALSE: Truthfulness is Aristotle's name for the virtue of habitually doing the right amount (the relative mean) of talking about oneself.
ANSWER: TRUE.
133. Aristotle gave the example of throwing valuable goods overboard during a storm in order to save a ship from sinking. We went over this example in class. Explain how this situation involves intellectual fear.
ANSWER: You know that if you do not throw the goods overboard, you drown and lose both your life and the goods anyway. So no one can charge you with "voluntarily inflicting a loss of $100,000 on the person expecting the shipment." You voluntarily responded in a reasonable way to a storm, and the storm is really what caused the destruction of the merchandise. You did choose to throw the goods overboard, but you did not choose the circumstances that led to this being a reasonable decision.
(e) Why is "ignorance" not the same as true courage, according to Aristotle?
ANSWER: because these people might refuse to face the situation if they truly understood their lack of skills to deal with it.
(e) In the context of false types of courage, what specifically does Aristotle mean by "ignorance" as a false type of courage?
ANSWER: being ignorant of one's own lack of ability, and thus overestimating one's ability to handle a situation. (Here you accurately understand the situation around you, but you do not understand yourself!)
(a) What is the "Courage of Citizenship"?
ANSWER: facing danger not because it is so right to do so, but instead primarily because of the promise of honors or the threat of punishments
(b) In the context of false types of courage, what is meant by "experience and skill"?
ANSWER: having specialized abilities so that you know that FOR YOU the situation is nowhere near as dangerous as it looks to the untrained eye.
98. If an action is an action of the right kind (like "eating a reasonable amount of dessert") and the action fulfills ALL BUT ONE of the other 3 conditions laid out by Aristotle for a "virtuous action," then Aristotle would say that the action is . . . a. morally bad (wrong) b. morally okay, but neither excellent nor virtuous c. still morally excellent, though technically not morally "virtuous"
Action is morally ok, but not excellent or virtuous
97. If an action is an action of the right kind (like "eating a reasonable amount of dessert") but the action does not fulfill ANY of the other 3 conditions laid out by Aristotle for a "virtuous action," then Aristotle would say that the action is . . . a. morally bad (wrong) b. morally okay, but neither excellent nor virtuous c. still morally excellent, though technically not morally "virtuous"
Action is morally ok, but not excellent or virtuous.
96. How many of the list of features must be present in order for an action to be morally EXCELLENT/VIRTUOUS?
All four!
187. What is brutishness?
An unnatural desire taking over the soul. Examples: Instead of merely wanting too much ordinary food in general like an ordinary glutton,a brutish person might want to rip babies out of pregnant women's bodies and eat them. Or instead of a man seducing an adult woman outside of marriage, a child molester might show his brutishness by going after toddlers. Brutishness tends to involve wanting something that it never makes sense to want at all, whereas mere vice tends to involve wanting something which could be legitimate in other circumstances, but just too much/little.
127. What is the difference between antecedent passion and consequent passion?
Antecedent passion is when emotions become so strong that they were UNCONTROLLABLE. Consequent passion occurs when one PURPOSEFULLY stirs up emotion to alter conduct.
119. MULTIPLE CHOICE: A person who DID TECHNICALLY have a way to know the truth of what he is in fact doing, but who couldn't REASONABLY be expected to have been able to have found out the truth, is in a condition of . . . . a. vincible ignorance b. invincible ignorance
B
123. MULTIPLE CHOICE: Suppose I do not try to find out the truth at all about some aspect of what I am doing, even though a reasonable person in my situation would. In that case, I am in a condition of . . . a. affected vincible ignorance b. crass vincible ignorance c. practical vincible ignorance d. lazy vincible ignorance e. absolute vincible ignorance
B
125. MULTIPLE CHOICE (CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER AND EXPLAIN IT): An action done because of lazy or crass vincible ignorance is . . . a. involuntary b. less voluntary than one done with full knowledge, but still voluntary c. fully voluntary
B
129. An action done because of consequent passion is . . . a. less voluntary than one done without passion, and possibly even involuntary b. fully voluntary
B
173. What is corrective justice (also called commutative justice)?
Branch of Particular justice that deals with EQUALITY and the fairness in exchange and trade.
172. What is distributive justice?
Branch of Particular justice that deals with INEQUALITY and the fairness in distributing honors/wealth/possessions to a group from a common supply.
189. Aristotle verbally described a graph, which we actually drew on the board, to represent how many people are in each of the following six conditions: brutishness, vice, imperfect self-control, self-control, virtue, and superhuman virtue. How did ARISTOTLE want us to draw that graph? Draw it as HE would draw it (as we did in class).
Brutishness--> Vice-->Imperfect Self Control --> Self-Cont.--> Virtue --> Superhuman Virtue. Most people err just on the Imperfect self control side.
(h) According to Aristotle, which is worse - sternness or buffoonery? Why?
Buffoonery. It is more tempting to most people. (That is, most people are more tempted to tell jokes that at times and in ways that are inappropriate, he thinks, than they are to scorn humor that is legitimate.)
122. MULTIPLE CHOICE: Suppose I try to find out the truth, but do not try as hard as a reasonable person would. In that case, I am in a condition of . . . a. affected vincible ignorance b. crass vincible ignorance c. practical vincible ignorance d. lazy vincible ignorance e. absolute vincible ignorance
D
105. Which part of the soul should determine the relative mean, according to Aristotle's definition - the reasoning part, the spirited part, or the desiring part?
Determined by the reasoning part
141. MULTIPLE CHOICE: Which of the following names the vice of not having sufficient boldness in the face of danger? a. courage b. perfected self-mastery c. insensibility d. rashness e. none of the above
E (Since that would be cowardice.)
(c) Which is worse, according to Aristotle - too much anger or not enough? Why?
Excessive anger is worse. It is worse in itself and it is more tempting to most people.
183. (a) TRUE or FALSE: The person with a virtue still has not tamed his/her desiring and spirited part and thus has an internal struggle before doing what is right.
FALSE
170. TRUE or FALSE: Particular justice includes all the virtues.
False
184. (a) TRUE or FALSE: The person with a vice still has an active conscience (reasoning part) and thus realizes deep down that he is doing something bad.
False
155. Out of all Aristotle's detailed accounts of moral virtues and vices from the second half of Book III to the end of Book V, which virtue is described by Aristotle in the most controversial way, according to what we learned in class?
Great-Mindedness
114. According to Aristotle, is it easy or hard to be virtuous, and why?
Hard, because you can err by too much or too little, and it's not always easy to find - and want - the relative mean.
188. What is superhuman virtue?
Having tamed the lower parts of the soul so much that the person does incredibly good actions. For example, instead of merely exercising "ordinary" liberality with frequent donations to the poor, people like St. Francis of Assisi renounced all their earthly possessions and spent the entire rest of their lives doing good deeds and taking care of poor people, lepers, and others.
168. What is "particular justice"?
In regards to Fairness, it is only ONE virtue among others. NOT the sum total of all virtues.
117. What is the difference between invincible ignorance and vincible ignorance?
Invincible ignorance is when one has no way at all (or no reasonable way) of finding out the truth. Vincible ignorance is when one has a reasonable way of finding out the truth, but either didn't try at all, didn't try hard enough, or put in effort to not find out the truth.
(c) What is "mere Animal Spirit," according to Aristotle?
It is a false type of courage when the spirited part of a person temporarily becomes very excited (like a "rush of adrenaline"), and then the person faces danger solely because of the adrenaline rush.
179. (a) According to Aristotle, there is a connection between corrective justice and one of the main functions that money naturally serves. Explain. HINT: See # 178 answer part (1).
It is easier to apply corrective justice as it provides a quick numerical comparison of the VALUES
102. Some examples of states (i.e., habits or conditions, things that have become "second nature") inside a condition whereby a person tends to scratch the head three times, or a person tends to chew food on the left side of the mouth. But none of these examples would be an example of the kind of state that constitutes a moral virtue. So, by contrast, what exactly does a moral virtue make us apt to do, according to its definition?
It makes you apt to exercise deliberate choice
103. What must be true of the "amount" of something that is being deliberately chosen, in order for the state of character that aims you at it to be a moral virtue?
It must be in the relative mean
101. (a) What does Aristotle mean by calling a virtue a "state"?
It's a habit or condition, not an individual action or feeling.
149. (a) According to Aristotle, which is worse, Lack of Self-Control or Insensibility? Why?
Lack of Self-Control, because it's more tempting for most people
(b) What aspect of life is Vanity too much of, and Small-Mindedness not enough of?
Large-Scale honors
157. (a) What aspect of life is Great-Mindedness the "right amount of"?
Large-Scale honors
152. According to class lecture based on the text, what is the difference between Liberality and Magnificence?
Liberality concerns small-scale everyday spending. Magnificense concerns large-scale spending on events and gifts.
181. We should HAVE all the virtues. But we are not called upon to EXERCISE all the virtues at the same time. Out of all the virtues discussed in the many questions listed above, which two do you think are most important for you to exercise in your own personal situation in life right now? (For instance, a professional comedian has to seek to constantly exercise the right amount of humor because that's his JOB, a soldier is called upon to exercise Courage more than most people do, and a rich person has to seek to exercise Magnificence far more than most people do. So what about YOU?)
Liberality- I am a college student with very little money and need to be better at saving money on little purchases. Pleasure- Pleasure also is a challenging one to manage at this age. I would openly admit to being a rather impulsive person.
146. (a) If someone is bold on behalf of an unreasonable goal, would Aristotle call that courage? Why?
No. A virtue aims at a relative mean DETERMINED BY REASON AND AS A PERSON WITH PRACTICAL WISDOM WOULD DETERMINE. Trying to be bold so as to achieve an unreasonable goal is a case of rashness, by definition. That's why (as we discussed in class) it is pretty clear that Aristotle would not call terrorists "courageous." Instead, they are rash. They are being bold when it does not make sense to be bold. That is too much boldness, relative to the situation of "facing a plane full of innocent civilians," as a reasonable assessment of the topic of "whether each person in this random collection of people on this plane has done something to deserve an instant death penalty at my hands right now" easily shows.
99. If an action is not an action of the right kind (in other words, not in the relative mean), then can it still be a morally permissible action, according to Aristotle?
NO. Minimally, at the very least, that first feature must belong to the action for it to be at least "okay."
166. (a) According to Aristotle, is shame a virtue? Why/Why not?
No it is not because it is only reasonable if you have NOT BEEN excellent/virtuous in the past.
(c) Is Imperfect Self-Control just a synonym for vice? Why/why not?
No it is not, because Imperfect Self- Control implies that one actually knows that they are doing the wrong thing but choose to do it anyway. A vice involves a killed conscience.
(c) Is Self-Control just a synonym for virtue? Why/Why not?
No it is not, because Self-Control implies that there was an internal struggle which a truly virtuous person would not have had.
106. Why did Aristotle add the final clause of his definition of moral virtue - "and as a man of practical wisdom would determine"? Isn't that just redundant with the previous part of the definition ("determined by reason")?
Not redundant. Aristotle is specifying who is best to determine the relative mean. Not everyone's Reasoning Part is equally expert. So the judgment of someone who truly has practical wisdom would be better than someone who is clueless. We would have to say that a child's Reasoning Part is just as competent as a mature, excellent adult's Reasoning Part.
112. What does it mean for one vice to be "worse relative to you personally" than the opposite vice in the same area of life?
One may be more personally tempted than another the other, which would be more dangerous to ones character. (For most people lack of self control is more tempting than insensibility.)
182. (a) Explain the difference between virtue and self-control. HINT: See # 183.
One with virtue HAS TAMED their spirited/desiring part and has no issues with doing the right thing in regards to pleasure. If they were exercising self-control, they would not being doing the right thing without an internal struggle.
151. (a) Which deals more with regulating our Desiring Part and its drive for pleasures - Courage or Perfected Self-Mastery?
Perfected Self-Mastery
131. What is intellectual fear?
Recognizing in your mind that if you DONT do action X, that some horrible result would occur. (One doesn't choose the horrible circumstances.) It is less than fully voluntary, and possibly even involuntary.
(b) What might be an example that would illustrate why part (a) of this question was TRUE? (Why the right amount of an activity ma not necessarily be too much/little and for some should be actually just ZERO.)
SAMPLE ANSWER: The right amount of killing FOR ME PERSONALLY throughout MY WHOLE LIFE has been ZERO. I cannot be guilty of KILLING TOO LITTLE, because I'm not a police officer or a soldier and I've never been in a situation that called for the use of deadly force to stop a terrorist or anything like that. There might be other people whose job or circumstances morally require killing, where failing to kill some armed attacker would be shameful cowardice that would result in the deaths of innocents -- but I've never been a person in that kind of job or circumstance so far. ANOTHER SAMPLE ANSWER: The right amount of "power line repair" for you personally might be ZERO for your whole life, if you never learn how to fix them because your career path goes in a different direction. And if you never learn how to fix power lines (a skill that requires careful training), it will never be reasonable for you to try to fix them, not even once, until the day you die! Leave that task to the power company and their technicians! FOR THEM, the right amount of power line repair is "8 hours per day." For the rest of us the right amount is ZERO SECONDS for our WHOLE LIVES.
160. (a) According to Aristotle, which is worse - the vice of Small-Mindedness, or the vice of Vanity? (b) What reason(s) does he briefly give for this - it's worse "in itself," it's worse "relative to most people," or both?
Small mindedness is worse. It can be worse in itself as it can have depleting effects on one's character. It can be more tempting to most people as well.
(b) Explain the difference between vice and imperfect self-control. HINT: See # 184.
Someone who has imperfect self control still has not tamed their spirited/desiring part and struggles to do what is right.
134. What is meant by physical force as a modifier of voluntariness?
Someone/something else is physically moving your body. This includes neurological chemical disorders.
110. Sometimes one vice can be worse for your character than the opposite vice in the same area of life. What two factors can produce this result?
Sometimes one vice is "worse in itself" than the opposite vice, and sometimes one vice is "worse for you personally" than the opposite vice.
153. (a) According to Aristotle, which is worse - Stinginess or Prodigality? What two reasons?
Stinginess. It is worse in itself and it is more tempting for most people.
(b) TRUE or FALSE: The person with Self-Control still has not tamed his/her desiring and spirited part and thus has an internal struggle before doing what is right.
TRUE
(f) TRUE or FALSE: Aristotle does not say whether he thinks one vice is worse than the opposite extreme in the case of friendliness.
TRUE
(c) TRUE or FALSE: The vices mentioned in the over-reserved and exaggerator question concerns such things as how much you talk about yourself (including how much attention your clothing draws to yourself, since clothing talks about yourself in a way).
TRUE.
115. TRUE or FALSE: The topic of "voluntariness" is the topic of "to what extent the will is engaged in an action."
TRUE. (*In class I wrote "free will" as part of this formula of words on the board, but technically it is more precise to say just "will," so I thought I should amend what I wrote.)
113. (a) According to Aristotle, what should we do when (for whatever reason) one vice is worse than the opposite vice? Why?
That vice is more dangerous to your character, so it is important to, moving in the opposite direction from that vice. To a certain extent, we can "unbend" the warp which the worse vice threatens to produce in our character - just as the best way to unwarp a piece of wood is to bend it a little in the opposite direction from the warp
104. Explain the concept of the "relative mean." In your answer, explain why it is called a "mean," and explain why it is called "relative."
The action is the correct amount of the action. It depends on the person and situation.
156. Why is that considered so controversial?
The details that Aristotle gives about Great-Mindedness make it sound like a rather unpleasant form of arrogance. He says that the Great-Minded person despises the praise of less virtuous people. He would rather hear of his own good deeds instead of others' good deeds toward him. Aristotle even concedes that people like this are "thought to be supercilious" because nothing is all that important in their eyes. Everything is small, they think, compared to their own great thoughts and virtues. Etc. (as we covered in class from the text).
(b) Why aren't "experience and skill" the same as true courage, in Aristotle's view?
The person knows he is not actually facing as much danger as everyone else thinks, so this situation is not an adequate test for "excellence" in character. If he were in a situation that is TRULY dangerous for someone of his level of training, he would give up and not do what is right.
145. (a) Why isn't the "Courage of Citizenship" the same as true courage, in Aristotle's view?
The reasoning part is not motivating the person, but just rewards or punishments. The resulting conduct when the person faces danger thus might still be okay or even good but not "excellent" (virtuous). The person fulfills condition # 1 for a virtuous action, but not condition # 3.
(c) Why isn't "mere Animal Spirit" the same as true courage, in Aristotle's view?
The reasoning part of a person is not really what is motivating him, but only a temporary rush of adrenaline. Once that wears off, he will not be as bold as he needs to be.
(c) Give an example of the vice of Meanness.
Too little spending on important large-scale events. Paper plates at weddings.
(b) Give an example of the vice of Vulgar Profusion.
Too much spending on large-scale events. Gaudy displays of wealth at events/weddings.
150. Which sense is Perfected Self-Mastery trying to moderate most of all, according to Aristotle?
Touch
108. (a) TRUE or FALSE: Even in the case of an activity whose very definition does NOT necessarily imply "too much" or "too little" by its very definition, the right amount of that activity for you personally might still be ZERO for much or even all of your life, according to Aristotle's way of thinking.
True
147. TRUE or FALSE: Courage involves being as bold as a situation reasonably requires, in Aristotle's view. A coward does not act as boldly as reason requires in some situation.
True
169. TRUE or FALSE: Particular Justice can also be called "fairness" in modern English.
True
176. TRUE or FALSE: According to Aristotle, human nature can get along better in an economy that uses money than in a barter economy. That is, human nature is built in such a way that we find the invention of money to be helpful toward making our lives excellent instead of just passably okay.
True
185. (a) TRUE or FALSE: According to Aristotle, a person with Self-Control is on the path to virtue. Why?
True
186. (a) TRUE or FALSE: According to Aristotle, a person with Imperfect Self-Control is on the path to vice.
True
(b) TRUE or FALSE: The person with Imperfect Self-Control still has an active conscience (reasoning part) and thus realizes deep down that he is doing what is bad.
True.
158. (a) TRUE or FALSE: If someone does not have ALL the other virtues to a great degree, then Aristotle claims that person cannot have the virtue of Great-Mindedness. Why?
True. Because it is not reasonable to have a high opinion of oneself if one is not greatly virtuous! So "great honor" would be "too much honor," by definition, for a person who was not greatly virtuous.
126. (a) TRUE or FALSE: An action done because of affected vincible ignorance is voluntary in one way but more voluntary on another.
True. because the person didn't know FOR SURE what he was doing (which reduces voluntariness a little) but he DID put in effort to CREATE his own ignorance (which increases voluntariness!)
167. We studied multiple ways in which the term "justice" is used. What is "universal justice" (also called "general justice," also called "legal justice," also called "contributive justice")?
Universal justice includes ALL the virtues INSOFAR as they have an impact on others.
174. (a) Aristotle distinguishes two different kinds of situations in which corrective justice is carried out, and voluntariness is relevant to the distinction. Explain.
VOLUNTARY Corr. Just.- When there is a fair trade voluntarily made. INVOLUNTARY Corr. Just.- When someone forces you to trade fairly (you tried to steal)
(g) Notice that there are two vices and a virtue dealing with how humorous you are.
Virtue: Easy-Pleasentry. Vices: Buffoonery and Sternness (No need to memorize).
(e) Notice there are two vices and a virtue dealing with how friendly you are.
Virtue: Friendliness. Vices: Flattery and contentious/cross. (No need to memorize).
(b) Notice that there are two vices and a virtue dealing with anger.
Virtue=Meekness. Vices=Angerlessness and vices of excessive anger.
(b) Why would a virtue be a "state," in Aristotle's view?
We consider a person to be an excellent person overall when his character is a certain way, not merely because once one day he had a warm, fuzzy feeling or once one day he did a nice action. A moral virtue is an excellence in a PERSON, not merely in a feeling or in an action. It has to do with a disposition or habit for how you regularly DEAL WITH AND GOVERN your feelings and actions!
142. (a) According to Aristotle, which is worse, Cowardice or Rashness? (b) What reason does HE give for this -- because it's more tempting for most people, or because it simply does not resemble the virtue very much, meaning that it is further from the relative mean and thus is "worse in itself"?
a) Cowardaice. b) because it simply does not resemble the virtue very much, meaning that it is further from the relative mean (i.e., "worse in itself")
148. (a) What is Perfected Self-Mastery? (b) What is Insensibility? (c) What is Lack of Self-Control?
a) Perfected Self-Mastery is the relative mean (right amount) of pleasure seeking. b) Insensibility is not enough pleasure seeking c) Lack of Self-Control is too much pleasure seeking.
(b) Later philosophers built upon Aristotle's analysis by naming different types of ignorance that he had outlined and by explaining more fully the concept of compulsion. Thus, with the aid of a handout, we studied 5 factors that can affect the voluntariness of an action. You will not be asked to recite the names of these 5 factors from scratch, but if you are given a list of choices, you should be able to recognize which items on the list were factors that we studied and which items were not. For example: MULTIPLE CHOICE: Which of the following is NOT the name that we learned for a factor that we studied that affects voluntariness? historical accident, passion, physical force, habit, ignorance
historical accident
116. (a) In the text at the very start of Book III, Aristotle explicitly names two sources that can reduce voluntariness in an action. What are they?
ignorance and compulsion
