Aristotle: Moral and Intellectual Virtue
Aristotle describes the fundamental human activity as
"the activity of the soul in accordance with reason."
"Justice in this sense, then, is not part of virtue but virtue entire."
Aristotle
"Practical wisdom, then, must be a reasoned and true state of capacity to act with regard to human goods."
Aristotle
"The just, then, is the lawful and the fair, the unjust the unlawful and unfair."
Aristotle
"Therefore for this reason also the whole concern both of virtue and political science is with pleasures and pains, for the man who uses them well will be good, he who uses them badly bad."
Aristotle
Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim
Aristotle
For the man who abstains from bodily pleasures and delights in this very fact is temperate, while the man who is annoyed at it is self-indulgent. ... For moral excellence is concerned with pleasures and pains.
Aristotle
Christian virtue
Chastity, Charity, Temperance, Diligence , Patience, Kindness, Humility
Classical Greek virtue
Courage, Boldness, Manliness, Strength of Arms
Machiavellian virtue
Moral ambivalence, the appearance of any virtue needed at the time. Boldness and flexibility in the face of luck.
Republican (Neo Classical) virtue
Participation, Engagement in public affairs, Ability to discern the general will.
He divides into two important and related categories. intellectual virtue
Prudence, Practical Wisdom
moral virtue
This consists of virtues such as temperance, courage, and most importantly justice.
Greeks view of virtue
Their goal was not to get into heaven but rather to have a good political life
Intellectual virtues are a reasoning capacity.
They are acquired by teaching and experiences
intellectual virtue
This sort of virtue is best understood as practical wisdom (Phroneisis) it is also translated as prudence. It represents the sorts of things one learns from other's or experience.
Intellectual Virtue:
Virtues that must be taught in order to be apprehended.
Moral Virtue:
Virtues that result from habituation, the process of doing them over and over.
Virtue (arete) is often translated as
excellence and it is contextual to object
True virtue
____ rests in virtuous action combined with virtuous will
Inheritors of the Western Christian tradition often consider virtue as
an apolitical concept concerned with getting into heaven
Aristotle considers it the task of political science to
arrange pleasures and pains to encourage people to be good
Prudence (phronesis) is simply put wisdom about virtue
as it pertains to yourself.
Virtue is, in terms of this class, about not just doing politics but
doing politics well
The process of habituation -
doing virtuous actions - will lead a person to come to enjoy doing them
The highest human good - because it is sought only for its own sake and is not ancillary to some other thing - is
eudemonia, happiness, and it is found through virtue
Aristotle asked:
how can we life a good life in this world now?
Still working in the system of the Greek Polis, Aristotle questions
how to live a good life
All different things have their virtue.
i.e. the virtue of the eye is to see well, the ear to hear well ect
Whereas Plato was concerned with ___, Aristotle is, for the most part, far more
ideal theory; practical
For Renaissance and Enlightenment republican thinkers, virtue was
in a set of attributes designed to allow for a successful political life.
The skill of ruling (political science) is an
intellectual virtue.
Virtue for the Greeks was about
living a good life
Virtue is defined as a ___ between two vices.
medium example: cowardice-------courage------recklessness
For Romans, virtue was in a mediated form of
political participation acceptable for your class and gender.
Plato is the first ____
political philosopher
Aristotle is the first ____
political scientist
For early Christians, virtue was found in
shunning the political life (an act that in itself is political) in favor of finding salvation.
Practical Wisdom (sozousa ten phronesin) is like prudence at a
societal level
Teleology is a
type of philosophizing concerned with ends, the final result