Ethics Exam 2

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, in HIS terminology?

"ignorance and compulsion"

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? Briefly name and explain them.

(1) Money can make it easier to ensure that particular justice is fulfilled in exchanges and distributions. EXPLANATION: Money provides a quick numerical method of comparing the values of very different things like shoes, houses, and loaves of bread. (2) Money can encourage distributions and exchanges which are beneficial to everyone (and to society at large), but which otherwise might not happen, by ensuring that all parties in the exchange or distribution really end up with something which is valuable to THEM. EXPLANATION: Suppose a shoemaker needs a house. The housebuilder would probably not want to trade a house for 3,000 pairs of shoes from the shoemaker, but he might be willing to trade a house for $150,000 from the shoemaker (since $150,000 can easily be spent to acquire something that the housebuilder really DOES need or want - unlike 3,000 pairs of shoes!). (3) Money can store value in a more permanent way than other items that might be traded or distributed, ensuring that an exchange or distribution "remains fair" over time. EXPLANATION: Money does not typically rot as fast as food, for example.

According to Aristotle, for every virtue there are ____ vices. Why?

2. Because there is a vice of aiming at not enough of something and there is a vice of aiming at too much of that same thing. The virtue is between these two extremes.

What is the basic difference between a moral virtue and an intellectual virtue? Briefly describe what is involved in each one.

A moral virtue involves using the reasoning part of the soul to tame or govern the spirited and desiring parts, NOT KILL. An intellectual virtue involves using the reasoning part of the soul to think about abstract academic topics (physics, philosophy, math, economics)

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.

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 soul's powerful lower parts convince him to consider true so that they can get what they want). That person might even be quite proud of his conduct!

Definition of Moral Virtue

A state (ongoing condition, a habit) apt to exercise deliberate choice being in the relative mean determined by reason and as someone with practical wisdom would determine A state: because we don't consider to be excellent/virtues based on only one action Apt to exercise deliberate choice: this specifies what kind of state or habit moral excellence involves Being in the relative mean: this specifies what kind of deliberate choices moral excellence involves Determined by reason: this specifies which part of the soul should identify the relative mean (the reasoning part since that's what is supposed to govern our animal drives- we don't have true virtue if were being governed by animal drives) And as someone with practical wisdom would determine: this specifies whose reasoning part is going to find the relative mean successfully, since not everyone isn't qualified to do so in every situation

What is brutishness?

ANSWER: An unnatural desire taking over the soul (not merely an ordinary, natural desire taking over the soul, which would be bad enough).

According to Aristotle, is it easy or hard to be virtuous, and why?

ANSWER: Hard, because you can err by too much or too little, and it's not always easy to both FIND and DO the relative mean. Weakness of mind (for finding the relative mean) and weakness of will (for actually choosing to DO the relative mean) are obstacles.

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 briefly in class. Explain how this situation involves intellectual fear.

ANSWER: You know that if you do not throw the goods overboard, you will drown and will 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. You can't fairly be BLAMED for the loss of the goods that you threw overboard.

What is the difference between absolutely invincible ignorance and practically invincible ignorance?

Absolutely: there was absolutely no way to know Practically invincible: technically there was a way to know, but finding out would've required going beyond what any reasonable person could reasonably be expected to do

To what extent is an action done by habit voluntary, and why?

Actions range from not voluntary at all to fully voluntary, depending on the extent to which you consent

To what extent is an action done under physical force voluntary, and why?

Actions range from not voluntary at all to fully voluntary, depending on the extent to which you extent

What is the difference between antecedent passion and consequent passion?

Antecedent: strong passion arises without being planned and is so strong that it interferes with free will. Its actions range from not voluntary at all to partially voluntary Consequent: Strong passion arises precisely because you planned it. You try to excite your emotions/feelings to the point where you lose control of yourself. Actions are fully voluntary because you planned this.

Why might someone disagree with Aristotle's position (about non-virtuous people not having friendships of virtue) on PHILOSOPHICAL grounds, according to what we covered in class?

Because (according to this anti-Aristotle argument) natural human experience shows that sometimes people in fact DO care about each other for the other person's own sake even when the other person is not already excellent. That's because they see HOPE for the other person to become excellent, and that potential (which they hope will someday be actualized) helps them to still see something worth loving in the other person.

Why might someone people disagree with Aristotle's apparent position (about non-virtuous people not having friendships of virtue) on CHRISTIAN THEOLOGICAL grounds, according to what we covered in class?

Because Christianity teaches that we must love our neighbor as we love ourselves, and we must treat EVERYONE (not only virtuous people) as our neighbor.]

TRUE or FALSE: Aristotle claims that friendship should go beyond justice. Why?

Because a friend cares about the other person (even if, in the weaker forms of friendship, the friend only cares about you to the extent that you are useful or pleasurable to him/her). That involves more than merely paying someone back the $10 that you borrowed last week. There's an actual relationship.

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" (i.e., more tempting to most people), or both?

Both

When compared with Angerlessness, is excessive anger worse in itself, or worse relative to most people (meaning it is more tempting to most people), or both, according to Aristotle?

Both

According to Aristotle, which is worse - sternness or buffoonery? Is it worse in itself, relative to most people, or both?

Buffoonery. worse relative to most people.

What are the two subdivisions of particular justice?

Commutative Justice (corrective justice) and distributive justice

Which deals more with regulating our Spirited Part and its handling of pain - Courage or Perfected Self-Mastery?

Courage

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

Courage

According to Aristotle, which is worse, Cowardice or Rashness? Why?

Cowardice "worse in itself" than rashness, because cowardice simply does not even resemble the virtue (unlike rashness, which does somewhat resemble bravery). This means that cowardice, by its very nature, is further from the relative mean (i.e., "worse in itself").

According to Aristotle, which is worse - Over-reservedness or Exaggeration? Is it worse in itself, relative to most people, or both?

Exaggeration. Worse in itself. It does not really even look like Truthfulness (the right amount of talking about oneself), in other words, in Aristotle's view. At least what the Over-reserved person DOES bother to say about himself is true!

TRUE or FALSE: The person with a vice has an internal struggle about doing what is wrong.

FALSE. He does bad actions wholeheartedly and remorselessly, because he has convinced himself that they're OK for him to do.

TRUE or FALSE: Aristotle claims that the Practical Life is a waste of time. Everyone should seek the Contemplative Life, since it is the ONLY way to "be truly happy"/ "have life go well"/ "have eudaimonia".

FALSE. The Practical Life is also a fulfilled life - like getting an A for "fulfillment in life." The Contemplative Life is like getting an A+ in terms of fulfillment.

TRUE or FALSE: According to Aristotle, someone who exercises intellectual virtues, but who has moral vices instead of moral virtues, is living according to reason.

FALSE. To live reasonably, everyone does have to AT LEAST use the reasoning part to govern the lower parts of the soul. That's because you can't avoid having the "job" of needing to tame the lower parts of your soul (since that's part of the "job" of being human!). So being reasonable always involves taming those lower parts of yourself, for everyone (whether a scholar or not).

What is commutative justice (also called corrective justice)?

Fairness in exchanges. At the end of such exchange, both parties have gotten something equal in value from the other.

What is distributive justice?

Fairness in making a distribution from a common supply of wealth, property, power, honors, etc. This doesn't require that the parties all receive an equal amount of whatever is being distributed, since not everyone always deserves an equal amount

TRUE or FALSE: If someone does not have the intellectual virtues, does not have the moral virtues, and spends most of his/her time doing practical things like managing a business, that person is living "the Practical Life."

False

TRUE or FALSE: Particular justice includes all the virtues.

False

TRUE or FALSE: The person with a vice realizes deep down that he is doing something bad.

False

TRUE or FALSE: The person with a virtue still has not tamed his/her desiring and spirited parts and thus has an internal struggle about doing what is right.

False

TRUE or FALSE: According to Aristotle, a person with Self-Control is on the path to virtue. Why?

False. You still have an internal struggle between the reasoning and the animal drives from them not being tamed

Aristotle grounds the duty of patriotism (love of and duty toward one's country) in his account of friendship. Explain.

First, the bonds of fellow-citizens within a country constitute a type of friendship, according to Aristotle (as # 202 pointed out). People care about what happens in other parts of their country (whether because of utility (the rest of the country is useful to us economically), because of pleasure [good feelings about and pride in their country, for instance], or because they care about their fellow citizens for the fellow citizens' own sakes). Second, we owe our country for such things as peace and order and trade, all of which are provided to us by our country, more than we can ever give back to our country. (You cannot personally build as many roads or maintain as much law and order or provide as much economic help to families, for instance, as your country has already provided to you, beginning even long, long before you were born when the country was preparing things for "future generations.") So (applying # 197-98 about unequal friendships) we should do whatever we can to equalize the relationship of ourselves with our country, namely by showing respect, gratitude, and love for our country.

What factors make each kind of friendship in the list less stable and less deep than the next type of friendship in the list?

For pleasure, more stable because its based on someone's qualities, not core of who someone is. For virtue, its based on the core of who each person as a whole and isn't prone to change quickly compared to pleasure.

What are the three basic kinds of friendship, as delineated by Aristotle according to the three possible motives for friendship? NAME each of them and DESCRIBE each of them.

Friendship of Utility: co-workers tne dot have this type of friendship. It's ultimately based on Me and only lasts as long as the other person is useful to me. This is the most unstable, least deep, least long-lasting type of friendship because it's based on a quality (usefulness to me) that can very easily and quickly change Friendship of Pleasure: Young people tend to have this type of friendship. Ultimately based on me and only lasts as long as the other person is pleasant to me. This type of friendship is not quite as shallow as utility. Little more stable and long lasting too because qualities that make someone pleasant to you tend to not disappear overnight. Not based on core of who someone really is Friendship of virtue/excellence: two people both love each other for the other person's own sake because the other person is excellent/virtuous. This is rare according to Aristotle because virtue is rare. It's the deepest, most stable, longest lasting type of friendship because it's based on the core of who each person is as a whole, and that is not likely to change a lot or quickly

Who loves himself more - someone who has good self-love or someone who has bad self-love, according to Aristotle? Explain.

Good self-love. Bad doesn't love himself enough, the reasoning part

What is the difference between good self-love and bad self-love, according to Aristotle?

Good: reasoning self, spirited, then desiring. Someone who loves all of himself is ideal, that person is going to all those tings Bad: only his animal drives at the expense of the reasoning part of the soul, I love honor and power even if I have to trample on ideals and people to get it

Which virtue is described by Aristotle in the most controversial way, according to what we learned in class?

Great-Mindedness

What aspect of life is Vanity too much of, and Small-Mindedness not enough of?

Great-mindedness

What SPECIFIC bad effect does Small-Mindedness have "in itself," according to Aristotle?

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 further developing and maintaining the great virtues that he once actually had.

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

Suppose someone says that friendship should be defined simply as two people having goodwill toward each other, nothing more and nothing less. Why would Aristotle consider that definition to be technically INCOMPLETE?

If you do not know if the other person has good-will towards each other, then it is not friendship, both have to know it

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

Invincible ignorance

What is the difference between invincible ignorance and vincible ignorance?

Invincible ignorance is where you had no reasonable way to realize what in fact you were doing, vincible ignorance is where you had a reasonable way to realize what in fact you were doing

What is intellectual fear?

It is not an emotion/passion. It refer to your intellectual recognition that NOT DOING X will lead to a very bad result, so you do X not because you love it but only because you fear the bad result

What does Aristotle mean by calling a virtue a "state"?

It's a state of character, an ongoing condition or habitual way of acting (not a one-time feeling or a one-time action or a mere unactualized ability)

EXPLAIN why antecedent passion reduces voluntariness, while consequent passion does not reduce voluntariness.

It's because you didn't plan for it, you plan for it with consequent passion

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

According to class lecture based on the text, what is the difference between Liberality and Magnificence?

Liberality is the relative mean of spending on everyday, small-scale things and events (like shopping for groceries or new pajamas). But Magnificence is the relative mean of spending on large-scale things and events (like shopping for a car, planning a wedding, buying a house, etc.)

Aristotle tries to show that, whatever they think eudaimonia/ living well/ happiness is, all or almost all people agree that it must have seven characteristics. Which ONE item in the list below is NOT one of those seven characteristics pointed out by Aristotle?

Living well" is something that only literate, well-educated people can do.

According to Aristotle, which is worse - "Lust" (a salient case where the Desiring part rules the soul) or "[Excessive] Anger" (a salient case where the Spirited part rules the soul)? Why?

Lust. (1) The person whose spirited part is in charge of his life has ONE thing right - his spirited part is governing his desiring part. At least SOMETHING in his life is properly tamed. But when one's desiring part is ruling the soul, NOTHING is in proper order. And (2) the desiring part of us is the lowest part of us, so being enslaved by it is the most degrading type of self-enslavement, in Aristotle's view. At least the person ruled by his spirited part has the HIGHER animal drives (honor/reputation/power/self-esteem) governing his life. But the desiring part consists of the LOWEST animal drives (pleasure/comfort/ease), which even animals often sacrifice for higher goals like protecting their turf or their young).

A friend is, as it were, a second self." "Friend is but a name for a second self." Who said this?

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Explain the concept of the "relative mean." In your answer, explain why it is called a "mean," and explain why it is called "relative."

Mean is because it is in the middle, it is relative because it depends on te deliberate choices moral excellence involves

Give an example of the vice of Vulgar Profusion

Middle class people hold a wedding and spend too much money, they just want to show off, they can't afford it, it doesn't fit a middle-class person

According to Aristotle, there is a connection between particular justice (especially commutative justice) and the main functions that money naturally serves. Explain.

Money can encourage distributions and exchanges which are beneficial to everyone (and to society at large), but which otherwise might not happen, by ensuring that all parties in the exchange or distribution really end up with something which is valuable to THEM.

Suppose someone does not have the moral virtues. Will that person be fulfilling the 7 characteristics of happiness sufficiently to be "living well," according to Aristotle?

No

) If someone is bold on behalf of an unreasonable goal, would Aristotle call that courage? Why?

No because a virtue aims at a relative mean which is DETERMINED BY REASON AND AS A PERSON WITH PRACTICAL WISDOM WOULD DETERMINE. So if the goal is unreasonable, then it is not reasonable to face danger to achieve it! Trying to be bold so as to achieve an unreasonable goal is a case of rashness, by definition.

Is Imperfect Self-Control just a synonym for vice?

No because he does bad actions wholeheartedly and remorselessly, because he has convinced himself that they're OK for him to do for vice but with self-control, he realizes he's doing something bad

Some thinkers (such as pure Libertarians, Relativists, and some Materialists) have proposed that the SOLE role of the state is merely to officiate in disputes between people and to ensure that contracts are not broken, that nobody cheats anyone else, and that no one hurts anyone else. They do not think the state should care if huge numbers of citizens end up in poor conditions of character, as long as they are not directly hurting anyone else. Does Aristotle agree? Explain.

No, Aristotle does not agree. Aristotle thinks that the state arises from a need in human nature: we need help to attain happiness, BOTH materially (with respect to their external goods) AND with respect to character (which is what even more important to happiness). Thus the state's legitimate role is to help its citizens - and not merely to help their bodies (as if they were mere animals). That is, the state should serve human goodness and happiness, not merely economic goals. Human goodness and happiness are found in virtue. Therefore, the state should generally (within its sphere, without taking away the rights of the family, on which he claims society is based) promote virtue and restrain vice in its citizens even in many cases where (for example) commutative justice is not the particular virtue that is involved.

Is this the same as Socrates/Plato's position?

No, Socrates/Plato seemed to think that you had to try to UNDERSTAND what goodness is (by having intellectual virtue) in order to truly live by it (have true moral excellence).

Do you get moral credit for having involuntary particular justice applied to you?

No, because by definition it happens against your will. By definition we mean a situation where you do not WANT to be fair but someone else enforces fairness upon you anyway.

Does Aristotle think that it is necessary to have the intellectual virtues in order to be "living according to reason"? Why or why not?

No, because one need not be a scholar in order to be using the Reasoning Part of the soul. We just saw how the Reasoning Part of the soul can be used to govern the lower parts of the soul, even in an illiterate farmer. So you don't have to be the kind of person who is cut out to be a philosopher, a physicist, or a mathematician in order to live reasonably.

Is there a relative mean of cowardice, rashness, stinginess, prodigality, murder, theft, and adultery, according to Aristotle? Why or why not?

No, by definition these are not enough or too much or something, its not the relative mean by definition

Does Aristotle think that all self-love is bad?

No, he thinks there is such a thing self love and bad self love

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")?

No, it's not redundant. Aristotle is specifying whose Reasoning Part is best suited to determine the relative mean. Not everyone's Reasoning Part is equally expert in every area of life. So the judgment of someone who truly has practical wisdom would be a better standard than the judgment of someone who is ignorant about the details of the topic that is being encountered!

Can a non-virtuous person have a friendship of virtue (excellence), according to ARISTOTLE? What reason does Aristotle give for that?

No, natural human experience shows that sometimes people don't care about each other for the other person's own sake even when the other person is not already excellent.

Is Self-Control just a synonym for virtue?

No, there's an internal struggle

Which of the following names the vice of not having sufficient boldness in the face of danger?

None of the above (cowardice)

What is Insensibility?

Not enough pleasure-seeking

166. 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?

People still argue over: (1) whether a given economic situation calls for the application of corrective justice or of distributive justice (or of a mix of the two in some proportion that has to be determined), (2) whether the items in a given exchange are in fact equal in value (when trying to APPLY corrective justice), and (3) what standard should be used to decide who gets how much honor, power, wealth, possessions, etc. in a distribution (when trying to APPLY distributive justice).

Which deals more with regulating our Desiring Part and its drive for pleasures - Courage or Perfected Self-Mastery?

Perfected Self-Mastery

According to Aristotle, which type of friendship do young people tend to have with each other?

Pleasure

Give any three examples of external goods.

Property, wealth, power

Which of the following is the name of the vice of too much with respect to boldness? a. cowardice b. rashness c. courage d. vulgar profusion e. lack of self-control."

Rashness

What part of the soul that Plato had identified and named has two different abilities, according to Aristotle: first the ability to govern the desiring and spirited parts of the soul, and secondly the ability to do purely abstract, scholarly thinking?

Reasoning part

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?

Reasoning part

What is Perfected Self-Mastery?

Right amount of pleasure-seeking

What aspect of life is Great-Mindedness the "right amount of"?

Seeking large scale honor

According to Aristotle, is shame a virtue?

Shame isn't a virtue even if you land in the relative mean of it because it only makes sense if you were not being excellent. A totally excellent/virtuous person would need 0 shame so there's only a relative mean of shame for non-excellent people

Is a strong friendship fundamentally based more on similarity or on difference, according to Aristotle? why?

Similarity. Because then they are both looking for the same results from the friendship, and thus they avoid the kinds of quarrels discussed in class and in the text.

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.

According to Aristotle, which is worse - Stinginess or Prodigality? Why?

Stinginess is worse than prodigality. Stinginess is both worse in itself (doesn't even resemble the virtue as much as Prodigality does) and worse relative to most people personally (more tempting to most people)

TRUE or FALSE: According to Aristotle, the better types of friendships include what the less deep types of friendship offer, and more. Give examples.

TRUE --People who enjoy each other's company are willing to help each other out around the house or to loan money to the person they spend free time with. SO a friendship of pleasure includes usefulness to each other - and more. --Likewise, people who love each other for the other's own sake because of the other's excellence are certainly going to ENJOY being in the presence of each other's excellence and are also going to be willing to help each other out with yard projects and loans as needed, etc. SO a friendship of virtue includes pleasure and utility - and more.

TRUE or FALSE: Your physical health is an "external good.

TRUE, because it's outside your soul.

TRUE or FALSE: The topic of "voluntariness" is the topic of "to what extent the will is engaged in an action."

TRUE.

TRUE or FALSE: According to Aristotle, someone who exercises moral virtues but who does not have intellectual virtues is living according to reason.

TRUE. That person is using the reasoning part of the soul to guide life! Not everyone has to be great at math or physics or other abstract topics in order to exercise the reasoning part of the soul! Using the reasoning part of the soul to govern the lower parts of the soul still counts as living by reason, even if you do not use the reasoning part to do any high-level, abstract, academic thinking.

What does it mean for one vice to be "worse relative to you personally" than the opposite vice in the same area of life?

Tempts you more, if one person is tempted more by one thing, then it is worse relative to you personally

What does it mean for one vice to be "worse in itself" than the opposite vice in the same area of life?

The concept does not resemble the virtue in the area of life

We studied one reason for which quarrels might arise between friends, according to Aristotle. Indeed, he claims that it is the MAIN reason for disputes and misunderstandings among friends. What is that source of quarrels that we studied?

The main reason for quarrels in a friendship according to Aristotle is when each of the 2 friends has a different motive for the friendship (pleasure vs utility)

Explain the difference between vice and imperfect self-control.

The person with Self-Control still has not tamed his/her desiring and spirited parts and thus has an internal struggle about doing what is right. For vice, there's no internal struggle because your animal drives are already fully in charge of your life.

What book did Aristotle write immediately after the Nicomachean Ethics?

The politics

What might be an example that would illustrate why part (a) of this question was TRUE?

The right amount of killing FOR ME PERSONALLY throughout MY WHOLE LIFE has been ZERO. In my personal case, I haven't been 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 someone lunging at me with a knife 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.

Why is that claim controversial?

There are very few people who are virtuous, few cases where one person can care about someone else's sake, that's just not true, someone can love someone for his potential, even if he's downright bad Uncle is drunk but you wish him well, not a good person but you still love him because he has the potential to be a good person, and for his own sake

What do the motives of the first two kinds of friendship have in common?

They are both based on loving someone else only for what that person provides for ME, and loving that other person only to that extent.

What does it mean to say that they are "natural institutions"?

They are rooted in the way human nature is structured, not merely in our arbitrary decisions.

Which is worse, according to Aristotle - too much anger or not enough?

Too much anger

What is Lack of Self-Control?

Too much pleasure-seeking

Which sense is Perfected Self-Mastery trying to moderate

Touch

. TRUE or FALSE: Aristotle considers the relationship of people within the same city or even within the same country to be a kind of "friendship."

True

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

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 (both morally and otherwise) instead of just passably okay.

True

TRUE or FALSE: Aristotle claims that, on the basis of the ways in which the Contemplative Life fulfills the seven characteristics of happiness even better than the Practical Life does, the Contemplative Life is the most fulfilling lifestyle of all, but the Practical Life is ALSO fulfilling.

True

TRUE or FALSE: Aristotle considers the relationship of people within a family to be a kind of friendship.

True

TRUE or FALSE: Aristotle did not identify one vice as worse than the other in the area of life that deals with small-scale honors.

True

TRUE or FALSE: Aristotle does not say whether he thinks one vice is worse than the opposite extreme in the case of friendliness.

True

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

TRUE or FALSE: In friendships between people who are in some way unequal, Aristotle thinks that it is important that the inequality be somehow equalized, so that neither friend feels "cheated."

True

TRUE or FALSE: Particular justice can also be called "fairness" in modern English.

True

TRUE or FALSE: The extent to which an action

True

TRUE or FALSE: The person with Imperfect Self-Control realizes deep down that he is doing something bad.

True

TRUE or FALSE: The person with Self-Control still has not tamed his/her desiring and spirited parts and thus has an internal struggle about doing what is right.

True

TRUE or FALSE: The vices mentioned in part (b) of this question concern 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

TRUE or FALSE: Truthfulness is Aristotle's name for the virtue of habitually doing the right amount (the relative mean) of talking about oneself.

True

TRUE or FALSE: Your bicycle is an external good, because it is a good that is not in your soul.

True

TRUE or FALSE:The person with Imperfect Self-Control has an internal struggle about doing what is wrong.

True

TRUE or FALSE: If someone does not have ALL the other virtues, 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 virtuous! So "great honor" would be "too much honor," by definition, for a person who was not virtuous.

TRUE or FALSE: According to Aristotle, a person with Imperfect Self-Control is on the path to vice. Why?

True. You still fail to do the relative mean

True or False: An action done because of affected vincible ignorance is less voluntary in one way but more voluntary on another. Why?

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 in a very important way!)

Aristotle's definition of friendship is...

Two people have good will towards each other and they both know it

According to Aristotle, the very concept of friendship must involve three components. What are those three components (in other words, what definition of friendship did we learn in class from Aristotle)?

Two people, have goodwill toward each other, and they both know it

What is "universal justice"?

Universal justice is the sum total of all virtues that have an effect on others

According to Aristotle, which type of friendships do co-workers and others involved in a business operation or a business deal often tend to have with each other?

Utility

112. 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

Vincible ignorance

) Aristotle distinguishes two different kinds of situations in which corrective justice is carried out, and voluntariness is relevant to the distinction. Explain.

Voluntary commutative justice is when the equal exchange is made voluntary (do get credit). Involuntary commutative justice is when someone is forced to make an exchange equal against his will (no praise for this)

What is an example of an event or action where you might be called upon to exercise the virtue of Magnificence?

When you need to buy something on a large-scale

Give an example of the vice of Meanness

Where you don't spend enough on large-scale things or events

Does Aristotle think that non-virtuous people can have friendships of any type?

Yes

Does Aristotle view the family, the village, and the state as natural institutions?

Yes, Aristotle thinks that the whole reason why states should exist is that villages are not self-sufficient for everything that helps us to achieve happiness/goodness, and the reason why a village has a right to exist is that the family can't be as happy/good as possible without interacting with other families (which results in larger communities), and the reason for the family is that most people are better off when they live not alone but in a family. So investigating what happiness/goodness are (in ethics) ends up being important for understanding what a state should do, since the ultimate reason why states should exist is to promote human happiness/goodness (through this chain of intermediate social structures), in Aristotle's view.

Marxists and pure Libertarians tend to see the state and the individual as having no intermediary natural institutions between them. They want to maximize the individual and see the "restrictions" of the family and the village as obstacles to this maximizing. Does Aristotle agree? Explain.

Yes, Aristotle thinks that the whole reason why states should exist is that villages are not self-sufficient for everything that helps us to achieve happiness/goodness, and the reason why a village has a right to exist is that the family can't be as happy/good as possible without interacting with other families (which results in larger communities), and the reason for the family is that most people are better off when they live not alone but in a family. So investigating what happiness/goodness are (in ethics) ends up being important for understanding what a state should do, since the ultimate reason why states should exist is to promote human happiness/goodness (through this chain of intermediate social structures), in Aristotle's view.

Does Aristotle think that it is necessary to have the moral virtues in order to be living according to reason? Why or why not?

Yes, because everyone has a Desiring Part and a Spirited Part, so you cannot be "living according to reason" unless you tame these lower parts of the soul by the Reasoning Part. That's a job that EVERYONE has, by the very structure of human nature, since we ALL have to deal with interactions between our Reasoning Part and our animal drives. But not everyone (during life before death) has a job/ career/ reasonable life path that requires exercising intellectual virtues very much. Thus not everyone is required to have intellectual virtues in order to be living according to reason.

Has anyone ever defended the claim that Aristotle's account of Great-Mindedness can be interpreted so as to NOT sound like a "treatise in defense of arrogance"? If so, how, in general?

Yes, for example St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Thomas is a thinker who very much likes humility and very much condemns arrogance, but he claims that although Aristotle did not mention humility as a virtue, there is a way of interpreting his account of Great-Mindedness as at least not endorsing arrogance.

Can non-virtuous people have friendships of pleasure, according to Aristotle?

Yes. For example, one crook might like to sit back and hear the other crook tell stories about his exploits. He might enjoy the other's company in jail, as someone who shares his love of telling mean stories about the police. Etc.

Can non-virtuous people have friendships of utility, according to Aristotle?

Yes. For example, you rob the bank and I drive the getaway car, and we both want things to go well for each other to the extent that we are useful to each other in robbing the bank. You don't want your getaway driver to be too sick or depressed to carry out his role in the robbery, right?

According to Aristotle, do people have to be virtuous in order to have a friendship of virtue? Why?

Yes. Only people who are virtuous deserved to be loved for their own sake

Give an example of commutative justice practiced in a voluntary transaction

You give a soccer store owner $29.95 for a pair of junior soccer cleats which are worth $29.95. Or another student needs an eraser, and you want a pencil, and you both agree that his pencil is worth as much as your eraser, so you trade your eraser for the pencil.

Explain the difference between virtue and self-control.

You know and do the relative mean but in virtue, you do it without an internal struggle because your animal drives are already tamed but with self-control, you do it with an internal struggle between reasoning and animal drives, animal drives are not tamed

Give an example of commutative justice practiced in an involuntary transaction

You shoplift a pair of soccer shoes from a soccer store. Then the police catch you. Since the shoes were worth $29.95, the government fines you and repays the soccer store owner against your will. You grind your teeth in jail and wish you had gotten away with the crime.

) What are "external goods" "external" to?

Your soul

What does Aristotle mean by the "contemplative life"? Describe it.

a lifestyle that aims at having and exercising the moral virtues as appropriate AND at spending as much time as possible developing and exercising intellectual virtues too. Think of a morally virtuous person who is also a scholar who spends large amounts of time each day thinking of deep topics (like a really morally good person who is also a contemplative monk or nun, for instance).

What does Aristotle mean by the lifestyle that has been labeled (for short) "the Practical Life"? Describe it.

a lifestyle that aims at maximizing time spent exercising the moral virtues, but which does not have much intellectual virtue. So we're thinking here of someone who DOES HAVE the moral virtues, but who is not really a scholar or contemplative. An example of this would be a morally virtuous businessperson who lacks all liberal arts education, or morally virtuous parents who lack all liberal arts education while they are managing a household.

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

MULTIPLE CHOICE: Precisely what justification does Aristotle offer for his claim that happiness has the seven characteristics that you listed previously?

almost all people (even people who radically disagree with each other about exactly what lifestyle would best FULFILL those seven characteristics) agree that happiness has those seven characteristics, so that opinion is probably true

Why would a moral virtue be a "state," in his view?

because in everyday life 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!

Why would a friendship of utility be less stable than a friendship of pleasure?

because it is based on usefulness, and someone can cease to be useful to you faster than (for example) their sense of humor ceases to amuse you. The kinds of traits (like sense of humor or beauty) that give rise to a friendship of pleasure are typically longer lasting than the kinds of traits (like performing a business service for you) that give rise to a friendship of utility.

Why is that considered so controversial?

because many people have thought that 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.

Where does Aristotle think most people are on that graph of society?

between self-control and imperfect self-control, but NEARER to imperfect self-control than to self-control

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. I also do not put in any effort to avoid finding out the truth. In that case, I am in a condition of . . .

crass vincible ignorance

What is "particular justice"?

fairness. And fairness is merely one virtue among others, not the sum total of all virtues.

An action done because of consequent passion is . . .

fully voluntary

Universal justice (also called "general justice," also called "legal justice," also called "social justice," also called "contributive justice") is another name for the sum total of all the virtues in so far as they....

have an effect on others

What is superhuman virtue?

having tamed the lower parts of the soul so much that the person does incredibly excellent actions.

The final sentence of the Nicomachean Ethics is "To this let us now turn." What subject was Aristotle preparing to turn to next?

how the state and society should operate, OR YOU COULD DESCRIBE IT AS how the state and society should assist individuals in acquiring virtues by promoting virtue and discouraging vice.

Aristotle concludes the Nicomachean Ethics by transitioning from the topic of how individuals should live to the topic of how...

how the state and society should operate, OR YOU COULD DESCRIBE IT AS how the state and society should assist individuals in acquiring virtues by promoting virtue and discouraging vice. In other words, the new topic is POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.

An action done because of invincible ignorance is . . .

involuntary

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

According to the definition, 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

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 . .

lazy vincible ignorance

An action done because of lazy or crass vincible ignorance is . . .

less voluntary than one done with full knowledge, but still voluntary

An action done because of antecedent passion is . . .

less voluntary than one done without passion, and possibly even involuntary

An action done because of intellectual fear is . . . and why?

less voluntary, and possibly even involuntary. 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)

According to Aristotle, what should we do when (for whatever reason) one vice is worse than the opposite vice? Why?

push ourselves in the general direction of the less bad vice (without actually acquiring it, of course). because the worse vice is more dangerous to your character, so it's important to stay far away from it. Also, by 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

What is meant by "physical force" as a modifier of voluntariness?

someone or something else physically forces your body to move

According to Aristotle's analysis, two and only two lifestyles sufficiently fulfill the characteristics of happiness, so as to be considered "living well"/ true happiness / true eudaimonia. Which two lifestyles are those?

the Practical Life and the Contemplative Life [or some mixture thereof, of course]

Which part(s) of the soul are, according to Aristotle, "able to be obedient to reason" and thus able to be partially "reasonable," though they also remain partially irrational?

the spirited and desiring parts

Rank the kinds of friendship in order from least stable to most stable, according to Aristotle's ranking learned in class.

utility, pleasure, virtue