Nicomachean Ethics, Book III and VII:

According to Aristotle, the pleasures pertaining to temperance are related to which one of the five senses?

Aristotle narrows temperance down to pleasures of touch.

What specifically are the three pleasures that relate to the virtue of temperance?

They are eating, drinking, and sexual pleasure.

What are a few examples from your personal life of temperate actions that you have performed? How were they a mean between excess and deficiency?

An example could be limiting screen time—balancing focus on studies without overindulgence in distractions.

What are some of the circumstances or conditions that would cause Aristotle to say that an action of drinking, eating, or sex is deficient for an individual?

These actions are deficient when they are avoided to the point of harming health or normal function.

Why do you think Aristotle spends so little time discussing the vice of deficiency (insensibility)?

It's rare because people more often indulge excessively, making insensibility uncommon.

Give an example of a self-indulgent action. Defend why such an action would be considered self-indulgent by Aristotle.

Overeating could be self-indulgent, as it seeks bodily pleasure in excess

What does it mean to possess the vice of self-indulgence?

It involves habitual excess in pleasure, guided by a corrupt appetite and lacking moral restraint.

Do self-indulgent people have knowledge? Are they aiming at the noble/good or only what appears to them as good?

They lack true knowledge of the good, aiming only for apparent good.

What is the power within the soul that is guiding the self-indulgent soul?

Their actions are driven by appetite, not reason

Are self-indulgent people acting from choice?

Yes, but it is a misguided choice driven by desire.

Are self-indulgent people acting from a firm and unchanging disposition?

Yes, their actions stem from a settled state of excess.

Do self-indulgent people feel pleasure when they are acting, or at least not pain?

They feel pleasure, even if it is fleeting and shallow.

Is the vice of self-indulgence stable much like the virtue of temperance?

Yes, it is stable, but in a negative sense—it’s a consistent state of excess.

What causes the incontinent person to feel regret, while the intemperate person lacks any such feeling?

The incontinent person’s reason recognizes the wrong, whereas the intemperate person’s desires dominate their reason, leaving no room for regret.

When the temperate person is exercising choice, what ultimately is the end at which they are aiming?

They aim at the good.

When the self-indulgent person is exercising choice, what is the end at which they are aiming?

They aim at what merely appears to be good.

What are the essential qualities of a temperate person?

They have a balanced desire for pleasure, guided by reason toward the true good.

State an action that Aristotle would consider temperate and why.

Eating a balanced meal—neither too much nor too little—reflects moderation in bodily pleasure.

State an action that is temperate but fails to result from the virtue of temperance. What condition might be lacking?

Exercising to look good, rather than for health, lacks true temperance as the motive is vanity, not virtue.

What are the fundamental qualities of the vice of intemperance (self-indulgence)?

It includes excessive pursuit of pleasure, lack of reason, and habitual indulgence in bodily pleasures.