Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics (Books I & II)

The excerpts from the Nicomachean Ethics focus primarily on identifying the supreme human good and defining moral excellence (virtue).

Book 1 Universal Aim

Every art, inquiry, action, and choice is thought to aim at some good

Hierarchy of Ends

There is a difference in the ends sought. Some ends are activities (like practicing medicine), and some are products (like health, the product of medicine). The end or product is naturally superior to the activity itself

The Master Science (Politics)

The political association (polis) aims at the most sovereign of all goods

Why is politics considered the highest good? 

Aims at the good of the whole city, which is greater and more divine than the good of the individual. Politics determines which sciences exist in the city and what citizens learn.

The Highest Good: Happiness (Eudaimonia)

The highest practical good attainable through action

    ◦ Happiness is commonly defined as living well or doing well.

    ◦ Happiness is Final and Self-Sufficient: The ultimate good must be final (sought only for its own sake, not for the sake of something else) and self-sufficient (making life lacking in nothing). Happiness is the most final and self-sufficient end.

Function of Man

The proper function of man is an activity of the soul in conformity with reason (or not without reason).

Goodness and Function

The good man performs his proper function well.

Definition of Happiness

An activity of the soul in conformity with excellence (virtue), and if there are several excellences, in conformity with the best and most complete one. This definition must apply over a complete life.

Divisions of the Soul

Things found in the soul are divided into three kinds: emotions, capacities, and characteristics.

• Emotions: Include appetite, anger, fear, joy, love, pity, envy (accompanied by pleasure or pain).

• Capacities: The ability to feel emotions.

• Characteristics ():* The disposition toward these emotions (being well or badly disposed toward them).

Virtue is a characteristic 

Virtue is not an emotion or a capacity because we are not praised or blamed for merely having these; we are praised or blamed for our moral characteristics. Virtue is a characteristic that renders its possessor good and makes him perform his function well

Acquisition of Virtue

Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit (ethos), which is why the term is similar to "ethics". We are neither naturally good nor naturally bad. Lawgivers try to make citizens good by forming habits.

Destruction of Virtue

Virtues are destroyed by excess or deficiency (like health and strength). For example, the man who fears everything is a coward (deficiency), and the man who fears nothing is reckless (excess).