nicomachean ethics book II & III

What are the two kinds of virtue?

1. Virtue of thought

   1. Achieved through teaching, thinking, & time

2. Virtue of Character

   1. Achieved through habit, experience, and repetition

Why is virtue inexact?

It is inexact so that it may apply to varying situations

What does it mean that virtue of character is about pleasure and pain and that virtue and vice are about the same things?

Virtue is = to pleasure & pain because you cannot have all of one without being ruined, must have a balance to ensure virtuosity

What three qualities are required to be in accord with virtue?

1. Knowledge

2. Choosing Action for action’s sake

3. Firm & unchanging character

A virtuous act will achieve…

A virtuous act will achieve the mean between 2 extremes. It will be done at the right time, about the right things, toward the right people, for the right reason, and in the right way.

Why is one extreme usually closer to the mean than the other?

Can be because of human nature, societal influence, context of virtue in question

Ex: Cowardice, Courage, recklessness

Cowardice is farthest bc of human nature

Ex: Insensibility, Temperance, Self-Indulgence

Self-Indulgence farthest bc people are inclined to pleasure

3 strategies proposed for finding virtuous mean?

1. Avoid extreme furthest from virtue

2. Be wary of pleasures, can lead astray

3. Observe & correct personal dependencies

What is bravery? What are its extremes?

Bravery is about feelings of fear & confidence. Cowardice & Recklessness

Definition of brave person

• Stands firm for what is right

• Fear of what is truly frightening

• For right end, right way, etc.

• Correspondingly confident

What conditions resemble bravery but are not?

• Bravery of citizens

  • Motivated by shame, depends on who is watching, fear of disgrace, seeking honor, complying w social pressure

• Compelled by superiors

  • Motivated by fear

• Experience

  • Expertise + Action from knowledge, not character

• Spiritedness

  • Comes from emotion, thrill of the moment

• Hopeful/Ignorant

  • Aware & rational decision making needed

What are the feeling proper to bravery?

Fear and confidence/boldness

End goal = find the mean between these via moderation, proper reason and pursuit of a noble end

Bravery is not about suppressing fear or charging ahead blindly, but about acting well in the face of fear, with a clear moral purpose