Philosophy Oral

Explain Aristotle's doctrine of the mean. Provide examples to illustrate how moral virtues represent the mean between vices of deficiency and excess.

The mean: true virtue lies in the middle between 2 extreme states of excess and deficiency

• virtues ruined by excess/deficiency but preserved by the mean

• virtue = disposition to behave in the right manner and as a mean

Pleasure and Pain:

• The mean is a state of clarification/apprehension in the midst of pleasure and pains that allows one to judge what’s most truly pleasant or painful

• appropriate attitude towards these is most important habit to develop for moral virtue

• someone’s pleasure or pain following an action gives an indication of state

  EXAMPLES:

  • courage = mean between cowardice and rashness

  • honesty = mean between truthfulness and bluntness

  • preceding feelings: if a person is grieved by obstaining from indulgence, he is overindulgent

3 Rules:

1. Avoid extremes from the mean

2. Avoid the errors we’re susceptible to (notice them too)

3. Avoid pleasure, it impedes judgment

How does Aristotle argue that moral virtues are acquired through habituation and practice? Why is this process important for ethical development?

Moral virtue is learned by habit and constant practice

• everyone born with potential, but only can train to become morally virtuous through behaving in the right way (like a musician learning an instrument)

• NO ABSOLUTE RULES — mean is subjective

• also requires choice and affirmation

By moral virtues, we act by:

1. Passions (what the soul undergoes to drive action)

2. Capacities (the cap of the abilities of the soul)

3. Characteristics (developed by habit)

Habit:

• a routine, action, something you do without thinking about it (second nature)

• the more you subject yourself to repeated actions —> less resistance

• soul starts taking on new characteristics

• what starts as pain becomes pleasure

What are the key traits of a magnanimous person? What are the key traits of a “small souled” person? In what sense do you think a person could be said to be a “megalomaniac”? (Nic. Eth. Book IV)

Maganimous person:

• deems himself worthy of great things and is worthy of them

• fitting estimation of himself without arrogance or pride — extreme in terms of greatness but in the middle of how he views himself

• accepts honor and doesn’t shy from responsibility

• confident in himself

Small souled person:

• opposite character of the great man on the side of deficiency

• deprives himself of good things he deserves

• their view of themselves makes them appear worse than they are

  • outsiders will also think that he is not worthy of great things

Megalomaniac:

• foolish egoist who has delusions of grandeur and obsession with power

• takes on honorable responsibilities he’s not worthy of

• thinks of himself more than what he is worth

• boasts about his greatness to others

15. You should be able to outline and discuss the specific traits that pertain to the virtues of

(Nic. Eth. Book IV):

1. Magnanimity

2. Ambition

3. Gentleness

4. Being pleasant

5. Not being boastful

1. Magnanimity — the mean of perceived greatness

   • greatness of soul, a balance of how you view yourself and what you deserve

   • accepting rightful honor and responsibility

   • generosity

2. Ambition — the mean of seeking honor

   • 2 sides, good and bad: (1) more fondness of honor than most VS (2) seeking more honor than is right

   • it’s possible to seek honor both more and less than is right, and also possible to do so rightly

   • however, the middle character has no name

3. Gentleness — the mean of anger

   • a calm temper; inclined to forgive, not seek revenge

   • the observance of mean in relation to anger — gentle-tempered man feels anger on the right grounds, against right person, in the right manner, moment, and length of time

     • Excess: lack of spirit and doesn’t get angry at all VS gets violently angry

4. Pleasantness — the mean of social interaction

   • behaves in the right manner in society, guided by considerations of honor and concerned w pleasure/pain in social interactions

   • knows what interactions to accept or refuse based on pleasure and pain

   • prefers to join in the pleasures of his companions, but willing to give small pain for the sake of large pleasure in the future

5. Boastfulness — the mean of humility

   • person who is truthful and acknowledges qualities he possess without exaggeration or diminishment

   • humble and modest

   • recognizes accomplishments without having to seek validation

     • Excess: boasting about unpossessed qualities VS falsely denying qualities possessed

3. Compare and contrast Aristotle's virtue ethics with other ethical theories, such as deontology and consequentialism. What are the strengths and limitations of each approach?

Deontology — Objective

• individuals should act based on what they believe to be morally right regardless of consequences

• categorical imperative: moral obligation binding in all circumstances regardless of person’s own desires and the consequences

• univeralise everything — if you engage in this, if everyone did it would it end good? (wife problem, COVID problem)

Aristotle virtue ethics — Subjective

• one’s character should be aimed at what is good and just, which is subjective to what is recognized to be the right way to behave

• based on person’s own ability to reason rather than rulebook for deciding course of action

Example: lying

• Deontology: everyone shouldn’t lie, regardless of outcome

• Virtue ethics: must determine whether the lie is a good or bad thing: how does it sit with them internally, how will it affect the other person, how it might change people’s perceptions of them

What are the characteristics of a timocratic man and how does he come about?

Timocratic Man

• Degrades from Aristocrats — everyone born into the rightful position

• due to wrong birth, a Timocratic man is formed

• Ruled by Spirited — rules with honor, courage valor

  • values: war and patriotic sacrifice > wisdom, strong and simple > wise

• No stable reason and lacks intellect

• Love for victory turns to ambition for money

Lesson:

• Spirited is strong-willed and accomplished, but quickly led away by greed and starts using energy for unjust causes

  • the soul needs reason to guide virtues and ethics

5. What are the characteristics of an oligarchic man and how does he come about?

Oligarchic Man:

• developed from the love of money from a timocracy

• Driven by Appetitive spirit

  • Values: wealth and money > virtue —> unqualified people become rulers

• city can’t fight in a war because rulers are afraid of arming their people

• City with 2 faces: chasm between poor and rich constantly plotting against each other

Lesson:

• danger of letting desires consume us: appetite for wealth can never be satisfied

• the wealthy man only ruled by appetite and greed develops an impoverished and stingy soul — man of 2 faces, rich and poor, is developed

Comment and elaborate on Socrates’ claim: “the greatest and most savage slavery [comes] out of the extreme of freedom” (The Republic, 564a).

Democracy:

• comes from the insatiable desire to make more money, leading to few rich and many poor

• poor revolt, getting rid of the rich and making a new constitution where everyone is equal in ruling the city

• State: too much freedom, no harmony, no control, unnecessary desires

• everyone pursuing their own desires, leading to people in places where they don’t belong

Lesson: a city (or soul) should not focus on individual happiness of one class but the happiness of the whole

• if everyone is pursuing individual happiness, city becomes unjust

Pay attention to how Socrates defines the virtues (wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice). What are each of these virtues and where are they to be found in the city? (The Republic, Bk IV, 419a-445e)

Wisdom — Ruling class

• Wisdom is found with the guardians, who are the rulers and can make decisions about the city as a whole

• Knowledge is judgment and good decisions

Courage – warrior class

• Found with the warriors, who serve the city’s army

• Courage is a power and preservation – the preservation of keeping courage in all situations through pains, pleasures, desires, and fears

Moderation – common citizens 

• Moderation is self discipline, a mastery of pleasures and desires

• When a person is a master of himself – when the naturally better part of him is in control of the worse

• Moderation is the city’s unanimity in following just city structure in terms of who should rule and who should be ruled

Justice – each class

• When each class performs its proper function

What moral values does Socrates identify as characteristic of the democratic city? (The Republic, see esp. 560c-561a)

Vices now are Virtues in a democratic state:

LIPS

1. License as liberty — liberty without limits; no inspect for moral code, leading to weakening of moral standards

2. Insolence as good upbringing — being rude and ignorant is shown that you were raised right

3. Prodigality — the excess of spending; but this is portrayed as greatness and genorosity

4. Shamelessness — manly spirited and courageous; not conforming to society

What makes the ideal city wise? (The Republic, 428a11-429a2; esp. 428e6- 429a2)

• The wisdom of a city founded on natural principles depends on its smallest group and element – the leading and ruling element – and the knowledge that element possesses

  • The class which can expected to share in this branch of knowledge is the smallest class, the ruling class

  • they can make good judgment and decisions

What makes the ideal city courageous? (The Republic, 429b8-430c1)

What is it for a city to be courageous?

Courage is a power and preservation – the preservation of keeping courage in all situations through pains, pleasures, desires, and fears

• auxiliaries to be steadfast in their convictions, preserving, in the face of temptations

• have the right beliefs about what should and should not be feared.

• Because courage has to do with preserving beliefs “inculcated by the law through education,” it is dependent upon the rulers and their wisdom

Analyze Plotinus' perspective on the role of philosophy in Enneads Book I.2. How does philosophy guide the soul towards virtue and spiritual awakening?

1. Philosophy = path to virtue

• virtue = aligning oneself with ultimate truth and goodness, which is the One

• philosophy guides individual towards understanding of the One, the intellect, and the soul

2. Purification:

• soul is divine but has become entangled in material world

• through philosophy, individuals can purify intellect and free themselves from material realm

• essential for soul’s ascent towards the One

3. Union with the One

• the ultimate goal of philosophy = facilitate union with the One

• union represents spiritual awakening and liberation from material world

• philosophy guides individuals towards realization of true nature derived from the One

How does Plotinus conceive of the difference between the intellect (nous) and the soul (Enneads, Book I.1)?

3 Hypotheses of reality: the One, the Intellect, the Soul

• Neo-Platonist — derives a lot of ideas of the Forms from Plato, but believes that the greatest reality to be the One

Intellect (nous) — a divisible reality of being and perception

• similar to Plato’s realm of Ideas

• highest aspect of the human soul — embraces all being and thought

• Comes from the One, made in the One’s perfect image

  • can only understand its own image by contemplating the One

  • the One = the Creator God who is unchangeable and indivisible reality

• can contemplate the One through cognitive unity — power to think, reason, understand reality

The Soul — link between Intellect and the sensory world

• creation of intellect — the intellect’s image

• dynamic principle that animates the body

• composed of 2 parts: higher faculties (unchangeable and divine reasoning) and lower faculties (emotions, passions, desires)

• associated with realm of becoming and change — undergoes experiences and transformations

• strives to transcend material limitations and return to divine source, the One

Idea of “emanation” — expresses relationship between source and product

• Intellect emanates from the external overflow from the One

• Soul emanates from the external overflow of the intellect

What makes the ideal city moderate? (The Republic, 430e3-432a6)

• Self-discipline extends throughout the whole city

• Moderation is the city’s agreement in following just city structure in terms of who should rule and who should be ruled

  • natural harmony of worse and better classes