HU201 Midterm

Appendix I Table of Virtues and Vices

fear and confidence excess

rashness

fear and confidence mean

courage

fear and confidence deficiency

coward

pleasure and pain excess

licentiousness

pleasure and pain mean

temperance

pleasure and pain deficiency

insensibility

getting and spending excess

vulgarity

getting and spending mean

magnificence

getting and spending deficiency

pettiness

honour and dishonour (major) excess

vanity

honour and dishonor (major) mean

magnanimity

honor and dishonor (major) deficiency

pusillanimity

honor and dishonor (minor) excess

ambition

honor and dishonor (minor) mean

proper ambition

anger excess

irascibility

anger mean

patience

anger deficiency

lack of spirit

self expression excess

boastfulness

self expression mean

truthfulness

self expression deficiency

understatement

conversation excess

buffoonery

conversation mean

wittiness

conversation deficiency

boorishness

social conduct excess

obsequiousness

social conduct mean

friendliness

social conduct deficiency

cantankerousness

shame excess

shyness

shame mean

modesty

shame deficiency

shamelessness

indignation excess

envy

indignation mean

righteous indignation

indignation deficiency

malicious enjoyment

eudaimonia

happiness

arete

goodness, human excellence

ousia

realm of absolute pure being, eternal, ideal form

being

immaterial, immutable, pure, eternal

elenchus

a mode of argument that takes a logical step-by-step approach to refute and to counter a position in a cross-examination effect

exoteric

designed for the public

eg. Plato’s laches

dialektike

the art of dispute, discussion and exploration and questioning of different views with an aim to find the truth in them

techne

craftsmanship, art, a skill in making something that includes an implied sense of principles

courage

one of the cardinal virtues

1st socratic paradox

virtue is knowledge

2nd socratic paradox

no one does wrong knowingly

rule of law

all citizens in a community or a state or nation treated equally under that state’s or nation’s or community’s laws - the same laws for everyone

you have to obey all the laws you cant just pick and choose

what is the good life?

the good life is a life of happiness

normative or regulative

“just because this situation has arise, I cant abandon all morals I have” must look at a situation in black and white

deliberative

Don’t think about just justice; think about compassion and mercy. We must take everything into account. Shades of grey.

daemon

a voice in your ear that points you to good

“know thyself”

a life not examining is not a life worth living

you must know yourself

temperance

if we do not know and practice self-control, we fall into the traps of greed and ambition and lust and so forth

three aspects of the soul according to plato

reason (rational)

spirit

appetite (irrational)

plato’s belief

Plato believed that a just and well-balanced individual would have reason ruling over both spirit and appetite

what did plato think was the good life?

a life lived according to virtue

what is true about people?

• we are social creatures

• we are not self-sufficient

• we need human activities

• we have different aptitudes and strengths

what did plato think about politics?

he thought that the solution to sovereignty was true philosophy

acropolis

highest city

kallipolis

beautiful city

plato’s ideal government

timarchy - a system of government that relied on strict discipline and ruled by a very small aristocratic military caste that prized honor first and love of honor over the private and the individual

private and personal luxury are forbidden; individual is subordinate to community

timarchy features

• childbirth is controlled

• education is controlled

• girls were trained in gymnastics

first wave

blow up the traditional nuclear family - plato is suspicious of love, passion because reason and thought are better

the noble lie

everyone has the same place of origin

• creates unity

• nationalism

• forges cultural identity

foundation myth / myth of the metals

gold - those qualified to be rulers

silver - those qualified to be the auxiliries

bronze and iron - in all those qualified to be the producers/ artisans

why did plato want the foundation of myth/ myth of metals?

he wanted an aristocracy of talent

second wave

eliminate private property

so that there is a greater sense of unity

third wave

everyone needs to be a philosopher so that there is a just state

if you’re born into a class…

plato

you stay there … no mobility in this system

eg. artisans

plato vs aristotle views

plato - examining the great mysteries that transcend this world

aristotle - claims about good/bad and virtue/vice and human conduct and society come from this realm

plato vs. aristotle morality

plato - every one of us is responsible for our own moral conduct

aristotle- we are students of moral goodness, there is continual learning

plato vs aristotle “what is the good life”

plato - life lived according to reason

aristotle - empiricism: knowledge from the senses and from our experiences

the academy

• platos school where aristotle studied

the lyceum

• aristotle created his own school

“man is naturally a social being”

aristotle

plato vs. aristotle good

plato - idea of good exists seperately from experience and individual personality and action

aristotle - good is on our daily activities of our daily lives

“Every art and every investigation, and similarly every action and pursuit, may be said to aim at some good. Hence the good has been well defined as “that at which all things aim”.

aristotle

telos

greek word for “end” or “purpose” // all activities are teleological since there is a defined goal toward which the activity moves

“Opinion is that with which we are able to form an opinion”

plato

aristotle’s philosophy

to become our best versions of ourselves, we are in charge

“the function of a human being, then, is an activity of soul in accordance with reason, or not independent of reason”

aristotle

what is the nicomachean ethics book about

provides a guide to how to live well and pursues the point that the object of life is to find happiness.

we find happiness in right actions in choosing the right actions

what did aristotle think we were all capable of?

we are all capable of being virtuous

pleasure and pain

someone virtuous will gain pleasure in abstaining from gluttony

how to identify someone who is virtuous

1. virtuous people know they are behaving the right way

2. they choose to behave the right way for the sake of being virtuous

3. their behavior manifests itself as a part of a fixed, virtuous disposition

human virtue

a disposition to behave in the right manner and as a mean between extremes of deficiency and excess, which are vices.

function of man

activity of soul in accordance w virtue

what is friendship?

necessary and splendid, but people disagree on its precise nature

mutual feeling of goodwill between 2 people

3 kinds of friendship

utility

pleasure

goodness

utility friendship

accidental, short-lived

both people derive some benefit from each other

pleasure friendship

accidental, short-lived

both are drawn to the others’ wit, good looks, or other pleasant qualities

goodness friendship

enduring

both admire the other’s goodness and help one another strive for goodness

real friendship

loving > being loved

monarchy

father/son relationship

aristocracy

husband/wife relationship

timocracy

brother

aristotle on politics

politics are the highest of the arts

create the most good for the majority

“friendship is also dispensable to life”

aristotle on friendship

“friendship asks for what is possible, not for what is due”

aristotle

friendship should be about wihsing for each other’s goodness , not for selfish reasons or what you think you deserve

Omoregbe philosophy

philosophy is universal, part of human nature, subjective, and particular

thinks that every man is a philosopher

omoregbe’s thoughts on western philosophy

it is false to say that people cannot think logically or reason coherently unless they employ Aristotle’s or Russell’s form of logic

african philosphers

spread their knowledge through word of mouth, as writing is not the only way to preserve knowledge

omoregbe’s parts of the soul

1. nipadu - a body

2. okra - a soul

3. sunsum - that part of a man which accounts for his character

4. ntoro - that part of man which is passed from father and which is the basis of inherited characteristics

5. mogya - that aspect of man which becomes a ghost after death