Aristotle Research Paper

Throughout history, philosophers have debated what constitutes the “good life.” From ancient texts, such as “The Epic of Gilgamesh” and Lucretius’s The Nature of Things, to modern works, the purpose or “end” of human existence has remained a crucial topic of discussion. In “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” the titular character’s journey reveals many characteristics of one view of a good life. Although Gilgamesh initially sought after immortality, fame, and glory, the end of his journey coincides with his realization that one’s limited time should be spent enjoying life and improving the world. Plato and Aristotle continued to think about what the good life looks like; although Plato believed humans should aim to be just and Aristotle argued for happiness, they both agreed on the importance of education to improve one’s life. Furthermore, Lucretius discusses the good life in The Nature of Things, and he asserts that people should strive to be happy and should aim to lead simple lives. Virgil also addresses the issue of the good life via Aeneas’ journey to found Rome. Aeneas’s perils reflect the Roman importance of duty, or pietas, which was widely used as a definition of the good life. Despite the many definitions of the good life, these philosophers reach very similar conclusions that the good life should include enjoying life and being responsible to the state.

Aristotle sustains that wisdom consists in knowing the cause which made a material thing to be what it is. For Aristotle, wise people know more than just what something

achieve the maximum point of virtue, self – knowledge has a central role, as it is a prerequisite

The Citadelle Laferriere is a large and a beautiful place located in northern Haiti, approximately 17 miles (27 km) south of the city of Cap-Haïtien and five miles (8 km) from the town of Milot. It is the largest fortress in the Americas and was designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a World Heritage Site in 1982, along with the nearby Sans-Souci Palace. The Citadel was built by Henri Christophe, a key leader during the Haitian slave rebellion (1791–1804), after Haiti gained independence from France at the beginning of the 19th century. The Citadel Laferriere built between 1805-1820. The Citadel is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Haiti. Directions to and history of the

According to Aristotle, intellectual virtues belong in the ‘rational’ fragment of the soul and moral virtues lie in the ‘irrational’ measure of the soul However, they are both dependant on reason. Although Aristotle recognised many virtues, he was an advocate for the notion of the existence of only four cardinal virtues. His proposal proved to be popular in the society that he lived in, being acknowledged by Plato and other bodies. The four cardinal virtues are: courage, a virtue which ensures control in the interest of goodness, temperance, a virtue which diminishes wants and desires by limiting them to reason, justice, the only virtue that consists of expressing care for other beings. A human that possesses the virtue of justice has the ability to practise this virtue on other human beings and not solely on themselves. The final and one of the most important virtues is prudence, a logical virtue of practical reason by which we separate the good and the methods of achieving it. Aristotle accentuates that virtues are pragmatic skills and hence experience guides us towards becoming more dexterous in avoiding deficiency. Although familiarity with the vices as extremes supports us in our aspiration for the mean, the wider connotations of the doctrine is that only through experience will we as humans come to know the right pretences and

Moral virtue is acquired through the habituation of good acts which constantly aim for a mean between excess and deficiency in each circumstance. It is the choice of moral virtue through our acts, which allows us to satisfy a major requirement for happiness. Virtue, for Aristotle is a state in which reason helps us decide to do good acts. This is a part of our natural function as human beings, since reason is our distinguishing characteristic and good is the always the object of “correct reason.” The habituation of good acts, then, is what leads us to states of virtue in our lives. Since action always implies either pleasure or pain, it is our job to maintain the appropriate amount of each in the things that we do.

In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle explores virtues as necessary conditions for being happy. A virtuous person is a person with a disposition toward virtuous actions and who derives pleasure from behaving virtuously. Aristotle distinguishes between two types of human virtue: virtues of thought and virtues of character. Virtues of thought are acquired through learning and include virtues like wisdom and prudence; virtues of character include bravery and charity, which are acquired by habituation and require external goods to develop. As a consequence, not all people can acquire virtues of character because not all people have the external goods and resources required to develop that disposition.

As spectators we are normally passive onlookers of the action taking place. The only influence we can have over the outcome is by making the participants aware of our support by cheering, or of our anger and frustration at an action by chanting and booing. We place our trust in the officials and referees to ensure that strict guidelines and rules are adhered to throughout the action. As spectators we are also commentators expressing our opinions regarding the actions of the participants and the officials. As spectators we can empathise with the emotions of the participants and feel extreme jubilation or extreme disappointment depending on whether you are supporting the winning or losing side. In this essay I will be discussing whether the

This then is the reasoning that man arrives to, it is the function of man to reason out happiness that is found only in moral virtue. This then is eudaimonia, an ordination to a good life, through reflection or moral virtue in order to attain higher purpose and by connection well being.

Aristotle’s theory will be discussed in full length on his theory of virtue. Now Aristotle did believe in a multitude of theories that are all based off of virtue, but also the soul. To Aristotle, virtue is an excellence, which comes after happiness and achieving our final goal. When Aristotle talks about an individual’s final goal and excellence of that

Virtues are the character traits that a moral life consists of such as courage, integrity, and honesty. In virtue ethics the importance does not rely on rules and a consequence of actions but rather if a person is expressing good moral character or not. According to Aristotle “moral virtue is expressed in good purpose – that is to say, in prescriptions for action in accordance with a good plan of life” (Britannica). On the ethics side of virtues, determination of rightfulness or wrongfulness of a specific action is based on worthy character traits. Negative criticism of the virtue theory points out that there

The Greek philosopher, scientist and student of Plato, Aristotle made significant and long-lasting contributions to nearly every aspect of human knowledge, from logic to biology to ethics, and aesthetics. Aristotle had a vast intellectual range covering most of the sciences and many of the arts, including biology, botany, chemistry, ethics, history, logic, metaphysics, rhetoric, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, physics, poetics, political theory, psychology, and zoology. (2) He was also the founder of formal logic. Aristotle wrote an estimated of 200 works in his lifetime. He was the Author of a philosophical and scientific system, which became the framework for Christian Scholasticism and medieval

Aristotle studied the behavior and movements of all the species he discovered, and theorized there’s something that we cannot physically see that drives an organism. He named this driving factor a soul. There are different levels of the soul, and human beings have the most complex soul. He also believed that the body and the soul are intertwined acting as one entity. If one of these things fades away the other one cannot live on without the other part.

The Ethics describes the soul existing in a state of hierarchy, where one can be governed by the dominate-rational side or the lower-passionate side. By these two states the soul will engage in activity, that will be in accordance with virtue. “[T]hat one element in the soul is irrational and one has reason” (Nicomachean Ethics, 1.13 110a29). The soul is divided into two ways, the rational side and the irrational side. The irrational side is said to be that of emotions; for it is often known that emotions have the capacity to guide us but, with ill-considered reasons. Reason, accordingly, is the state most desirable, it is in this state that one will be able to

Thesis: I argue that wisdom is a mixture of practical knowledge and abstract knowledge where a person is capable of and succeeds at applying these ideas in a rational way that results in a good life.