When answering the question regarding the best way to live, it helps to draw from many perspectives. I will convey what the best way to live is by referencing Aristotle, The Bible, and John Locke. People have very different ideas on this question including of those just stated, however there must truly be a single best way to live. Or is the answer relative to the individual? It may be impossible to describe it perfectly, but we should try to come as close as possible. For me, the answer to the question is rooted in both philosophical and theological ethics and it involves being virtuous to the best of your own ability.
First and foremost, the best way to live requires one to be virtuous. Aristotle’s most notable theme in the Nicomachean Ethics is how one must be virtuous in order to live the good life. Virtue is defined by Aristotle as a disposition that aims at a mean. The key in this definition is moderation, which makes it applicable to so many virtuous. Whether you are contemplating courage, liberality, ambition, or gentleness the goal is to always be moderate and seek the mean. The one virtue that may not relate to the formal definition is justice because one can never be too just. Aristotle’s teachings on virtue provides great guidance on how to live on a daily basis.
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Aristotle was critical on aiming at a mean respective to each virtue. The Bible seems to ignore means, rather teaching us to simply be as virtuous as possible even if it is not what we want to do. The Bible does say to be courageous, moderate, prudent, and just, but the Bible says to go the extra mile and me more courageous, more moderate, etc. than Aristotle teaches. A relevant passage that comes to mind is the one that states that if someone asks for your outer garment than give them your inner one too. The bible shows that this moral philosophy is best, but Aristotle would say that this is not the best way to
In order to achieve this final, we need to live a virtuous life according to the Golden mean, which is finding the middle grounds of the virtues we live by. Aristotle explains that we should continuously act in accordance with virtues, which are acquired from our upbringing and experiences. Because Aristotle believed in teleology, he said that by aiming our actions toward an end (happiness), our souls need to work in the way of excellence.
The best way in which one can live is by obtaining self-worth and pursuing individual happiness through hard work and a healthy balance of extremes.
Locke and Aristotle differ when it comes to their views on property. Locke tends to have more of a focus on individualism and property ownership. He claims it is valid for the land to be divided disproportionately based on how hard each individual wants to labor. On the other hand, Aristotle concentrated on the community as a whole rather than the individual. Therefore, Aristotle believes that land is given proportionality to the entire community. Additionally, the two philosophers disagree when it comes to building up the value of land. For Locke, the amount of labor fulfilled drastically increases the value of land by a great margin. Locke maintains that a piece of property’s worth is generated through labor, meaning, the more work one does
Aristotle’s virtue ethics assume that moral virtue is necessary for flourishing, It logically follows, then, that those exhibiting the ordinary vices of domination, despite appearances to the contrary, are far from ever attaining a truly good life. Aristotle’s ethics are too narrow in scope, because any code of ethics should be universally applicable and equal because reinforcing privilege and oppressive structures negatively affect everyone's chances--including the perpetrator’s-- at developing the virtues described in Nicomachean Ethics and therefore negatively affect everyone's chances at leading the best life possible.
Aristotle, a prominent ancient Greek philosopher, wrote about what makes humans act in a way that benefits others for the better. One of those beneficial behaviors Aristotle mentioned was called virtuous behaviors. According to Aristotle, if there are virtues than one, the good will express the best and most complete virtue. In other words, it is best to engage in complete virtues, not incomplete ones. Aristotle believed that human good is equal to virtue, and that we should commit acts of virtue because it is good for ourselves and for the rest of the world. In other words, the good is something that must be sought for the sake of doing virtue, not to satisfy an end goal of a want that is the result of virtue. Aristotle believed that the human good is when the human soul displays conveying virtue. It is overall the type of virtue in which an individual does acts of good for the sake of doing good, and the good things that they participate are a higher value because they benefit people the most. In addition, the virtues that Aristotle would have emphasized on are ones in which people do things that not only benefit themselves, but benefit others. To put it in a different context, the best types of virtues are ones in which the goal is not self-satisfaction but instead for the greater good.
The goal of the ethical life, according to Aristotle, is good. All human activity is directed toward
Aristotle found that there are two kinds of virtues of the soul. First, there are virtues of thought, such as wisdom. Next, there are virtues of character, such as generosity. The main focus of his virtue ethics lies in the virtues of character. Aristotle assumed that these virtues are learned through habit. For example, whereas intellectual virtue may arise from reading a book, the adoption of virtuous character is inherited solely by practice. Therefore, it is through a person's upbringing that moral virtues are cultivated, and it is through the habit of thinking virtuously that one can excel towards happiness.
Aristotle wrote the first book ever written about ethics titles “The Nicomachean Ethics,” and it is still one of the greatest and most influential. Its purpose is to teach us to be virtuous rather than to understand what virtue is. (Aristotle, 2009)
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
In his Nicomachean ethics Aristotle suggests that virtue is a purposive disposition, lying in a mean that is relative to us … and by that which a prudent man would use to determine it (Aristotle. et al., 2004: Book II). This in itself brings the concept of Aristotelian virtue to its most concerning trait; if doing what is virtuous is to do as a virtuous person would then we are given little direction as to what to do, especially on a circumstantial basis, beyond a difficult to define idea of ‘what a virtuous person would do’. This becomes a problem when we are faced with difficult real world scenarios and turn to ideas of virtue and
Virtue ethics was written by a Greek philosopher names Aristotle. Aristotle believed that every human’s goal was happiness. Some philosophers argued that happiness only came from following a set of rules, while Aristotle argued that the best way to have happiness is to cultivate a virtuous character. The two kinds of virtues he recognized were moral virtue and intellectual virtue. The virtue that should be focused on to develop a virtuous character is moral virtue. According to Aristotle, while we are born with a capacity to be virtuous, being virtuous is like a skill that we need to learn and practice to be good at. The key element to being virtuous is being able to find the mean or right amount of our various emotions, dispositions, and actions. Aristotle wrote: “Anybody can become angry- that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for
Aristotle believes that happiness is the ultimate goal in life. You can’t reach happiness unless you work hard and become successful. That is where virtue comes into play. A human’s function is to engage in “an activity of the soul which is in accordance with virtue” and which “is in conformity with reason” (page 76, Palmer). The two kinds of virtue are intellectual and moral. Our virtues are what make us all individual and all different. Intellectual virtues are what we are born with and what we learn. It is our nature as humans and what we have inherited that makes desire to learn. As humans, we develop wisdom to help guide us to a good life. With the intellectual virtue you develop two different kinds of wisdom: practical and
The virtues Aristotle lists in the Nichomachean Ethics are derived from this, as are the virtues that Plato focuses on in many of his dialogues, but most famously, the Republic. The four virtues to live by are wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice, though Aristotle meant much further in bounding them. For both plato and Aristotle virtue was essential for happiness. A just citizen fulfills his role in society and realizes his dominant quality for the common good. There are different levels of justice, different ways of being
Aristotle, in the Nicomachean Ethics, asserts that every ethical virtue aims at what is noble. In order to establish his definition of nobility, Aristotle takes the example of the virtue of courage. This virtue aims at what is noble, namely the common good, and this noble end is reached through courageous acts done by a brave man. There is a direct relationship between becoming good and loving what is noble. In order to become a good person, one must be conditioned to love what is noble and hate what is ignoble. This person will develop the proper character and be able to perform virtuous acts. One cannot become good without reverence for nobility. Furthermore, there also is a direct relationship between ethics and what is noble. Ethics
First, Aristotle believes that humans should only focus on one goal and is to live a happy life by being virtuous. Therefore, we must acquire the highest good by choosing good acts over bad acts. The Highest good of human action is based on the activity of the soul by using virtue. Therefore, Aristotle believes that we need to focus on virtue because he is concerned with a persons’ character. For example, by not being virtuous can affect a person character because they are not showing moral standards. For example, temperance can effect on how we react to a situation .Also, temperance can affect us neatly because we are responding to the