Constructing A Good Human Being : Ethics By Aristotle

In the book, If Aristotle Ran General Motors, Tom Morris argues that the teachings of the ancients can and should be applied to today's corporation. His message is that the four virtues - truth, beauty, goodness, and unity - form the foundation of human excellence. Putting them into practice leads not only to self-fulfillment, but ultimately to an open, nurturing, and ethical workplace that is more productive and successful in the long-term. The purpose of this essay is to examine how Morris treats the system of ethics in relation to these four virtues.

In the book, If Aristotle Ran General Motors, Tom Morris argues that the teachings of the ancients can and should be applied to today's corporation. His message is that the four virtues - truth, beauty, goodness, and unity - form the foundation of human excellence. Putting them into practice leads not only to self-fulfillment, but ultimately to an open, nurturing, and ethical workplace that is more productive and successful in the long-term. The purpose of this essay is to examine how Morris treats the system of ethics in relation to these four virtues.

Aristotle outlined his theory of Virtue Ethics in his book Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle focused his idea of ethics on agents rather than acts. His main idea is focused on the idea of human character- how can you be a better person? In fact, Aristotle once said: “For we are enquiring not in order to know what virtue is, but in order to become good, since otherwise our enquiry would be of no use.” Aristotle is given the credit for developing the idea of virtue ethics, but many of Plato's cardinal values influenced his ideas. Virtue Ethics is focused on the person's actions, not the consequences of that action. Aristotle believed if you had good moral values, then your actions would be "good" in theory. Rather than defining good actions,

A married couple, both addicted to drugs, is unable to care for their infant daughter. She is taken from them by court order and placed in a foster home. The years passed. She comes to regard her foster parents as her real parents. They love her as they would their own daughter. When the child is 9 years old, the natural parents, rehabilitated from drugs, begin court action to regain custody. The case is decided in their favor. The child is returned to them, against her will. Do ethics support the law in this case? Discuss.

According to Nicomachean Ethics, Arisotle aims to identify the highest good for human beings. While most people believe the highest good is the accumulation of material worth, pursuit of honor or satisfaction of bodily pleasure, he argues all of these are deficient of the highest good in some way. Individuals who commit insider trading would likely value material wealth above all else, even up to the extent of risking their entire career for it. However, material wealth is always acquired for the purpose of attaining something else, and thus falls short for Aristotle’s perceived highest good. Instead, he argues that the good life for a human being would focus on contemplation and learning, or acquiring the intellectual virtues. Aristotle associates the intellectual virtues with what we might understand today as scientific knowledge. But just obtaining the intellectual virtues is not enough, and we can see what type of individuals may result from this limited mindset after reading previous cases of insider trading starring talented businessmen who suddenly take a greedy, wrong turn into corruption. Aristotle claims that in addition to possessing intellectual virtues, the person who lives a good life also acts rightly and develops the appropriate state of character

With the character and interests, Aristotle states that the virtue should start from moral behavior, which means treating other people well and not being self-interest. Next aspect is the values and strength of character, which explains the companion between values and ethics. In order to be a virtual person with strong character, that person has to have good values, generosity, honesty and motivation. In addition, it is really important for people to be moral and happy at the same time. In order to understand the concept of ethics more, people need to perceive what the factors of a good and happy life are. People cannot be really happy if they do good things because someone is watching them. It is a forced action. Morality is truly shown when people are willing to do so, not when they are forced to. Therefore, ethics is not composed of rules that people have to follow. It is the principle that people understand and voluntarily do right things. Besides the daily life, ethics principle is also applied to community and culture. All business students need to understand the concept of ethics in their future career. In workplaces or organizations, culture and moral behavior have strong connection among employees. Business students have to study organizational behavior class upon graduation to shape the ideas of cultural differences and moral behavior in their mind and prepare to act

Aristotle’s thoughts on ethics conclude that all humans must have a purpose in life in order to be happy. I believe that some of the basics of his ideas still hold true today. This essay points out some of those ideas.

Aristotle is a dichotomist, which means that he believes that human beings consist of two major elements, the body and the soul. The body is the physical matter that one can see, where the soul is the feelings and desires one has; the things you cannot touch. Aristotle believes that we have three major elements of the soul which are pleasures, desires, and feelings. These elements are where we find our virtues. In book one of The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle discusses that virtue is the highest human good. This being said, there are two qualifications that the highest good must have, “The good must be something final and self-sufficient,” (Aristotle, 10). By final Aristotle means that which is in desirable in itself, and not sought for the sake of something else. By self-sufficient Aristotle means something that does not depend on other’s bestowing it. Aristotle gives us the sense that he believes that politics is about the human good and one cannot begin to practice politics or political science well; unless one has the idea of what the good actually is. In book one; with many arguments to support his theory, he tells the reader that the good is intellectual and moral virtue. One of his arguments is he believes that you need a moderate amount of both health and wealth to be able to fully develop the virtue. He sees these two aspects as a form of equipment because if one is constantly ill or does not have a sufficient amount of money there will be many obstacles in reaching

Aristotle believes that there are two kinds of virtue, one being intellectual and the other being moral virtue. He states that Intellectual virtue comes from being taught meaning we’re not born with it. Moral virtue on the other hand we develop as we grow and gain an understanding of life. “The stone which by nature moves downwards cannot be habituated to move upwards, not even if one tries to train it by throwing it up ten thousand times” (N.E. II.1) Right there he is talking about how if you are designed to do one thing, it is impossible to do the opposite no matter how hard you force it. He talks about how we gain our virtues by practicing them and using them on a regular basis. That is how we learn

In the Book X of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle concludes that a life of contemplation is the highest human activity. Aristotle states that the life of reason and contemplation will be the happiest because the gods are the happiest among all of us, and contemplation is characteristic of their own lives. Aristotle explained this statement in details when he states that the life of contemplation is more Godlike and since God is all-powerful it is safe to say that this life will lead us to the happiest and best life. These arguments are sound because he believes the life of contemplation to be the best life because it is the most Godlike. And since it is Godlike it can be considered the best life.

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.

The philosophy of virtue ethics, which primarily deals with the ways in which a person should live, has puzzled philosophers from the beginning of time. There are many contrasting interpretations regarding how one should live his or her life in the best way possible. It is in my opinion that the Greeks, especially Aristotle, have exhibited the most logical explanation of how to live the "good life". The following paper will attempt to offer a detailed understanding of Aristotle's reasoning relating to his theory of virtue ethics.

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)

To Aristotle, ethics is not an exact science, it’s ruled by broad generalizations that work most of the time and are found with those of experience, the men of practical wisdom (Nicomachean Ethics, 1094b15-1095a10). We don’t need a focused study in the sciences to understand the good, all one needs is a proper understanding of how the external aspects of life: friendship, pleasure, honor, and wealth operate in concert. No aspects of friendship, pleasure, honor, and wealth ought to be practiced too much (excess) or too little (deficient); moral virtue is action performed between two extremes (Nic. Ethics, 1106b5-25). And it is by consultation that one may find the middle ground between excess and deficiency, The Golden Mean (Nic. Ethics, 1097b5-20; Nic. Ethics, 1104a10-25).

In Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle discusses the idea of moral virtue. Aristotle emphasized the importance of developing moral virtue as the way to achieve what is finally more important, human flourishing (eudaimonia). Aristotle makes the argument in Book II that moral virtue arises from habit—equating ethical character to a skill that is acquired through practice, such as learning a musical instrument. However in Book III, Aristotle argues that a person 's moral virtue is voluntary, as it results from many individual actions which are under his own control. Thus, Aristotle confronts us with an inherently problematic account of moral virtue.