Socrates And Aristotle On Ethical And Moral Grounds

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.

We know what is right not by choice but by design, we have a conscience to do right.

Socrates believed that to have a constant obligation as an individual to act ethically, and then pick and choose in which situations to act as such is morally reprehensible. He argued that true morality means that one does not act one way in a certain context and another way in another situation. Socrates asked “Do we say that there is no way that one must ever willingly commit injustice, or does it depend upon circumstance? Is it true, as we have often agreed before, that there is no sense in which an act of injustice is good or honorable?” (88). Although Socrates does not assert his opinion in anything but a question, it is clear that he believes that it would not make sense to know that one should live morally, and then choose in which circumstances to abide by that knowledge.

At the beginning of Meno Socrates and Meno are discussing what they think the true definition of virtue is. They debate over this matter for quite some time and Meno continues to throw definitions, of what he thinks virtue is, at Socrates. It seems like every time Meno would come up with what he thought virtue was Socrates would shoot it down. Socrates would not come out and say this is not right, he would merely ask him a series of questions in order for Meno to realize it on his own. One after another Socrates continues to find problems with Meno's reasoning behind his definitions. After the fourth attempt they finally decide they would try to start over with a clean slate in order to find out what virtue truly is. At this point

right and wrong share a very thin line. The right decision for some might be wrong for others and vice

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.

Both Aristotle and Aquinas, are both considered to be in the discussion of ancient/medieval thinkers. Though these individuals have differences in certain viewpoints, their overall ideology puts them in a grouping that is different from the individuals considered to be late modern thinkers (i.e. Kant and Mill). The discussions made in this essay will elaborate on the contexts of what each of the thinkers considered to be relevant to the making of moral judgments, how each think believed that decisions are made, and lastly how moral action is related to the human good as conceived of by each thinker.

Friedrich Nietzsche was born in Friedrich, Germany in 1844, later died in 1900. Nietzsche literature and history philosophy was considered to be worst sophist. All moral philosophers have been soporific, misleading. In other words, do not believe in just anything a “God” tell you because there is no God. Nietzsche was a moral theorist as new moral theorist many try to adopt moral theory and add science aspects. But not consider idea of conscience in same way as former moral theorist have in the past. Being a moral theorist in regards to actually raises doubt that there is such thing as morality. There are two known moralities, Master and Slave morality. These moralities came based on what Nietzsche said, “to be a human is to be a beast, and tube a superior beast, a person must be able to attack, control, happiness, exploit the weak. All societies have a class and within the class, known as ruling caste. The ruling caste originated from barbarian caste in state of nature. Where violence and power is wanted greatly. The hire you are in the caste you are considered to have more power, or in Nietzsche case you have more knowledge. Having more knowledge is the only way a person can reach true happiness. Nietzsche created these steps to Astuteness moral castration. The steps consist of making virtue the goal, set up standards for the virtue, opponents are ungodly, suffering

In the world there have been various thinkers who have shaped the modern values and ethics that we use in everyday life. In Philosophy we have the big three: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Plato was a great ancient Greek philosopher who was a teacher of Aristotle and is best known for his impact as the central figure of Western Philosophy. His main interests were in various categories: education, and of course philosophy. Plato’s dialogue Meno was one his most successful epistemology with giving his viewpoint of virtue and innate knowledge. The full story which I read in high school has 4 core values, Defining virtue, Socrates innate knowledge proof, discussion of virtue being taught and a discussion on why there can be no teachers of virtue found. The excerpt in Cottingham second edition discusses two of the values in virtue and innate knowledge.

Life is filled with choices and we will never truly know if the choices we made in life are ever right. The word ‘right’ in itself is ambiguous and subjective. To evaluate the choices made by people, we need to view them from their lens by placing them in their historical and cultural context, whether they fit well with social expectations. To determine whether an individual’s choice is right, I will refer to Aristotle’s process of moral choice, whereby “in the first place, he must have knowledge; secondly he must choose the acts, and choose them for their own sakes; and thirdly his actions must proceed from a firm and unchangeable character” (Gomez-Lobo, 1989 , p. 46). In other words, individuals must know that they are committing a virtuous

To answer the question, I will be comparing Pericles’s, Aristotle’s and Socrates’s thoughts about whether to think ourselves as friends or as strangers. Pericles and Aristotle conceptualize political communities largely as associations of friends. Pericles believes that participation in democracy, is in a way allows Athenians to become great warriors, to develop friendship and to have communal beliefs. Friendship and community are integral to democracy. Pericles said, a man who is private has no business in Athens. The idea of Democracy is that citizens get the opportunities to participate in state affairs and help to make certain decisions. Athens is a democratic city, they give equal rights and opportunities to their citizens to participate in political matters and let their citizens’ voice be heard. If you are Athenian citizen, you are very lucky individuals. Socrates on the other hand, conceptualizes political communities largely as associations of strangers. Socrates believes that it is better to think about ourselves as strangers than friends. Socrates likes his

Immanuel Kant and Aristotle are two of the most prominent philosophers on ethics and morals. Each has their own idea about human life and what the highest good is. It has even been said that in his Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals Kant disproves Aristotle’s view. In order to prove that Kant successfully disproves Aristotle’s theory, we must first understand both theories. After a successful understanding has been acquired only then can we prove that Kant’s completely disproves Aristotle’s theory.

This doesn't mean our values or ethics are wrong it just means we think differently than others.

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.

This essay will be examining the ethics of Plato (428-347 BCE) and Aristotle (384-322 B.C). I will firstly attempt to summarise the five fundamental concepts of Plato and Aristotle before providing my own opinion and view on their ethics. I will concentrate on their theories on the good life as a life of justice, censorship, knowledge and the good life.