The Contributions Of Aristotle's Theory Of Virtue Philosophy

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,

Aristotle was an ancient Greek scientist and philosopher who sought the answer to our existence and the truth of reality. Aristotle was a pupil of Plato, a Greek philosopher who was famous for his theory of forms, but following his (Plato’s) death, he changed his views from Platonism to empiricism. Where Plato thought that true reality was based in what was abstract and intangible, Aristotle instead thought of

He was the first to study formal logic, founded called the Lyceum and tutored kings. He influenced Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions and beliefs. The Catholic Church took his view of a universal hierarchy and added the divine, the heavenly and the demonic to make their “Great Chain of Being.” Aristotle even had a basic idea of evolution based on God’s plan for the world (IEP). It is possible that he was the last person to know everything there was to know in his own time (Neill 488). His contributions to our understanding of the world are innumerable, despite that only about a third of his work survived. He contributed to philosophy as much as Plato, if not more. He took Plato’s theory of forms and changed it, making it his own, and in the process resolved the problems that he had noted, as well as those pointed out by Plato and others. He called his new theory he called Hylomorphism. Hylomorphism’s way of thinking stands directly opposite that which Plato’s forms encourage. Aristotle did not see the world as a reflection of another filled with forms but as the physical embodiment of the forms. The substances are created by the innate forms in the matter and are the only way we can perceive forms. This means that to Aristotle a substance did not have form only in an abstract world of forms but was contained by the object in and of

Mankind has been searching for existential reasoning since our earliest beginnings. One of the biggest questions, the one that keeps me up at night, “How ought we to live?” will be explained from the viewpoints of Epictetus in his Enchiridion and Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics. In this paper, I will discuss both philosophies in principle and practice, while giving insight to how to they may function in a modern world situation. Although both theories have useful guidance for navigating the human condition, Aristotle’s theory of virtue encompasses more of a real world schematic of how to interpret oneself in relation to our surroundings through compassion rather than apathy.

Aristotle was born in 384 BC and grew up to be a renowned Greek Philosopher of his era. He was a distinguished student of Plato and a credible teacher to Alexander the Great. He spent a large proportion of his life isolated in Athens and there he formed his many intellectual notions that transcended from Plato's scholarly roots. His death in 322 BC marked many works of genius but perhaps his greatest contribution to philosophy was his extensive work on the Nicomachean Ethics. Basically, these works defined the value of human life and how to attain perfect satisfaction in various circumstances. Aristotle wished to promote the goodness of character by specifically explaining each and every single virtue associated with human exultation. As a matter of fact in the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle delves upon the abstract concept of 'Eudemonia' which happens to be the notion of perfect happiness or the utility attached to the fulfillment of life's goals. According to Aristotle there are three aspects to a complete human life. These are: the life of

The theories that Aristotle came up with about nature was that it should be traced back to higher being. He believed that everything in nature had a value purpose otherwise God would have never made it. Aristotle strongly believes that God plays a role in nature of knowledge because he was the one to create it. His philosophy of art was different than that of Plato. Aristotle believed that people experience the feelings in art whether it’s love, hate, mourn or what so ever. Eventually he states that we will experience catharsis. This mean that people we be purged from built up emotions, without initiating evil deeds. Aristotle like the other philosophers today is basically known for their knowledge. Aristotle is considered one of the most influential philosophers’ meaning that his theories opened insight into what others didn’t think of. Today a minority of Aristotle work is still looked at as being useful in the field’s psychology and art because Aristotle advances or theories are more suitable and now people at times still refer back to

Nietzsche and Aristotle were two of the most significant philosopher of not only their time but their works has lasted throughout the centuries to influence even some today’s greatest minds. Their works however could not be any separated, Aristotle is a prominent figure in ancient Greek philosophy, making contributions to logic, metaphysics, mathematics, physics, biology, botany, ethics, politics, agriculture, medicine, dance and theatre. He was a student of great thinkers such as Plato and Socrates. He believes that ethics is a process to finding the final end or the highest good. He states that although there are many “ends” in life those are usually only means to further ends, our ambitions and wants must have some final purpose. Aristotle believes that this highest end is that of Happiness. He introduces the concept moral virtue which is the ability to properly control desires to follow bad actions, and is the focus of morality. Centered on the core of Aristotle 's account of moral virtue is his doctrine of the mean. According to this doctrine, moral virtues are character traits which are at in-between more extreme character traits. While Nietzsche a German philosopher, essayist, and cultural critic. He believes that "Good" is originally designated only the right of those individuals with social and political power to live their lives by sheer force of will. But a "priestly" caste, motivated by their resentment of their natural superiors, generated a corrupt

Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is a reflection as to what virtue is. Aristotle’s definition of virtue can be described as the as the “state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean relative to us, this being determined by reason and by that reason by which the man of practical wisdom would determine it” (Nicomachean Ethics, 31). In addition to that, Aristotle illustrates two types of virtue that stem from his primary idea; moral and intellectual virtue. Aristotle expounds moral virtue as actualizing from habit, in which the virtue cannot arise naturally, for the fact that nothing can form a habitual habit that contrasts from its nature. For instance, the example of the fire; it is impossible to teach the fire to burn downwards,

Aristotle was one of the greatest minds to have lived in Ancient Greece and consequently the world. He has influenced most areas of study of the present world. These include ethics, biology, psychology, chemistry and philosophy. Aristotle’s writing has also, helped historians discover beliefs and rhetoric used in Ancient Greece. Aristotle was born in 384 B.C in Stagira a small town in northern Greece.

Aristotle being a prize pupil and one of the most important Philosophers that believe for one to have virtue has to live a good life and base on their behavior. Moral virtues are totally different from intellectual ones. Intellectual virtues on can learn and Morals is one to live by.

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 was a student of Plato and although he admired his work, he didn’t necessarily agree with it. It is said that Plato and Aristotle represent two contrasting approaches to philosophy; Plato emphasises the world of idea and reason as the sources of knowledge, whereas, Aristotle emphasises the physical world and the experience as the basis of knowledge. Therefore, Aristotle rejected the dualist view of the world and Plato’s understanding of the (pre-existing) soul. He refused to believe that objects and things that existed in our material world were “imitations” of the perfect forms as Plato had suggested.

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.

Aristotle was not just any person. He was one of the most distinguished and important Greek philosophers of all time. Aristotle was born in 384 BCE in the town of Stagira, Greece. His range of work was very broad, covering most of the sciences and many arts such as biology, botany, chemistry, ethics, history, logic, metaphysics, rhetoric, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, physics, poetics, political theory, psychology, and zoology. He was the author of what became the foundation of both Christian Scholasticism and medieval Islamic philosophy. Even after his death in 322 BCE and historic events such as enlightenment, Aristotle’s concepts still remain present in Western thinking and continue to be studied.

Before reaching our Western scholars his works passed through too many hands to remain immaculate. From Theophrastus they passed to Neleus, whose heirs kept them mouldering in subterranean caves for a century and a half. After that his manuscripts were copied and augmented by Apellicon of Theos, who supplied many missing paragraphs, probably from his own conjectures. Although the Arabians were acquainted with Aristotle's works from the eighth century onward, the Christian world paid little attention to them until three centuries later. In the eleventh century, however, the Aristotelian doctrine of Forms became the bone of contention which divided philosophers into two classes which, from that day to this, have remained separate. On the one side were the Nominalists, who maintained that Universals are mere names for the common attributes of things and beings. On the other side were the Realists, whose thought crudely resembled the Platonic doctrine of Ideas as independent realities.