The Philosophies Of Aristotle And Confucius

Aristotle and Plato both said that there are four "natural virtues": Justice, Prudence, Temperance, and Fortitude. These values are all necessary to achieve human flourishing. Another key part of Aristotle’s ethic is what he referred to as ‘The Golden Mean’. He believed that a virtue can not necessarily be viewed as a virtue when it is used in excess. For example, courage is a virtue, but in excess it becomes rashness, a vice rather than a virtue. Moreover, when there is a lack of a certain virtue, this is also considered a vice. Aristotle's ethic is based primarily on balance. There cannot be too much excess or too little of the virtue. Thus, he said: "The mean [i.e. the balance] is successful and commendable. Virtue then is a state of deliberate moral purpose consisting in a mean that is relative to ourselves, the mean being determined by reason, or as a prudent man would determine it.”

To be a human you must practice the four virtues, benevolence, righteousness, propriety and knowledge. Mencius said, “Since all men have these four principles in themselves, let them know to give them all their development and completion” (Plato, 47). One can practice good virtue by correcting oneself after every failure, eventually developing their true potential. Mencius taught the golden rule, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” as a sure path to achieving goodness. Mencius’s philosophy of human nature consists of obtaining the pure instincts you were born with as a child throughout your life and eventually achieving good virtue humans are capable of

For example, the Analects of government, sage, virtue, and manners give a sense of teachings and positive philosophies to follow in order to become a good ruler and obtaining and giving respect. While the Classics and ideals of popper conduct, political peace, moral power, love and ideal humanity help to reinforce the Analects by giving an ideology of a humanism. As Confucian gives words of wisdom of establish a community who should act only when necessary, use knowledge for the benefit of all, and to live in peace in order to developed a stronger culture. Confucius gives the Chinese people a focus on the cultivation of virtue and maintenance of ethics, creating a community of righteousness and moral disposition to do good and how one should act in a community. Overall, Confucianism is a source of values, the social code of the Chinese, and a substance of

In the Analects, the virtue of humanity centers around reverence, generosity, diligence, honesty, and kindness towards others. In seeking to attain each of these virtues, the goal is to become a true junzi, a gentleman (Confucius, Analects, 2). Men are thoroughly instructed upon how to deal with other people. They are treat everyone with kindness and righteousness (Confucius, Analects, 1). Reverence is to be shown to superiors, and harmony maintained with those not on his “level”. The dignity of a gentleman's actions are what gain him respect (Confucius, Analects, 1-2). He is to “expect” no more that what one is capable of in service, but to be “pleased” by nothing less than true following of “the Way” (Confucius, Analects,

Through the works of Epicurus, Epictetus, and Aquinas, it is evident that their philosophies inherit a great deal of virtue. Although roughly specified, virtue is implanted within their different ideologies. From achieving happiness, stoic beliefs, and in respects to Christian idealism, virtue turns out to be the driving factor in determining the ideal meaning of life from the perspective of each philosopher and it gives them their value. Backed by firm evidence, it is notable that virtue is more apparent in the Thomism philosophy.

This paper will explore and discuss the social and political philosophy of Confucius and Aristotle, the views on virtue. The paper will examine the craft and artistic accomplishments these two philosophers mastered. Furthermore, the paper will explore and compare the two views.

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

Confucius speaks of faithfulness, forbearance, and benevolence in his teachings. It is through these ideologies that an individual can become what he stated as a Junzi. Someone who has reached the high status of junzi has a, “clear inner happiness, the kind of happiness that cannot be taken away” (Dan, pg 20). This idea, this way

Availability and understanding of available information by an individual was taken as a very important treasure. The issues that Confucius taught to be followed were not entirely scientific learning but rather the study of the consecrated contents and the tenets of good worth and propriety (Oliver, 1985). An additional element which he held high was the control of proper example. The heroes, heroines and great people that existed were greatly exemplified by Confucius. Confucius did this by persisting on the scrutiny of the conservative models. Many of his well recorded aphorisms are tributes of his considered men of high caliber. Confucius trained his supporters the significance of constantly welcoming the rectification of personal liabilities. To further assist in the creation of an upright moral fiber, he cherished a particular amount of strength of will. He acknowledged the threat, particularly in the youthful, of falling into unwanted behavior, so he persisted on eradicating the push for uncalled for reassurances (Ferguson, 1972).

The paper discusses both the Confucian moral theory and virtue logic in broader perspectives. The Confucianism looks at moral thoughts as a broad aspect of morality in our society. This is the reason why Xinzhong Yao argues in his book that morality can only start with individuals. The author outlines Ren as one of the primary moral principles which help the individuals for self-establish thus also establish others. The Confucians hold a strong belief that morality is constant for everyone and that it is not one of the things a person can choose to do or not do. One of the founders of Confucianism is Mencius that poses some questions with regards to morality. He argues that everyone who is morally upright has ever experienced a force of

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.

Unlike happiness, virtue is not an activity, but a disposition and a state of being. More precisely, it is a disposition to behave in the right manner. In Aristotle’s description, virtues are the “means” and intermediate states between what he considers vicious states (excess and deficiency). In other words, they are the moderation of desiring too much and desiring too little. For example, the state of being courageous is considered a virtuous disposition because it moderates the states of being cowardly (deficit) and rash (excess). Furthermore, Aristotle describes the virtuous person as one whose passions and deliberation are aligned; someone whose possession of goodness allows their acts to be guided by the balance of their “means” and their rationality. This means that to achieve a virtuous state one has to consistently aim for the “mean” of their actions to the point where it’s instinctive. (Nic. Ethics II 6).

Confucius and Aristotle are some of the greatest thinkers in the history of mankind. While Confucius was born in China and spearheaded a new way of perceiving morality, Aristotle was born in Macedon/Greece and also immersed his philosophical work to addressing moral thinking.Both philosophers have addressed similar subjects with major points of divergence and convergence. On virtue, these two authors have almost similar opinions. However, it is their points of convergence or agreement that have had a huge impact on the modern world’s thinking and understanding of virtue and moral behavior.

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

To start with, Aristotle highlights that the perception of virtue is different for everyone, and there are a lot of factors which influence it. For example, people's moral principles, mentality, the society they live in and its formative culture peculiarities. The highest human good is considered to be in close relations with the sense of happiness. As all people have different characters, attitudes to life, moral values, it is difficult to define the conditions on which their happiness depends. Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, writes that the highest human good "proves to be the activity of the soul in accord with virtue" (Aristotle, trans. Irvin T., 1999). In other words, it is the way of a person's appropriate behavior in the situations of different nature and difficulty in his or her life.