What Is Aristotle's Argument Of Morality?

Booker T. Washington was born a slave in Franklin County, Virginia, in 1856 and was a social advocate for the industrial education of Blacks after slavery, which he thought that it would lead to economic change in Black communities and bring them upward mobility in America. In one of Washington’s most famous autobiographies Up From Slavery, he tells his life story of when he was educated in Hampton University and when he was a teacher at Tuskegee. In this document analysis of Booker T. Washington’s autobiography Up From Slavery, Washington experiences the obstacles Blacks have at receiving an education like the poverty they face in their communities and the inefficient resources to build schools, which leads to his ideology of advocating for an industrial education for Blacks because he believes that an industrial education will free Blacks from poverty in the United States.

As Aristotle emphasizes, the field of ethics is concerned with the well-being of the city as a whole, not as much with individual well-being (NE I.2, 1094b). On an individual basis, the distinct human function has no significant moral role. However, when practicality is stressed over theory, the moral significance of that distinct function becomes more integral. Aristotle’s account of the highest good in Book I of Nichomachean Ethics concerns the the general desire for happiness: it serves as a guide for a political leader, not a layout for individual morality. Thus, the distinct human capacity is morally significant insofar as it acts though politics. Although it is true that the method he uses to arrive at his conclusion seems to

Beloved follows the story of Sethe as she retraces her past and shines light onto the dark side of slavery. Paul D depicts this when he recounts his time in prison in Alfred, Georgia and at Sweet Home, a plantation in Kentucky. The theme of iron and the reduction of humans to animals is a constant in his stories, from the iron bit to the iron chain. In Beloved, Toni Morrison uses the chain to signify both the connection and disconnection that slavery fostered. Upon introduction to the chain, its physical purpose is clear: it’s meant to restrain the men.

Quote: “Happiness is often misunderstood as a synonym for pleasure or as an antonym for suffering. But as Aristotle associated happiness with ethics….. In his ethics, Aristotle wrote, ‘if happiness is activity in accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest excellence..” (Page 678).

To begin, one must learn what happiness means to Aristotle. He considers happiness to be simply the name of the good life. This is not to say that the good life produces

From the beginning of their evolution, human beings have been searching for the meaning of happiness. While many may see this to be an inconsequential question, others have devoted entire lives to the search for happiness. One such person who devoted a great deal of thought to the question of man's happiness was the famous ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle. In his book The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle discussed the meaning of happiness and what it meant to live a good life. He asserted that the devise which has been invented to create what is good for man is called "politics;" and it "uses the rest of the sciences"¦so that this end must be the good for man." (Aristotle, I, ii) Aristotle also identified four general means by which people live their lives in order to gain happiness, but stated that only one was a means by which a person could actually attain it. According to Aristotle, it was not political power, wealth, or worldly pleasures by which a person could achieve real happiness, it was living a contemplative life.

Aristotle begins his exploration into the most outstanding life by attempting to figure what the highest possible good achievable is for human beings. He comes to the conclusion that most people will agree that happiness is the most sought after good. Happiness is self-sufficient and is the complete end of things pursued. However, they cannot seem to agree how to achieve happiness and what happiness is. In order to figure out what happiness is, Aristotle must evaluate the true function of human beings. This true function, as seen by Aristotle, is the key to achieving happiness. Aristotle describes happiness by saying:

Although, as Aristotle believes, everything we do in our life leads to some good, he makes it clear that some goods are subordinate to others, and that the greatest good is happiness. He believes that the knowledge of this good carries weight for our way of life, and makes us better able, like archers who have a target to aim at, to hit the right mark (Aristotle 2). To possess the ability to achieve this ultimate end; however, we must first have some sort of understanding as to what happiness is. The definition of happiness typically varies from person to person, some think it’s pleasure or something found in someone you love, others believe it lies in wealth and success, but Aristotle defines it as

In Book 1 of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, he argues that happiness is the best good, and the goal of an individual and of those leading and governing society. Here, happiness is understood as both living well and doing well, rather than the convention sense of happiness as an emotion. According to Aristotle, happiness is achieved though actions involving reason and in accord with virtue, or the best of the virtues of there are more than one. In this paper, I will provide a brief overview of the work and its author, then proceed to provide an overview of the ideas expressed and the argumentation supporting them, before finally performing an analysis and critique of the ideas expressed.

He is honored to be author of ‘The Nicomachean Ethics,’ which was in fact the 1st book ever written on the subject of ethics. The book is greatly influential, even in modern times. By an analysis of Aristotle’s literature, it can be observed that he primarily focused on preaching to be ‘virtuous’ rather than focusing on the theories of what ‘virtue’ is. According to him, in whatever way we choose to act, some action that is focused on achieving the desired end result or ‘good’ results comes from that person’s own perspective. Aristotle claimed that the maximum good which a person have desire to achieve is basically an end-point itself , a person’s action or struggles is for achieving that ‘end-point’, it may be regarded as a point of maximum satisfaction. Aristotle critically concluded that the happiness of a person satisfies these conditions completely, and hence the highest attainable good is regarded as happiness.

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.

In the opening lines of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle states, “Every craft and every line of inquiry, and likewise every action and decision, seems to seek some good; and that is why some people were right to describe the good at what everything seeks.” Aristotle often wrote about happiness, but so did Epicurus. In a broad sense, Aristotle and Epicurus touched on similar points when discussing happiness. They both believed that happiness is the ultimate goal in life, and that all human measures are taken to reach that goal. While Aristotle and Epicurus’ theories are similar in notion, a closer look proves they are different in many ways. In this paper, we will discuss the differences between Epicurus and Aristotle in their theories on happiness, and expand on some drawbacks of both arguments. Through discussing the drawbacks with both theories, we will also be determining which theory is more logical when determining how to live a happy life.

The second branch of Philosophy in which Aristotle contributed was Ethics. For Aristotle happiness is the central purpose of human life and a goal in itself. He stated that happiness depends on virtues (excellences in subjects) and that one must cultivate and practice these virtues since youth.

Aristotle is one of the greatest thinkers in the history of western philosophy, and is most notably known for expressing his view of happiness in Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle develops a theory of how to live the good life and reach eudaimonia (happiness). Eudaimonia has been translated into, living a happy and virtuous life. Aristotle’s definition of the good life as the happy life, consist of balancing virtues (arête), the mean, external goods, political science, and voluntary action.

Aristotle lists honor, pleasure, and wealth as the things believed to make humans happy. He believed that because honor could be easily taken away it was superficial and that pleasure, although enjoyable, was merely an “animal like quality”. Wealth was described as a vehicle to achieve greater status. The moderation of the three vices could be achieved but would not, in-itself produce or guarantee eudaimonia. Instead, Aristotle was of the opinion that wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice, would better lead person to happiness.