Nicomachean Ethics Essay

Aristotle begins to question what is good? The good is explained to differ in different activities and arts, but shares a common ground because it appears to be for the sake of how things are done; a means to an end. Aristotle uses the example of medicine; its mean is to end in health. However, there are many different ends and humans chose some of them, as a means to something else, therefore not all ends are final ones. That which is chosen never as a mean to something else proves to be more final

While achieving our desires may bring us some form of happiness, Plato and Hobbes suggest that happiness does not always mean getting what we want. In The Republic, Plato states that true happiness can only be achieved if an individual is a moral and virtuous human being, and, throughout his novel, devotes himself to countering Thrasymachus’ argument that such virtue actually hinders one to achieve happiness. Thrasymachus furthers his argument by mentioning the thought experiment of the Ring of Gyges

Human virtues are morals, exceptional behavior of the characteristics of an individual. Gandhi had an understanding that the pleasures of the world were dangerous because gaining success in a selfish manner will get you nowhere in life. Therefore, pleasure without having the virtue conscience is giving into issues such as: obesity, poverty,and war will result in a negative outcome if not thought through. Without the conscience of the brain, it loses the reasoning method behind the actions. When an

Life is about making choices. Always do your best to make the right ones and always do your best to learn from the wrong ones, -Unknown. In the epic poem, “The Odyssey” by Homer, the main character shows positive traits of a leader. I believe that Odysseus is primarily an effective leader. Now, yes he made poor judgment calls but that’s what being human is about, making mistakes learning from them, and moving forward. Odysseus showed many of the four traits including Communication, Delegation,

A person who does both of these is the happiest because they are fulfilling their purpose or nature as found in the rational soul. In other words, the thinker is not only the 'best' person, but is also most like God. Aristotle believed in virtue ethics – where the purpose was to become a good person and have good

1. Happiness in terms of justice- Glaucon tells Socrates and the rest of the group about the three different outcomes of why people are good. He claims that people are good for their own sake, to get something positive out of it, or a combination of both. Socrates claims that justice falls into the last category and that there are some good people in the world who do good things for the right reasons. In most of this book it seems to be a reoccurring idea that being a completely just person is not

In the novel ‘Happiness and Goodness’ the authors Cahn and Vitrano argue that moral behaviour is not necessary in order to obtain happiness in life. I agree with this argument and will defend it by referring to an example presented in the early introduction of the book. On page 25, and 26 Vitrano and Cahn present a theoretical example of a man who engages in immoral behaviour in order to reduce the likelihood of him suffering from devastating consequences in the future. ‘Fred’ is a married

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

The very foundation of our domestic and international democracy is founded upon the basis of early Athenian politics. Ancient Greeks created the very idea of democracy, which today seems so simple but at this time, a complex and entirely new idea. They created the idea of citizenship, pathing the way to for the representative democratic style of government that is practiced worldwide. At this time, their ideas were not inherited by different cultures but by merely the ideas of philosophers. Greek

prevent us from reaching our goal of living well. “Living well consists in doing something, not just being in a certain state or condition. It consists in those lifelong activities that actualize the virtues of the rational part of the soul (Aristotle’s Ethics,