Aristotle described a remarkable set of criteria to delineate between good and bad people in his work entitled, Ethics

Aristotle described a remarkable set of criteria to delineate between good and bad people in his work entitled, Ethics. Aristotle believed that the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain were important yard sticks in measuring virtuous and continent people, whom he believed were of strong moral character, and vicious and incontinent people, whom he described as dangerous and immoral. 100 pages into Ethics, Aristotle finally provides his definition of virtue:

So virtue is a purposive disposition, lying in a mean that is relative to us and determined by a rationale principle, and by that which a prudent man would use to determine it. It is a mean between two kinds of vice, one of excess and the other of deficiency; and also for this reason, that whereas these vices fall short of or exceed the right measure in both feelings and actions, virtue discovers the mean and chooses it (101102).

This essay will examine this definition and offer a brief criticism regarding its validity.

Aristotle believed that citizens who achieved eudaimonia (happiness, peace, felicity, and prosperity) were those who attained a morally good or virtuous state in their lives (78). However, Aristotle noted that it was not enough just to be virtuous, one had to exercise virtuous activities in order to reach pure moral goodness. He wrote:

Now our definition is in harmony with those who say that happiness is virtue, or a particular virtue; because an activity in accordance with virtue implies vi

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elieved that there were three factors which governed our choice of virtue and three factors which governed avoidance (the opposite activity of virtue). Virtue derived from the choices of the fine, the advantageous, and the pleasant; while avoidance derived from the base, the harmful, and the painful (96). The concepts of choice (good, virtuous activities) and avoidance (bad, immoral, activities) were central to Aristotle's ethical theories as they related to pleasure and pain because these two sensations were the standards by which our actions were regulated (96). Throughout his book, Ethics, Aristotle returned to the theme that one could not simply be virtuous to be recognized as morally good, one must also have acted virtuous. Aristotle argued that man's natural state contained the potential to be either moral or immoral. He believed that how one dealt with the issues of pleasure and pain were strong indications as to whether they truly were virtuous. Furthermore, purely virtuous behavior was only achieved if the person committing a virtuous act was conscious of this state, if they chose a virtuous act for its own sake (without ulterior motives such as fame or fortune), and if this were a permanent or habitual disposition

Category: Psychology - A