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ARISTOTLE,
HAPPINESS AND
VIRTUE ETHICS

BRIEF HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND

Plato
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SOCRATES
Socrates, born in 469 B.C., taught
philosophy. Before 400 B.C., he
began questioning Athenian values,
laws, customs, and religion. In 399,
he was brought to trial and found
guilty of treason to the gods, and he
was sentenced to death. His
teachings were written down by his
student, Plato.

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Plato, one of the most famous Greek

philosophers, was born in Athens in 427
B.C. Plato tried to get involved in politics,
but was repelled when his friend and
teacher Socrates was sentenced to death
in 399 B.C. Plato left Athens after
Socrates was killed. He returned in 387
B.C., and founded a school of philosophy
called the Academy, considered to be the
first university by many people.

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Aristotle was born at Stagira, in

Thrace, in 384 B.C.
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At the age of seventeen, he
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went to Athens and joined
Plato's school, where he
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stayed until Plato's death in
347.

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Slide 6

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Although he studied under Plato, Aristotle

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ARISTOTLE

fundamentally disagreed with his teacher on just

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did; above all else, Aristotle believed that the

world could be understood through detailed
observation

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about everything. He could not bring himself to

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think of the world in abstract terms the way Plato

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ARISTOTLE

Concern for character has flourished in the

West since the time of Plato, whose early
dialogues explored such virtues as courage
and piety.

(c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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PLATO

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ARISTOTLE
That is, knowledge (which is what the word
science means) is fundamentally empirical. As a
result of this belief, Aristotle literally wrote about
everything: poetics, rhetoric, ethics, politics,
meteorology, embryology, physics, mathematics,
metaphysics, anatomy, physiology, logic,
dreams, and so forth.

ARISTOTLE
A few years later, he became the tutor to the
young prince of Macedon, Alexander the Great.
Although Alexander was a stellar pupil, Aristotle
returned to Athens three years later, founded his
own school, the Lyceum, and taught and studied
there for twelve years. Because Alexander
began conquering all of the known world,
Macedonians became somewhat unwelcome in
Athens and Aristotle was accordingly shown the
door in 323. He died a year later.
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Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) was the first
philosopher to put forward ethical
reflections in a coherent, clear, and
systematic fashion.

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Philosophical Ethical

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Theory
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Aristotle did not
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believe in a personal,
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creator God; his
theory of ethics is
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not religious.
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TELOS OR FINAL CAUSE

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Aristotle maintained that all

things in nature have a goal or
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purpose for which they strive;
such a goal or purpose is a
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final cause or telos. (tell
os, tee los)

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Slide 12

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TELOS

The telos of an eye is to see;

an eye is meant to see.
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TELOS (GOAL) OF HUMAN LIFE:

HAPPINESS

The goal of human beings,

according to Aristotle, is
happiness oreudaimonia. It
must be the goal of human
life, for it is always the
ultimate reason why any
person does what he does.
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HAPPINESS

Aristotle observed that

human happiness
contained both
subjectiveand
objectiveelements.
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What does Objectivemean?

What does it mean for
something to be objective?
Its true whether anyone
believes it or not.

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The pyramids are in Egypt.

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Objective or Subjective?

Is each of the following objective or

subjective?
The pyramids are beautiful.
017C has no windows.
Sushi tastes great.
Sushi came from J apan.
The Bells are better than the Lancers.

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SUBJ ECTIVE ELEMENTS OF

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HAPPINESS
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Some elements of
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happiness vary from
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person to person;
fishing may relax
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some and bore others.
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Slide 18

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OBJ ECTIVE ELEMENTS OF

HAPPINESS

But other things, such as living a

virtuous life, must be the same for
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all people because of the way
human beings are built. Virtue is
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an objective, necessary condition
for happiness according to
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Artistotle.

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Believing that one is happy is not

sufficient proof that one is truly
happy.
Like a small child or a diseased
person, a vicious person lacks the
proper perspective on happiness. He
may settle forchildishgoods or, in
his diseased soul, crave pleasures
that are not truly pleasures-as a
heroin addict may crave heroine.

CHARACTER

Character is the fairly stable sets of

attitudes, opinions and dispositions of
a person that result in a fairly stable
pattern or way of acting and reacting.
In general, our actions determine what
our character will be, and our character
determines what our actions will be.

3 PARTS OF A HUMAN BEING

For Aristotle, the human being is
divided into 3 parts: the rational,
the appetitive, and the vegetative
(the involuntary functions of
humans.).
A persons character type is
determined by the relationship
between his rational and
appetitive.

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ACQUIRING A VIRTUE

For Aristotle, virtue is something

that is practiced and thereby
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learnedit is habit (hexis).
This
has clear implications for
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moral education, for Aristotle
obviously thinks that you can
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teach people to be virtuous.

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When people have taught or habituated

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rational part the appropriate way to

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HABITS AND CHARACTER

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STATES
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ACQUIRING A VIRTUE

themselves both to judge with their

behave or respond in a certain

situation and to feel or desire in the
appropriate way-which means in the
manner prescribed by their judgment
-then they have acquired avirtue.

Habits and character states

are produced by performing
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like activities; we become
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just by doing just acts,
brave by doing brave acts.

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THE VIRTUOUS PERSON

Virtuous people, who

live a life of harmony,
are the only type
capable of reaching
their goal as humans:
happiness.

THE VIRTUOUS PERSON

For most actions and passions, the
virtuous person will try to findthe
golden mean, the middle ground
-or
virtue-between two extremesor
vices-, one of which is excess and
the other a deficiency

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Need to find the golden mean between

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Deficiency: Cowardice, he inability to do what is

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necessary to have those things in life which we need

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Excess

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COURAGE

these two:

in order to flourish
Too much fear
Too little confidence

Too little fear

Too much confidence
Poor judgment about ends worth achieving

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COURAGE

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Mean

Deficiency

Underestimates actual
danger

Correctly estimates
actual danger

Overestimates actual
danger

Overestimates own
ability

Correctly estimates own Underestimates own

ability
ability

Undervalues means,
what is being placed at
risk
Overvalues goal, what
the risk is being taken
for

Properly values means

Overvalues the means,
that are being put at risk what is being placed at
risk
Properly values goal that Undervalues goal, what
is being sought
the risk would be taken
for

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Eating between the vice of

gluttony and the vice of
anorexia nervosa is the
golden mean, which
avoids excesses.

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THE GOLDEN MEAN

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Excess

(c) Lawrence M. Hinman

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Forgiveness:

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Excess and Deficiency

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Need to find the golden mean between these two:

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Excess: the person who forgives too easily and

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too quickly

may undervalue self

may underestimate offense
Deficiency: the person who can never forgive
may overestimate his or her own importance
usually lives a life of bitterness and anger

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THE MEAN IS RELATIVE TO EACH

PERSON

There is a proper and objective

way for each person to desire,
judge and act, but that standard
is dependent on the person
s
situation. (A 6 ft. man needs
more food than a 5 ft. woman)

Are there any EXCEPTIONS?

Some actions, such as
murder, or feelings, such as
envy, are by nature bad and
do not become good by
being performed or felt in
moderation.

HOW TO BECOME VIRTUOUS

The desires, judgments, and

actions of the virtuous
person are the standard by
which all desires,
judgments, and actions are
measured.

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HOW TO BECOME VIRTUOUS

In particular the virtuous person

can help provide moral
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counseling, for he or she can
help correct the skewed
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perspective of others who
misjudge where they stand in
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regard to virtue.

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GUIDELINES TO BECOME

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VIRTUOUS
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Slide 36

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Like Aristotle, Christians believe that

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Aristotle offers many guidelines for

becoming virtuous. Among them are
avoiding vices, knowing oneself, being
wary of pleasure pursued for pleasure
itself, and the bent stick remedy, which
tells us to strain every nerve to reverse
a vice. (If I am vain, I should strive for
humility and then I will reach the
middle.)

SIMILARITIES WITH ARISTOTLE

S
ETHICS AND CHISTIAN MORALITY

many virtues are accurately described

as a kind of moderation. Christian
theologians throughout the centuries
have stressed the notion that God has
implanted in every human being a
desire for happiness.

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DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ARISTOTLE
S
ETHICS AND CHISTIAN MORALITY
Aristotles god was not the personal God
of the J ews and Christians; his god did
not have a personal concern for
humans. Aristotle did not see a need
for humility orfear of the Lord. Also,
Aristotles historical situation made it
impossible for him to appreciate some
basic Christian values, such as respect
for all life, the vice of abortion, and
solidarity with the poor.

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PRIMARY SOURCE
An Introduction to Catholic Ethics
Lucien Longtin, S.J ., 2003

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