Understanding Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
Galen O’Neill
Perspectives
Professor Donnelly
October 7, 2014
Understanding The Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle’s advice on living an excellent life in college and beyond would focus on the path towards attaining happiness. As the best, self-sufficient end and the highest form of good, happiness accompanies the acquisition of virtue through action and promotes pure character. Under Aristotle’s terms, balance rules the process of obtaining a life of excellence as it curbs extreme behavior and allows each part of the soul to coexist in harmony. In accordance with the ideas presented in his book, The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle would advise college freshmen to learn from experts, sculpt their characters through virtuous deeds, employ positive …show more content…
The delicate balance between extremes defines this principle. However, the exact intermediate between deficiency and excess is not always the perfect golden mean for a particular moral virtue. Aristotle would instruct college freshmen to value their education because it provides guidance that allows each student to associate pleasure with doing virtuous deeds and pain from a lack thereof. The application of virtue as a habit is one of Aristotle’s most imperative points not only because moral virtues must be practiced for one to become virtuous, but also because aforementioned practice will contribute to the knowledge of where the golden mean lies for each …show more content…
Aristotle defines Friendship of Utility as being derived from a material or commercial mutual benefit between two people. Friendship of Pleasure involves both parties being attracted to the wit, good looks, or other superficial qualities of the other for the purpose of indulgence. These types of relationships are “only incidental” due to their selfish aims and are “easily dissolved…[because] if the one party is no longer pleasant or useful the other ceases to love him” (Aristotle 1156a). For first-year college students, almost all of the initial bonds formed between fellow classmates and residence hall members will be stemmed from utility and pleasure. These friendships, created with the aim of personal benefit, are sought to attain basic human companionship during the opening weeks of college. However, as time passes, Aristotle would advise these students to understand which of the relationships they value provide the virtue of Friendship of the Good. This type of friendship transcends self-interest as each man wishes genuine good for the other and works to help him achieve it. Friendship based on goodness balances the dual benefits of utility and pleasure while providing enduring companionship established by virtuous interactions between parties. The rare form of
Perspectives
Professor Donnelly
October 7, 2014
Understanding The Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle’s advice on living an excellent life in college and beyond would focus on the path towards attaining happiness. As the best, self-sufficient end and the highest form of good, happiness accompanies the acquisition of virtue through action and promotes pure character. Under Aristotle’s terms, balance rules the process of obtaining a life of excellence as it curbs extreme behavior and allows each part of the soul to coexist in harmony. In accordance with the ideas presented in his book, The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle would advise college freshmen to learn from experts, sculpt their characters through virtuous deeds, employ positive …show more content…
The delicate balance between extremes defines this principle. However, the exact intermediate between deficiency and excess is not always the perfect golden mean for a particular moral virtue. Aristotle would instruct college freshmen to value their education because it provides guidance that allows each student to associate pleasure with doing virtuous deeds and pain from a lack thereof. The application of virtue as a habit is one of Aristotle’s most imperative points not only because moral virtues must be practiced for one to become virtuous, but also because aforementioned practice will contribute to the knowledge of where the golden mean lies for each …show more content…
Aristotle defines Friendship of Utility as being derived from a material or commercial mutual benefit between two people. Friendship of Pleasure involves both parties being attracted to the wit, good looks, or other superficial qualities of the other for the purpose of indulgence. These types of relationships are “only incidental” due to their selfish aims and are “easily dissolved…[because] if the one party is no longer pleasant or useful the other ceases to love him” (Aristotle 1156a). For first-year college students, almost all of the initial bonds formed between fellow classmates and residence hall members will be stemmed from utility and pleasure. These friendships, created with the aim of personal benefit, are sought to attain basic human companionship during the opening weeks of college. However, as time passes, Aristotle would advise these students to understand which of the relationships they value provide the virtue of Friendship of the Good. This type of friendship transcends self-interest as each man wishes genuine good for the other and works to help him achieve it. Friendship based on goodness balances the dual benefits of utility and pleasure while providing enduring companionship established by virtuous interactions between parties. The rare form of