Aristotle once wrote “The excess of virtue is a vice” and nothing illustrates this lesson quite as clearly as Dante’s Inferno‚ as he travels through the depths of hell and learns of the unfortunate souls who reside there - some of who knowingly committed the most heinous and crimes against humanity‚ but also those who simply took the virtues they were taught to live by to unreasonable lengths until they became their very undoing. A section of hell has been reserved for those who were uncommitted
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Virtues and Vices From http://www.therealpresence.org/essentials/commandments/acc23.htm Experience tells us that we develop moral habits according to our fidelity to the voice of conscience. There is an iron law in the formation of habits. Apart from the supernatural action of divine grace‚ we can acquire good moral habits‚ called virtues‚ as we can acquire bad moral habits or vices. The law which underlines all formation of habit says that every thought tends to become a desire‚ every desire
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Aristotle Notes Introduction: Aristotle’s Definition of Happiness “Happiness depends on ourselves.” More than anybody else‚ Aristotle enshrines happiness as a central purpose of human life and a goal in itself. As a result he devotes more space to the topic of happiness than any thinker prior to the modern era. Living during the same period as Mencius‚ but on the other side of the world‚ he draws some similar conclusions. That is‚ happiness depends on the cultivation of virtue‚ though his virtues
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Aristotle believes that we need virtue‚ both of thought and of character‚ to achieve that completeness leading to happiness. This is the function: activity in the soul in accord with virtue‚ where soul is defined as what is in us that carries out our characteristic activity. Aristotle is right in believing we need virtue. The end of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics Book I introduces the idea that since happiness is “a certain sort of activity of the soul in accord with complete virtue‚ we
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According to Aristotle‚ to live a just and correct lifestyle we must use reasoning in our actions while also practicing those that are characteristics that are virtuous. Virtue being that of good character‚ good habits and being conducted by reason. Such virtues commonly known are courage or modesty. It is through a series of reasonable actions that form good character that we humans can find the lifestyle suited to us. Despite what pleasure we might abandon along the way‚ or what pain we may face
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impression that has been formed in the mind. It is a personal excellence much deeper than this. In fact‚ it is the summation of most of the other virtues‚ since it presupposes them.” Philosophers and social psychologists have noted that pride is a complex emotion. However‚ while some philosophers such as Aristotle consider pride to be a profound virtue‚ others consider it a sin. The view of pride as a sin has permeated Christian theology dating back to Christian monasticism. However‚ it wasn’t until
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Aristotle’s understanding of virtue and his explanation of virtuous actions as presented in Nicomachean Ethics. In Book II of the work‚ Aristotle distinguishes between moral virtues‚ which are learned through habit and practice‚ and intellectual virtues‚ which are learned through instruction. However‚ it is not until later in Book II that Aristotle actually defines virtue. He opens Chapter 5 with‚ "Next we must consider what virtue is" (35) and at its end asserts that virtue is a state of character.
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Aristotle on Moral Virtue Phil 103 19 Apr 2006 Aristotle was a Greek philosopher c 384-322 BC. He presented us with an idea of moral virtue that is unique. He believed that each moral virtue was a delicate balance of a certain characteristic. This balance was kept between the two extremes: The vice of deficiency and the vice of excess. This balance was unique to each person‚ and to discover it one must use reason‚ the highest capacity of the soul. For example‚ we can look at the virtue
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Sarah Bader Al-Din 6652179 Aristotle Essay CLA/PHI3380A Aristotle’s views have today come to shape the way in which people view things and how they think. In this essay I will be discussing the difference between continence and temperance and their relation to moral virtue and how it is possessed. I will explain what Aristotle’s view on knowledge‚ and how it the key to human life. When Aristotle describes moral virtue he describes it as something that “comes as a result of habit”(Nicomanchean Ethics
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Aristotle had a few theories of ethics. Aristotle believed that one attains happiness by living a virtuous life and through the development of reason and the faculty of theoretical wisdom. He believed that moral virtue is a relative mean between extremes of excess and deficiency and in general the moral life is one of moderation in all things except virtue. He believed that virtuous acts require conscious choice and moral purpose or motivation. Finally‚ he believed that moral virtue cannot be achieved
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