Summary
Highlights
Aristotle's virtue ethics, as presented in 'Nicomachean Ethics', is considered the first systematic study of ethics in Western civilization. It offers principles to guide humans toward a good life, differing from Plato's ethics by asserting that moral principles are imminent in daily activities and discoverable through their study. Aristotle argues that humans fundamentally desire happiness (eudaimonia), an ultimate human good, acknowledging that conceptions of happiness vary.
Aristotle did not only explore the nature of happiness but also the conditions for its attainment, leading to his discussion of virtue. His virtue ethics is thus tied to understanding happiness as humanity's ultimate goal and virtue as crucial for achieving it. While Socrates and Plato viewed virtue as a source of happiness, Aristotle uniquely posited that true happiness consists solely in virtuous activity. Eudaimonia, this ultimate end, is genuinely desired for its own sake, making actions leading to it the most valuable. Ordinary desires like honor, wealth, and power, while part of human inclination, offer only temporary pleasure and cannot lead to true happiness.
Virtue is defined as behavior showing high moral standards or general goodness. Aristotle defines virtue as the opposite of vice, where vices represent the two extremes (excess or deficiency) of a spectrum. Virtues, therefore, are the 'mean' or middle ground between these extremes. For example, patience is a virtue that lies between irascibility and lack of spirit. Virtues are essential elements of moral behavior, and the concept of virtue as the mean is central to achieving happiness.
The formation of moral virtue through good habits is crucial in Aristotle's ethics. A moral agent achieves happiness by consistently living a good life and acting habitually in accordance with the good. Good habits are instrumental in developing virtue because they ensure a consistent pattern of virtuous actions. Aristotle states that humans are naturally inclined to virtues but are perfected by habit. This requires constant practice of virtuous acts, such as patience or courage, to integrate them into deliberate actions, avoiding extremes. Moral actions are truly good and right only if there is a habitual practice of virtues.
The formation of virtue or good habit involves two stages: the habit of contemplation (education of thought) and the habit of actual practice of moral virtue. Contemplation involves constantly acquiring knowledge and using one's mind correctly to habitually exercise virtue, leading to a stable equilibrium of the soul and proper mental activity. This means one must consistently think about practicing virtue. The second stage, actual practice, presupposes that individuals translate their contemplative understanding of virtue into consistent actions, leading to the formation of good habits. True virtue, for Aristotle, means developing a habit of doing good continuously.
Aristotle's virtue ethics revolves around the premise that humans should strive for an excellent character (ethikē aretē in Greek). An excellent character is the precondition for attaining happiness or eudaimonia, which is the ultimate goal of his ethical framework. By focusing on happiness, the shape of life as a whole becomes central to his ethical theory. The key question for Aristotle is what kind of life human beings should live. Practical virtues, displayed through consistent actions, are the characteristics humans need to develop to truly attain happiness.