Now virtue is concerned with passions and actions, in which excess is a form of failure, and so is defect, while the intermediate is praised and is a form of success; and being praised and being successful are both characteristics of virtue.
How does Aristotle view the connection between moral excellence moral virtue and pleasure and pain?
For moral excellence is concerned with pleasures and pains; it is on account of the pleasure that we do bad things, and on account of the pain that we abstain from noble ones .” ... On the other hand, if you are virtuous, then virtue is pleasant and vice is painful.
What does Aristotle mean when he says that virtue is the intermediate condition?
1. Aristotle describes a virtue as a “mean” or “intermediate” between two extremes: one of excess and one of deficiency . 2. Example: bravery (e.g. on a battlefield) Involves how much we let fear restrict or modify our actions. Bravery is the mean or intermediate between cowardliness and rashness.
What is moral virtue and intellectual virtue according to Aristotle?
Aristotle. Moral virtues are exemplified by courage, temperance, and liberality; the key intellectual virtues are wisdom , which governs ethical behaviour, and understanding, which is expressed in scientific endeavour and contemplation.
What is Aristotle’s word for excellence?
Arete (Greek: ἀρετή) is a concept in ancient Greek thought that, in its most basic sense, refers to “excellence” of any kind. The term may also mean “moral virtue”.
What three requirements does Aristotle give for a virtuous action?
Aristotle proposes three criteria to distinguish virtuous people from people who behave in the right way by accident: first, virtuous people know they are behaving in the right way; second, they choose to behave in the right way for the sake of being virtuous ; and third, their behavior manifests itself as part of a ...
What is meant by virtuous act according to Aristotle?
A virtuous person is someone who performs the distinctive activity of being human well . ... Aristotle defines moral virtue as a disposition to behave in the right manner and as a mean between extremes of deficiency and excess, which are vices.
What is the highest form of happiness according to Aristotle?
Aristotle concludes the Ethics with a discussion of the highest form of happiness: a life of intellectual contemplation . Since reason is what separates humanity from animals, its exercise leads man to the highest virtue.
What is the highest good according to Aristotle?
For Aristotle, eudaimonia is the highest human good, the only human good that is desirable for its own sake (as an end in itself) rather than for the sake of something else (as a means toward some other end).
What is the main idea of virtue ethics?
Virtue ethics mainly deals with the honesty and morality of a person . It states that practicing good habits such as honesty, generosity makes a moral and virtuous person. It guides a person without specific rules for resolving the ethical complexity.
What are the 5 intellectual virtues?
They include: intellectual responsibility, perseverance, open-mindedness, empathy, integrity, intellectual courage , confidence in reason, love of truth, intellectual humility, imaginativeness, curiosity, fair-mindedness, and autonomy.
What virtue has the highest moral value?
Truth is the highest virtue, but higher still is truthful living.
How do moral and intellectual virtue relate to having a good life?
These are the virtues, which lead humans to happiness and a good life. Virtue is two-fold: Intellectual virtue and Moral virtue. Intellectual virtues have to be learned and moral virtues become part of us as a result of habit . People are praised for their virtuous actions and blamed for their non-virtuous actions.
What is the life of excellence according to Aristotle?
According to Aristotle there were two types of excellence: Excellence [or virtue], then, being of two kinds, intellectual and moral, intellectual excellence in the main owes its birth and its growth to teaching (for which reason it requires experience and time), while moral excellence comes about as a result of habit....
What is good life according to Aristotle?
According to Aristotle, happiness consists in achieving, through the course of a whole lifetime, all the goods — health, wealth, knowledge, friends, etc. — that lead to the perfection of human nature and to the enrichment of human life. This requires us to make choices, some of which may be very difficult.
What is the good life for a human being according to Aristotle?
Aristotle argues that what separates human beings from the other animals is the human reason. So the good life is one in which a person cultivates and exercises their rational faculties by, for instance, engaging in scientific inquiry, philosophical discussion, artistic creation, or legislation.
