Aristotle's Philosophy: Ethics, Politics, and the Soul

Aristotle's Ethics: The Pursuit of Happiness

Aristotle's ethics, particularly as presented in the Nicomachean Ethics, develops the concept of eudaimonia, or felicity (happiness), as the supreme good. It identifies felicity as the ultimate goal, emphasizing that the good of the whole being is to develop its inherent capabilities and characteristics.

Eudaimonist Ethics and the Supreme Good

• The supreme good is happiness because it is an end in itself, always the ultimate goal, not merely a means to achieve something else.
• Happiness can be understood in various ways, such as through money, power, or health.
• For Aristotle, supreme happiness is found in contemplative activity. This eudaimonist ethical position combines several elements, not limited to just one.

Types of Virtues

Aristotle distinguishes between two main types of virtues:

• Dianoetic or Intellectual Virtues: These relate to the rational part of the soul.
• Ethical or Moral Virtues: These relate to the irrational part of the soul.

Intellectual Virtues

• Wisdom: Involves good judgment and understanding.
• Science: Acquired through teaching and learning, enhancing the higher faculties of the soul.

Ethical or Moral Virtues

These virtues, such as fortitude, temperance, and justice, are acquired through action and repetition.

The Golden Mean: Virtue as a Middle Ground

Aristotle's notion of virtue emphasizes it as a middle ground between two vicious extremes. Virtue avoids both excess and deficiency.

Examples:

• Courage: The mean between cowardice (deficiency) and recklessness (excess).
• Generosity: The mean between miserliness (deficiency) and prodigality (excess).
• Modesty: The mean between shamelessness (excess) and timidity (deficiency).

The mean is not identical for everyone; it must be established individually based on the specific situation.

Aristotle's Politics: The Social Animal and the State

Politics, for Aristotle, aims at the good of the individual within the community. Humans are inherently social or political animals by nature and cannot live in isolation from society.

Human beings possess language, which allows them to articulate what is just or unjust, good or bad.

Forms of Government

Aristotle categorized governments based on whether they serve the common good (just) or the rulers' self-interest (unjust):

• Just Forms:
  • Monarchy (rule by one)
  • Aristocracy (rule by the best)
  • Polity (constitutional government, a mix of oligarchy and democracy, representing the mean)
• Unjust Forms:
  • Tyranny (corrupt monarchy)
  • Oligarchy (corrupt aristocracy)
  • Demagoguery (corrupt democracy)

Aristotle's View on the Ideal State and Property

Aristotle does not propose an ideal state that claims to be perfect in all ways. He defends private property as a natural right.

Aristotle's Conception of the Soul

Aristotle's understanding of the soul is central to his philosophy:

1. Body and Soul Connection: The soul is the vital principle present in plants, animals, and humans. It is substantially linked to the body (not accidentally) and is immanent (not transcendent).
2. Body as Matter, Soul as Form: The body, as matter, enables life. The soul, as form, is what gives life to the body and makes it possible. Aristotle denied the soul's immortality, asserting that it dies when the body dies (an academic concept of his time).
3. Functions of the Soul: Aristotle identified different functions of the soul:
   • Nutritive: (Plants) Responsible for growth and reproduction.
   • Sensitive: (Animals and Humans) Responsible for sensation and movement.
   • Intellectual: (Only Humans) Responsible for thought and reason.
4. Powers of the Soul: The intellect has two main powers:
   • Passive Intellect: Receives and holds universal concepts.
   • Active Intellect: Actualizes knowledge from these universal concepts.

   The "Agent Intellect" (or Understanding Agent) is a concept Aristotle explored, possibly hinting at a divine or external force that enables this actualization. He fundamentally believed that there is nothing in our mind that has not first been sensed, aligning with an empiricist position where experience stimulates knowledge.