Ethical Traditions: Hedonism, Aristotelian Virtue, and Socratic Dialogue

Hedonist Tradition

The search for pleasure: Judging everything as right based on the standard of sensation. This includes both natural and spiritual pleasure.

Calculating Reason

According to Epicurus, there is a distinction between pleasures consisting of stable harmony—produced by the absence of bodily pain and agitation in the soul—and positive pleasure. Stable harmony appears superior; if we are hungry and calm, there is pleasure in removing the pain, but continuing to eat does not increase that pleasure. Reason must calculate which pleasures are more intense, lasting, and produce fewer painful consequences.

The Aristotelian Tradition

Eudaimonia

Eu means feeling good; daimon means spirit. Our ultimate aim is to be happy.

The Prudent Person

The wise person always intends good ends. Unlike a merely skillful person, the prudent individual applies moral principles to concrete cases and discerns which wishes should be satisfied.

The Mean

Acting prudently means choosing the middle term. This is virtue, not as an arithmetic calculation, but as the compromise appropriate for each individual.

Acquiring Prudence

To be prudent, one must train through the R.A.P.C. method:

• Remember: Recall past experiences.
• Anticipate: Sharpen the ability to foresee the future to make reasonable choices.
• Prepare/Learn: Educate oneself on what is appropriate in each case.
• Circumspect: Be cautious by taking into account the largest possible number of circumstances.

Socrates and the Origins of Dialogue

His Genial Contribution: The Method

Truth and goodness reside within us, though often coated with errors and biases. Our search for them involves two tasks: modeling and shedding light. This education is based on five claims:

• Truth and goodness can be known.
• All individuals are able to discover them.
• No one has exclusive access to the truth.
• We need dialogue to bring them to light.
• Truth is a VIP (Very Important Principle).

The Beginning of Ethics: Socratic Theory

Knowing what is good and just is enough to live by them; this is moral intellectualism. If we care to be happy, practicing virtue makes us happy. Nobody does evil knowingly; we do wrong because we think we know, but we do not.

Maieutics

The art of dialogue allows a partner to discover the truth about the nature of things.

A Rebuke to Innocence

Socrates posits that one should think as they live and live as they think.