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Aristotle. Anyone who goes to school knows that name. He
studied under Plato who studied under Socrates. Born in 384 BC in
Greece, his philosophy is the subject of academic study to this day.
He was also the subject of popular paintings, by popular painters,
such as Raphael in his School of Athens, and in Rembrandt in his
Aristotle with a Bust of Homer. Aristotle’s writings cover a wide range,
including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, aesthetics,
poetry, theatre, music, psychology, the list goes on and on. What
interests me about his work is his work on ethics.
This interest started with a show called The Good Place, wherein
the star of the show, Eleanor, wakes up to find that she has died and
has gone to The Good Place. In the middle of her orientation she
realizes that there was a mistake, that the administration of the Good
Place mistook her for someone else who has the exact same name,
and died at the exact same second as she did. Eleanor didn’t belong
there, the real Eleanor was sent to the Bad Place in her stead.
Everyone in the Good Place has a soulmate and she decides to
confide in hers. Her soulmate was an ethics professor when he was
alive. He agrees to help her, so that she can stay in the good place and
starts to teach her how to become a good person, and starts to discuss
ethics.
Aristotle’s work on ethics is covered in Nicomachean. It is
uncertain where the name comes from, both is father and his son
were named Nicomachus. The book might have been dedicated to
either one of them. Others believe that his son might have edited the
book after his death. His work relies heavily on the concept of virtue.
He defines moral virtue as a “disposition to behave in the right
manner, and as a mean between deficiencies and excess, which are
vices.” The aim is happiness, which is the ultimate good and the end
of all our activities. Happiness is equally rendered as success. It is not
an emotional state. While happiness is the activity of living well,
virtue represents the potential to live well.
It is said that “the motivation for being good is not based in a divine
legislator or a set of moral dos and don’ts but rather in the same kind of
striving after excellence that might make an athlete train hard.” In my
understanding, it is the choices we make that makes us good persons.
That your choice is a result of a rational deliberation. In my example,
The Good Place, Eleanor is studying ethics, how to become a good
person, in order to stay where she is and to become a person who
belongs there. Her presence in the good place is a lie, a sham, but she
is working on making it true, by studying and practicing to become a
good person. The morality here becomes complicated. Being good is
something you can learn and practice, in this situation, the person
trying to be good, is doing this in order to make the lie become the
truth.
Do intentions matter? If happiness is the end, the means should
be virtuous. To Aristotle, if fear is the feeling, courage is the virtue,
while cowardice is the vice. To practice your virtue you must face
your fears. Based on this, Eleanor, is virtuous.