Summary Courage is a mean between fear and recklessness. All objects of fear are fearful things, and generally they are evil also, so fear is defined as the expectation of evil. It is right and proper to fear some evils, but wrong to fear those which are not within one’s […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book III: Chapter VI – Courage (i)Summary and Analysis Book III: Chapter V – Man’s Moral Responsibility as an Agent
Summary The object of wish is an end. The objects of deliberation and choice are the means to that end. Since actions are concerned with means, it is clear that actions are based on choice and are thus voluntary. In any given situation, men voluntarily choose the means they apply. […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book III: Chapter V – Man’s Moral Responsibility as an AgentSummary and Analysis Book III: Chapter IV – Definition of Wish
Summary Choice (as determined by deliberation) is concerned with means to an end. Wish is concerned with the end. Some, including philosophers of the Platonic school, maintain that we always wish for the good (with good defined in an absolute sense), while others, including some Sophists, say that we wish […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book III: Chapter IV – Definition of WishSummary and Analysis Book III: Chapter III – Definition of Deliberation
Summary Besides choice and voluntariness, the other element in moral purpose is deliberation, which is concerned with what is in our power and can be done (i.e., with means, not ends). In the process of deliberation one presupposes a limited end (determined by wish or desire) and tries to find […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book III: Chapter III – Definition of DeliberationSummary and Analysis Book III: Chapter II – Definition of Choice
Summary Choice, in the sense of deliberate or preferential choice of a particular mode of action is closely related to virtue. While choice is the result of one’s initiative, it is not the same as a voluntary act. Even children and animals can engage in voluntary actions, but they do […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book III: Chapter II – Definition of ChoiceSummary and Analysis Book III: Chapter I – Voluntary and Involuntary Action
Summary We now turn to a discussion of the individual’s responsibility for his acts and the voluntary nature of moral purpose. As already shown, virtue or moral excellence is a matter of feeling and action. Since a man is praised or blamed only for things done voluntarily, it is essential […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book III: Chapter I – Voluntary and Involuntary ActionSummary and Analysis Book II: Analysis for Book II
Having indicated the general character of the study of ethics Aristotle proceeds in Book II to a more detailed account of the virtues that are included in the moral life. Certain observations are made concerning the nature of virtue and its relation to the various activities which make up the […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book II: Analysis for Book IISummary and Analysis Book II: Chapter IX – How to Find the Mean
Summary The following points have been established: Moral virtue is a mean. It is a mean between two vices, one marked by excess and the other by deficiency. It is a mean in the sense that it aims at the middle point in emotions and actions. Here are some rules […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book II: Chapter IX – How to Find the MeanSummary and Analysis Book II: Chapter VIII – Relation of Mean and Extremes
Summary As shown above there are three kinds of dispositions. Two are vicious (one characterized by excess, the other by deficiency), and one is virtuous (the mean). All three are opposed to each other, but not always in the same way. The two extreme states (excess and deficiency) are opposed […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book II: Chapter VIII – Relation of Mean and ExtremesSummary and Analysis Book II: Chapter VII – Particular Examples of the Mean and Extreme
Summary In the study of morality particular statements often come closer to the truth than generalizations. This is because human behavior is made up of many individual actions, with all of which any theory of human behavior must harmonize. In view of this we will now briefly illustrate the doctrine […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book II: Chapter VII – Particular Examples of the Mean and Extreme