Philosophy

Philosophy

Introduction

Aristotle ethical basically presents reflections on the Nicomachean Ethics. His other two works on the subject are Eudemian Ethics, which includes elements of Aristotelian thought. Their period of youth and; therefore, the theory of substance, so they contain some traces of Platonism; and the Great Moral, which summarizes the fundamental ideas of the Nicomachean Ethics, so it matches the maturity Aristotle, none of them have, therefore, something other than what is stated in the Nicomachean Ethics.

Discussion

The Nicomachean Ethics begins by stating that all human action is done in view to an end, and the end of the action is the good that is sought. The aim, therefore, is identified with the right. But many of those actions taken by man are a "tool" to achieve, in turn, another order, another good. For example, we eat properly to be healthy, so that the correct diet, which is an end, it is also an instrument to achieve another goal: health. Is there a final end? That is, are there any good that is sought for itself, and not as an instrument to achieve another good? Aristotle tells us that happiness is the ultimate good to which all men by nature. The nature impels us to seek happiness, a happiness that Aristotle identifies with the good life, a good life, but not all men have the same conception of what a good life, happiness: for some happiness is pleasure, for others in riches, for others in honors, etc (McKeon, 1947).

It is not looking for a definition of happiness the way that Plato seeks the idea of ??Good, since Platonic intellectualism has already been rejected. Ethics is not, nor can be, a science that depends upon the knowledge of the universal definition of good, but a practical reflection aimed at action, so it must be in human activity where we find the elements that allow us to answer this question. Each substance has a specific function which is determined by nature; act against this function is equivalent to act against one's nature is to serve as a bed to sleep in, for example, and a knife to cut: if you do not fulfill their function say they are a "bad" bed or a "bad" knife. If met, say they have the virtue (arete) of its own: break or cut permit, respectively, and therefore say they are a good bed and a good knife. Virtue, then, is identified with some ability or excellence characteristic of a substance or an activity.

Likewise man has to have a specific function: if it acts according to that function will be a good man, otherwise it will be a bad man. Happiness; therefore, consist in acting in accordance with the proper function of man. And to the extent that this function is performed, can man achieve happiness. If their actions lead him to perform that function, be virtuous, in the opposite case will move away from vices that its very nature of what it's characteristic or excellent and therefore, ...