Aristotle – 384-322 B.C.

-Taught by Plato
-Tutored Alexander the Great
-Provided philosophical basis for much of what became modern science

-Telos – All things have a function or end

-University – educate, provide services to the community, etc.
-Home- provide shelter, safe place to be, comfort
-Pet – companionship, stress relief, entertainment
-Alcohol – destress, give confidence
-When things fulfill their function they are Virtuous, they are exhibiting Arete (excellence),
they are Good!
-Consider: What is the purpose of a musical instrument? To be played well, to produce
good music, etc.
-Under a system which attempts to maximize the excellence and virtue, who most
who most deserves to be given a musical instrument? The best players!
-What is the function of cheerleading?
-Acrobatics? Routines?
-Callie Smartt example

Tripartite Soul
1. Vegetative – Plants – Grow and Reproduce
2. Appetitive – Animals – Satisfy Desires, Consciousness
3. Rational – Humans – Exercise Reason in Deliberating and Choosing AND Sociality
 -What about Venus Fly Trap, Chimp, Dolphin, Whale?
-Plants are good plants if they grow and reproduce.
-Animals are good animals if they grown and reproduce AND satisfy their inherent desires
(hunger, thirst, sex)
-Human are good if they grow and reproduce, satisfy their inherent desires, AND exercise their
rationality which, Aristotle thinks, is necessarily socially
-Human Ethics must include considerations of our whole nature
-How do we exercise our Rationality?
-Aristotle isn’t interested in giving out a list of rules or trying to come up with
specific recommendations for every circumstance. For one thing, we already
know what’s good. Think about someone you admire. What do you admire about
them?
-Honesty, Kindness, Courage, Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, etc.
Which is better?
-Highest Good
1. Desirable for Itself
2. Not Desirable for some other Good
3. All other goods are desirable for its sake.
Medicine -> Health
Relationships-> Sociality

Good grade in Class-> Success -> Eudaimonia: Happiness – Flourishing

-The Human telos/function is to achieve Eudaimonia which is flourishing
-Reason sits above the other parts of the soul and gives judgment (deliberate and choose)
in particular circumstances.

Psychological Plausibility
-“One swallow does not a summer make.”
-“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
-Eudaimonia can only be achieved by the habitation of Virtuous/Excellent
behavior
-What things influence our development as people?
-Parents, Wealth, Friends, Dispositions, Experiences, Nutrition, etc.
-We aren’t a blank slate. In order to better ourselves, we must create new habits.
-How?
-Two means of habituating Virtuous behavior:
1. Emulate those we find admirable. – Exemplarism
2. The Golden Mean
Deficiency Virtue Excess
Cowardice Courage Recklessness
Indulgence/Licentiousness Temperance Prudishness
Stinginess/Greed Generosity Profligacy
Cruelty Compassion Foolishness
Low Self-Esteem Pride Vanity
Deceitfulness Honesty Brashness

Car Example:
2 people in a car that’s broken down in a very small median on the highway. Cars are passing
very close and very fast.
The first person is afraid of getting hit and dying and also afraid of appearing afraid.
The second person isn’t afraid and blindly thinks there’s no way anyone will hit them.

Cowardice Courage Recklessness

1st person Assess the danger 2nd person
Could jump out of the car Decides to either: Blindly stays in car
OR stay frozen in fear 1. Calmly move to Median
2. Stay in car