Aristotle's Ethics - PHL A11 Introduction PDF

PHL A11 Introduction to Ethics September 14 Aristotle continued ● Recap of: Lecture plan First Perusall comments due end of day Monday! ○ Idea 1: the chief good ○ Idea 2: the doctrine of the mean ● Idea 3: why we need friendship 2 Aristotle’s big question: what is the “chief good” of human...

PHL A11 Introduction to Ethics September 14 Aristotle continued ● Recap of: Lecture plan First Perusall comments due end of day Monday! ○ Idea 1: the chief good ○ Idea 2: the doctrine of the mean ● Idea 3: why we need friendship 2 Aristotle’s big question: what is the “chief good” of human life, and how do we pursue that good? He argues that our chief good is happiness, since we seek happiness for its own sake, not for the sake of other things, whereas we seek other things (money, status, power) for the sake of happiness. 3 For Aristotle, happiness (eudaimonia, sometimes translated as “flourishing”) is not a feeling of pleasure or contentment. Instead, happiness is an activity or way of living—specifically, living in accordance with reason or virtue. 4 Aristotle thinks about virtue very holistically: his examples include generosity, courage, truthfulness, friendliness, and being witty. Virtues are a mean, or middle, between a vice of excess (too much) and a vice of deficiency (too little). 5 “For example, fear, confidence, appetite, anger, pity, and in general pleasure and pain can be experienced too much or too little, and in both ways not well. But to have them at the right time, about the right things, towards the right people, for the right end, and in the right way, is the mean and best; and this is the business of virtue” (30). 6 Aristotle’s legacy Aristotle’s ideas had an enormous influence, particularly in Islamic and Christian philosophy. Scholars like Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Thomas Aquinas combined Aristotle’s ethics of virtue and vice with a religious ethics of morality and sin. But with the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment (from the 16th to 19th century), European philosophers began to reject Aristotle’s philosophy and develop new approaches to ethics. 7 Bertrand Russell, in his A History of Western Philosophy (1946), said this about Aristotle’s ethics: “The views of Aristotle on ethics represents, in the main, the prevailing opinions of educated and experienced men of his day… Those who neither fall below nor rise above the level of decent, well-behaved citizens will find in the Ethics a systematic account of the principles by which they hold their conduct should be regulated. Those who demand anything more will be disappointed. The book appeals to the respectable middle-aged, and has been used by them… to repress the ardours and enthusiasms of the young. But to a man with any depth of feeling it is likely to be repulsive.” 8 Why did Russell find Aristotle’s Ethics “repulsive”? ● Aristotle doesn’t seem to care much about the suffering of the poor, except when it gives the wealthy an opportunity to act generously. ● For Aristotle, non-Greeks are “natural slaves,” suited to a life of manual labour, while women are naturally inferior to men, suited to a domestic life. A question for you to ponder: can we separate Aristotle’s big ethical ideas from his prejudices? 9 In the past few decades, Aristotelian virtue ethics has had a revival. Philosophers like Rosalind Hursthouse argue that Aristotle has insights into ethics that alternative theories miss. Virtue ethicists like Hursthouse stress that there’s no formula for solving moral problems. Instead, virtue requires a kind of “practical wisdom” (phronesis). Practically wise people “understand what is truly worthwhile, truly important, and thereby truly advantageous in life…” See the SEP article on “Virtue Ethics”, by Rosalind Hursthouse and Glen Pettigrove. 10 Aristotle’s big idea 3: Why we need friendship 11 You gotta have friends Aristotle spends a large part of the Ethics talking about friendship. He begins by saying: “[Friendship] is a virtue or involves virtue, and is an absolute necessity in life. No one would choose to live without friends, even if he had all the other goods. Indeed, rich people and those who have attained high office and power seem to stand in special need of friends. For what use is such prosperity if there is no opportunity for beneficence, which is exercised mainly and in its most commendable form towards friends? Or how could their prosperity be watched over and kept safe without friends? The greater it is, the greater the danger it is in. In poverty, too, and in other misfortunes, people think friends are the only resort” (143). Remember what he about the “chief good”: we are “social beings,” so the kind of happiness that’s “self-sufficient” for us involves living with others. 12 You gotta have friends What is it to be friends, according to Aristotle? ● To be friends with someone is to judge that there is something good about the friend. (There are three varieties of this… see the next slide.) ● Friendship involves loving your friend and wishing good things for them. ● Friendship must be reciprocated, i.e. go both ways. (No unrequited friendship!) In his discussion of friendship, Aristotle includes some forms of affection that we might not call “friendship”: the bond between parent and child, the “concord” between citizens of the same city, and friendly feelings between humans generally (143-4). 13 Types of friendship Utility-friendship: Friendship based on another person’s usefulness for us (e.g. as partners in a sport or hobby, or because they are rich). Pleasure-friendship: Friendship based on the pleasure that we take in another person’s company. Virtue-friendship: Friendship based on an appreciation of another person’s good character (i.e. their courage, truthfulness, beneficence, etc.) For further discussion, see Section 1 of the SEP entry on “Friendship” 14 Virtue friendships: ● Involve valuing someone as a good person (and them thinking the same of you). ● Are long-lasting, because they don’t fade as pleasures fade or interests change. ● Are rare, because good people are rare, and because true friendships take time to develop. 15 Can you think of examples (perhaps from film and literature) of people who become friends because come they see each other as good people? Remember, Aristotle’s virtues are just his list. What’s on your list of virtues you look for in a friend? 16 Why we need friendship: study questions Interpretative questions (about what the author means): Why is friendship essential to a good life, on Aristotle’s view? What are the three kinds of friendship? Which kind does Aristotle think is best, and why? How does this third big idea (why we need friendship) connect back to the first idea (the chief good) and the second idea (the doctrine of the mean)? Critical questions (about whether the author makes a good argument): Do you agree that friendship is essential to a good life? Do you agree that the best kind of friendship is when we see our friend (and they see us) as a good and virtuous person? Can you explain your view with an example? 17 And remember: you’ve got a friend in me. Come chat in office hours! They’re after every lecture. 18