Living a Virtuous Life... according to Aristotle

This blog shall provide an academic overview of Aristotle's concept of virtue ethics. It is chiefly intended for college students due to the intricate information provided and the high level of vocabulary. For ease of learning, I have provided some hyperlinks to Encyclopedia Britannica or other relevant websites for certain specific terms.

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Aristotle was arguably the most influential Western thinker in Classical Greece – founding the fields of biology, formal logic and primitive psychology. Born in 384 BCE in Stagira, Ancient Greece, he studied at the Academy, where Plato tutored him in philosophy. He wrote over 200 treatises in his life, devising such theories as logical syllogisms, taxonomic classification, the scientific method and virtue ethics. One of his most famous works: ‘Nicomachean Ethics’ delineates the necessity of characteristic balance and moral pragmatism, owing to the human’s unique rationalism – guiding them to spiritual contentment.

The human’s capacity for ‘deliberative imagination’ allows for his path to a fulfilling life. The human soul – described as "the definitive formula of a thing's essence" – is characterised by intellect and reasoning. In ‘De Anima’, Aristotle demarcates the three types of souls possessed by different organisms: ‘vegetative’ (the simple) allows for living, ‘sensitive’ (the intermediate) allows for living and sensing, and ‘rational’ (the complex) allows for living, sensing and thinking. The human species is the only organism having a ‘rational’ soul; therefore, it is the highest hierarchical form of earthly being – above plants and other animals.

In ‘Metaphysics’, Aristotle claims that: “All men by nature desire to know” – wisdom is a fundamental, non-categorical characteristic of a human being. Besides being analytically and scientifically competent, the soul permits humans to deliberate their actions vis-à-vis morals. Moreover, it is divided into the ‘irrational’ component, comprising the vegetative and appetitive parts, which bestow the individual with the desire for biological sustainment and fulfilment of sensory desires, respectively, and the ‘rational’ component – which aims at reason. The conflict between these components raises the issue of morality, empowering one to develop principled traits to live a satisfied life of areté (excellence).

Striving to dominate the irrational segment of the soul through reason is the essence of happiness: the key to a good life. Aristotle's theory of morality centres around his belief that humans have a distinctive function to fulfil; their end goal is happiness through “[controlled] activity of the soul in accordance with virtue.” (‘Nicomachean Ethics’). To effectuate one’s function – welfare of spirit (‘eudaimonia’) – ethics guided by reason should be prioritised over desire.

Acknowledging every action and object’s lasting impact on one’s happiness – weighing out their ‘appetitive’ and ‘rational’ qualities and prioritising the latter – one can fulfil rational thinking in everyday life. Implementing this thought process as a lifestyle fosters habits promoting correct thinking, choices, and behaviour. Aristotle claimed that such pragmatic moral thinking – ‘phronesis’ – must apply to how humans exercise virtues, which is gradually perfected with experience.

Every virtue must be practised in balance – in a middle ground between excess and deficiency. In every human action, one must moderate the extent to which it is done; for example, one must eat a suitable amount for sufficient nourishment (mean) and not too little (deficiency) or too much (excess) as to cause health complications. Dubbed the ‘Golden Mean’, Aristotle expounds on four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, from which (approximately) eleven are derived, existing as the “Middle state between [pairs of extremes]” (‘Eudemian Ethics’). An example is honesty, which lies between the deficiency of secrecy and the excess of loquacity.

The mean alters with each individual depending on the circumstances; for instance, a moderate amount of food must be consumed, but adults require more than children. Similarly, sometimes one may need to remain relatively secretive – deficient in honesty – to avert concerning others. Hence, some criticise the supposed vagueness or lack of specificity of the Golden Mean – that there is “very little about where or how to draw the dividing lines, where or how to fix the mean.” (J. L. Mackie). Aristotle intended these guidelines to be subjective and adaptable to the situation – suiting the practical element of his ethical system.

Aristotle’s virtue ethics met criticism by several prominent Greek philosophers. His teacher Plato postulated the existence of a virtual realm containing the ideal virtues (Forms) and the illusory (real) realm – in which humans reside – containing imperfect renditions of the Forms. Since varieties of the same object, such as hair colour, exist, there must be the perfect Form of hair colour on which earthly models are based: “If particulars are to have meaning, there must be universals”. Therefore, the same must apply to morals. Aristotle countered his master’s Theory of Forms – expressing the lack of necessity for an ‘ideal realm’, as virtues exist here, in the physical world. For instance, hair colour is innate in every individual; similarly, humans attain morals by garnering the correct characteristics.

Furthermore, Epicurus claimed pleasure was the agent to bring happiness, contrary to Aristotle’s distinction of happiness and pleasure. The latter stated that, rather, happiness is the consequence of perfecting human nature.

The aptitude to reason allows humans to acquire virtues shaping them into principled characters, leading to ‘eudaimonia’. Practical reasoning and moral balance wholly contribute to acting rationally relative to set virtues. ‘Nicomachean Ethics’ summarises the ethical goal in life as "the activity of philosophical wisdom [which is] admittedly the pleasantest of virtuous activities."

• My Blog on Greek Ethics
• Plato's Theory of Forms
• Detailed Study of Aristotle's Ethics

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