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Single Idea 4378
[filed under theme 23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / d. Teaching virtue
]
Full Idea
Aristotle is not giving us a bland reminder that virtue takes practice; rather, practice has cognitive powers, in that it is the way that we learn what is noble and just.
Gist of Idea
We must practise virtuous acts because practice actually teaches us the nature of virtue
Source
comment on Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1104b02) by Myles F. Burnyeat - Aristotle on Learning to be Good p.73
Book Ref
'Essays on Aristotle's Ethics', ed/tr. Rorty,Amélie Oksenberg [University of California 1980], p.73
A Reaction
Interesting. This seems right about Aristotle, and suggests that we come to appreciate the arts (for example) by doing them rather than studying them. (NE 1147a21)
The
229 ideas
from 'Nicomachean Ethics'
5075
|
Aristotle said there are two levels of virtue - the conventional and the intellectual
[Taylor,R on Aristotle]
|
21047
|
Aristotle thought slavery is just if it is both necessary and natural
[Aristotle, by Sandel]
|
3559
|
For Aristotle, true self-love is love of the higher parts of one's soul
[Aristotle, by Annas]
|
2681
|
Aristotle is unsure about eudaimonia because he is unsure what people are
[Nagel on Aristotle]
|
18673
|
Eudaimonia is said to only have final value, where reason and virtue are also useful
[Aristotle, by Orsi]
|
3548
|
Aristotle neglects the place of rules in the mature virtuous person
[Annas on Aristotle]
|
4369
|
It is not universals we must perceive for virtue, but particulars, seen as intrinsically good
[Aristotle, by Achtenberg]
|
4117
|
Nowadays we (unlike Aristotle) seem agreed that someone can have one virtue but lack others
[Williams,B on Aristotle]
|
21044
|
For Aristotle, debates about justice are debates about the good life
[Aristotle, by Sandel]
|
2684
|
Aristotle needed to distinguish teleological description from teleological explanation
[Irwin on Aristotle]
|
2682
|
Aristotle thinks human life is not important enough to spend a whole life on it
[Nagel on Aristotle]
|
8007
|
Aristotle never discusses free will
[Aristotle, by MacIntyre]
|
4326
|
Aristotle gives a superior account of rationality, because he allows emotions to participate
[Hursthouse on Aristotle]
|
4370
|
For Aristotle 'good' means purpose, and value is real but relational
[Achtenberg on Aristotle]
|
4371
|
Seeing particulars as parts of larger wholes is to perceive their value
[Achtenberg on Aristotle]
|
20
|
The good is 'that at which all things aim'
[Aristotle]
|
4380
|
Not all actions aim at some good; akratic actions, for example, do not
[Burnyeat on Aristotle]
|
21
|
Moral acts are so varied that they must be convention, not nature
[Aristotle]
|
22
|
Trained minds never expect more precision than is possible
[Aristotle]
|
23
|
The masses believe, not unreasonably, that the good is pleasure
[Aristotle]
|
24
|
Honour depends too much on the person who awards it
[Aristotle]
|
4119
|
If you aim at honour, you make yourself dependent on the people to whom you wish to be superior
[Aristotle, by Williams,B]
|
25
|
You can be good while asleep, or passive, or in pain
[Aristotle]
|
26
|
Wealth is not the good, because it is only a means
[Aristotle]
|
21356
|
Piety requires us to honour truth above our friends
[Aristotle]
|
5128
|
Each category of existence has its own good, so one Good cannot unite them
[Aristotle]
|
5129
|
There should be one science of the one Good, but there are many overlapping sciences
[Aristotle]
|
5130
|
It is meaningless to speak of 'man-himself', because it has the same definition as plain 'man'
[Aristotle]
|
27
|
Eternal white is no whiter than temporary white, and it is the same with goodness
[Aristotle]
|
5131
|
Intelligence and sight, and some pleasures and honours, are candidates for being good in themselves
[Aristotle]
|
28
|
How will a vision of pure goodness make someone a better doctor?
[Aristotle]
|
18227
|
We desire final things just for themselves, and not for the sake of something else
[Aristotle]
|
5132
|
Goods like pleasure are chosen partly for happiness, but happiness is chosen just for itself
[Aristotle]
|
5133
|
Man is by nature a social being
[Aristotle]
|
30
|
Happiness is perfect and self-sufficient, the end of all action
[Aristotle]
|
5127
|
Does Aristotle say eudaimonia is the aim, or that it ought to be?
[McDowell on Aristotle]
|
5134
|
Perhaps we get a better account of happiness as the good for man if we know his function
[Aristotle]
|
31
|
If bodily organs have functions, presumably the whole person has one
[Aristotle]
|
33
|
Each named function has a distinctive excellence attached to it
[Aristotle]
|
34
|
The good for man is an activity of soul in accordance with virtue
[Aristotle]
|
35
|
A statement is true if all the data are in harmony with it
[Aristotle]
|
5135
|
Goods are external, of the soul, and of the body; those of the soul (such as action) come first
[Aristotle]
|
5136
|
Happiness seems to involve virtue, or practical reason, or wisdom, or pleasure, or external goods
[Aristotle]
|
5137
|
Many pleasures are relative to a person, but some love what is pleasant by nature, and virtue is like that
[Aristotle]
|
5138
|
The fine deeds required for happiness need external resources, like friends or wealth
[Aristotle]
|
38
|
A man can't be happy if he is ugly, or of low birth, or alone and childless
[Aristotle]
|
5139
|
If happiness can be achieved by study and effort, then it is open to anyone who is not corrupt
[Aristotle]
|
5140
|
Political science aims at the highest good, which involves creating virtue in citizens
[Aristotle]
|
5142
|
Oxen, horses and children cannot be happy, because they cannot perform fine deeds
[Aristotle]
|
39
|
Happiness needs total goodness and a complete life
[Aristotle]
|
5143
|
Some good and evil can happen to the dead, just as the living may be unaware of a disaster
[Aristotle]
|
5144
|
Happiness is activity in accordance with complete virtue, for a whole life, with adequate external goods
[Aristotle]
|
4342
|
Aristotle must hold that virtuous King Priam's life can be marred, but not ruined
[Hursthouse on Aristotle]
|
4381
|
How can an action be intrinsically good if it is a means to 'eudaimonia'?
[Ackrill on Aristotle]
|
5145
|
The rational and irrational parts of the soul are either truly separate, or merely described that way
[Aristotle]
|
5146
|
Everything that receives nourishment has a vegetative soul, with it own distinctive excellence
[Aristotle]
|
4383
|
Aristotle seems not to explain why the better syllogism is overcome in akratic actions
[Burnyeat on Aristotle]
|
5147
|
In a controlled person the receptive part of the soul is obedient, and it is in harmony in the virtuous
[Aristotle]
|
5148
|
The irrational psuché is persuadable by reason - shown by our criticism and encouragement of people
[Aristotle]
|
5149
|
The two main parts of the soul give rise to two groups of virtues - intellectual, and moral
[Aristotle]
|
5150
|
Intellectual virtue arises from instruction (and takes time), whereas moral virtue result from habit
[Aristotle]
|
4367
|
Moral virtue is not natural, because its behaviour can be changed, unlike a falling stone
[Aristotle]
|
43
|
Nature enables us to be virtuous, but habit develops virtue in us
[Aristotle]
|
44
|
We acquire virtues by habitually performing good deeds
[Aristotle]
|
21046
|
The aim of legislators, and of a good constitution, is to create good citizens
[Aristotle]
|
5151
|
Justice concerns our behaviour in dealing with other people
[Aristotle]
|
5152
|
Like activities produce like dispositions, so we must give the right quality to the activity
[Aristotle]
|
45
|
We aim not to identify goodness, but to be good
[Aristotle]
|
46
|
We must take for granted that we should act according to right principle
[Aristotle]
|
5153
|
There is no fixed art of good conduct, and each situation is different, as in navigation
[Aristotle]
|
3545
|
The mean implies that vices are opposed to one another, not to virtue
[Aristotle, by Annas]
|
5154
|
Excess and deficiency are bad for virtue, just as they are for bodily health
[Aristotle]
|
47
|
Virtues are destroyed by the excess and preserved by the mean
[Aristotle]
|
4406
|
Aristotle aims at happiness by depressing emotions to a harmless mean
[Nietzsche on Aristotle]
|
4378
|
We must practise virtuous acts because practice actually teaches us the nature of virtue
[Burnyeat on Aristotle]
|
49
|
Character is revealed by the pleasures and pains people feel
[Aristotle]
|
4382
|
Feelings are vital to virtue, but virtue requires choice, which feelings lack
[Kosman on Aristotle]
|
51
|
True education is training from infancy to have correct feelings
[Aristotle]
|
52
|
We choose things for their fineness, their advantage, or for pleasure
[Aristotle]
|
53
|
Feeling inappropriate pleasure or pain affects conduct, and is central to morality
[Aristotle]
|
5156
|
How can good actions breed virtues, if you need to be virtuous to perform good actions?
[Aristotle]
|
6793
|
People can break into the circle of virtue and good action, by chance, or with help
[Aristotle]
|
54
|
Actions are not virtuous because of their quality, but because of the way they are done
[Aristotle]
|
57
|
We acquire virtue by the repeated performance of just and temperate acts
[Aristotle]
|
58
|
If virtues are not feelings or faculties, then they must be dispositions
[Aristotle]
|
5157
|
If a thing has excellence, this makes the thing good, and means it functions well
[Aristotle]
|
60
|
The mean is relative to the individual (diet, for example)
[Aristotle]
|
61
|
Skills are only well performed if they observe the mean
[Aristotle]
|
4388
|
One drink a day is moderation, but very drunk once a week could exhibit the mean
[Urmson on Aristotle]
|
4373
|
Virtue is the feeling of emotions that accord with one's perception of value
[Achtenberg on Aristotle]
|
4387
|
In most normal situations it is not appropriate to have any feelings at all
[Urmson on Aristotle]
|
62
|
We must tune our feelings to be right in every way
[Aristotle]
|
63
|
Virtue is a purposive mean disposition, which follows a rational principle and prudent judgment
[Aristotle]
|
64
|
There is no right time or place or way or person for the committing of adultery; it is just wrong
[Aristotle]
|
5158
|
Actions concern particular cases, and rules must fit the cases, not the other way round
[Aristotle]
|
5159
|
The mean is always right, and the extremes are always wrong
[Aristotle]
|
5160
|
There is a mean of feelings, as in our responses to the good or bad fortune of others
[Aristotle]
|
4333
|
Contraries are by definition as far distant as possible from one another
[Aristotle]
|
65
|
The vices to which we are most strongly pulled are most opposed to the mean
[Aristotle]
|
5161
|
To make one's anger exactly appropriate to a situation is very difficult
[Aristotle]
|
5211
|
An action is voluntary if the limb movements originate in the agent
[Aristotle]
|
5212
|
A man should sooner die than do some dreadful things, no matter how cruel the death
[Aristotle]
|
5213
|
If you repent of an act done through ignorance, you acted involuntarily, not non-voluntarily
[Aristotle]
|
67
|
Bad people are just ignorant of what they ought to do
[Aristotle]
|
5214
|
Acts may be forgivable if particular facts (rather than principles) are unknown
[Aristotle]
|
20192
|
Aristotle assesses whether people are responsible, and if they are it was voluntary
[Aristotle, by Zagzebski]
|
5215
|
There are six categories of particular cirumstance affecting an action
[Aristotle]
|
5216
|
An act is involuntary if the particular facts (esp. circumstances and effect) are unknown
[Aristotle]
|
5217
|
At times we ought to feel angry, and we ought to desire health and learning
[Aristotle]
|
12961
|
For an action to be 'free', it must be deliberate as well as unconstrained
[Aristotle, by Leibniz]
|
68
|
The akrates acts from desire not choice, and the enkrates acts from choice not desire
[Aristotle]
|
4318
|
Virtue is right reason and feeling and action. Akrasia and enkrateia are lower levels of action.
[Aristotle, by Cottingham]
|
4372
|
Akrasia merely neglects or misunderstands knowledge, rather than opposing it
[Achtenberg on Aristotle]
|
24037
|
We all assume immortality is impossible
[Aristotle]
|
4391
|
Opinion is praised for being in accordance with truth
[Aristotle]
|
5218
|
Some people are good at forming opinions, but bad at making moral choices
[Aristotle]
|
5219
|
Types of cause are nature, necessity and chance, and mind and human agency
[Aristotle]
|
23320
|
Choice is not explained by the will, but by the operation of reason when it judges what is good
[Aristotle, by Frede,M]
|
69
|
We deliberate about means, not ends
[Aristotle]
|
5220
|
Particular facts (such as 'is it cooked?') are matters of sense-perception, not deliberation
[Aristotle]
|
5221
|
Deliberation ends when the starting-point of an action is traced back to the dominant part of the self
[Aristotle]
|
5222
|
A person of good character sees the truth about what is actually fine and pleasant
[Aristotle]
|
4118
|
A human being fathers his own actions as he fathers his children
[Aristotle]
|
4394
|
People develop their characters through the activities they pursue
[Aristotle]
|
4384
|
For Aristotle responsibility seems negative, in the absence of force or ignorance
[Irwin on Aristotle]
|
5223
|
We are partly responsible for our own dispositions and virtues
[Aristotle]
|
5224
|
Strictly speaking, a courageous person is one who does not fear an honourable death
[Aristotle]
|
5225
|
The end of virtue is what is right and honourable or fine
[Aristotle]
|
5226
|
True courage is an appropriate response to a dangerous situation
[Aristotle]
|
5227
|
The nature of any given thing is determined by its end
[Aristotle]
|
5228
|
A suicide embraces death to run away from hardships, rather than because it is a fine deed
[Aristotle]
|
5229
|
The more virtuous and happy a person is, the worse the prospect becomes of ending life
[Aristotle]
|
5230
|
There are pleasures of the soul (e.g. civic honour, and learning) and of the body
[Aristotle]
|
71
|
Licentiousness concerns the animal-like pleasures of touch and taste
[Aristotle]
|
5231
|
To eat vast amounts is unnatural, since natural desire is to replenish the deficiency
[Aristotle]
|
5232
|
If beings are dominated by appetite, this can increase so much that it drives out reason
[Aristotle]
|
5233
|
Honour is clearly the greatest external good
[Aristotle]
|
5234
|
For the great-souled man it is sometimes better to be dead
[Aristotle]
|
5235
|
Patient people are indignant, but only appropriately, as their reason prescribes
[Aristotle]
|
5236
|
It is foolish not to be angry when it is appropriate
[Aristotle]
|
5237
|
We cannot properly judge by rules, because blame depends on perception of particulars
[Aristotle]
|
5238
|
The sincere man is praiseworthy, because truth is the mean between boasting and irony
[Aristotle]
|
4389
|
What emotion is displayed in justice, and what are its deficiency and excess?
[Urmson on Aristotle]
|
5239
|
When people speak of justice they mean a disposition of character to behave justly
[Aristotle]
|
5240
|
The word 'unjust' describes law-breaking and exploitation
[Aristotle]
|
5241
|
We hold that every piece of legislation is just
[Aristotle]
|
5242
|
Justice is whatever creates or preserves social happiness
[Aristotle]
|
5243
|
The best people exercise their virtue towards others, rather than to themselves
[Aristotle]
|
23556
|
Particular justice concerns specific temptations, but universal justice concerns the whole character
[Aristotle]
|
5245
|
Society collapses if people cannot rely on exchanging good for good and evil for evil
[Aristotle]
|
5246
|
Natural justice is the same everywhere, and does not (unlike legal justice) depend on acceptance
[Aristotle]
|
72
|
Assume our reason is in two parts, one for permanent first principles, and one for variable things
[Aristotle]
|
73
|
Practical intellect serves to arrive at the truth which corresponds to right appetite
[Aristotle]
|
4405
|
The attainment of truth is the task of the intellectual part of the soul
[Aristotle]
|
76
|
The object of scientific knowledge is what is necessary
[Aristotle]
|
20212
|
Practical reason is truth-attaining, and focused on actions good for human beings
[Aristotle]
|
78
|
Wisdom is scientific and intuitive knowledge of what is by nature most precious
[Aristotle]
|
5247
|
Prudence is mainly concerned with particulars, which is the sphere of human conduct
[Aristotle]
|
79
|
Intuition grasps the definitions that can't be proved
[Aristotle]
|
5248
|
Wisdom does not study happiness, because it is not concerned with processes
[Aristotle]
|
80
|
Virtue ensures that we have correct aims, and prudence that we have correct means of achieving them
[Aristotle]
|
55
|
People who perform just acts unwillingly or ignorantly are still not just
[Aristotle]
|
56
|
A person is good if they act from choice, and for the sake of the actions in themselves
[Aristotle]
|
5249
|
One cannot be prudent without being good
[Aristotle]
|
4362
|
Dispositions to virtue are born in us, but without intelligence they can be harmful
[Aristotle]
|
81
|
For Socrates virtues are principles, involving knowledge, but we say they only imply the principle of practical reason
[Aristotle]
|
82
|
The one virtue of prudence carries with it the possession of all the other virtues
[Aristotle]
|
4386
|
Character can be heroic, excellent, controlled, uncontrolled, bad, or brutish
[Aristotle, by Urmson]
|
5250
|
The three states of character to avoid are vice, 'akrasia' and brutishness
[Aristotle]
|
5251
|
Gods exist in a state which is morally superior to virtue
[Aristotle]
|
22141
|
It is enough if we refute the objections and leave common opinions undisturbed
[Aristotle]
|
5252
|
'Enkrateia' (control) means abiding by one's own calculations
[Aristotle]
|
5254
|
Some people explain akrasia by saying only opinion is present, not knowledge
[Aristotle]
|
5255
|
A person may act against one part of his knowledge, if he knows both universal and particular
[Aristotle]
|
23317
|
Aristotle sees akrasia as acting against what is chosen, not against reason
[Aristotle, by Frede,M]
|
23318
|
Akrasia is explained by past mental failures, not by a specific choice
[Aristotle, by Frede,M]
|
5256
|
Some things are not naturally pleasant, but become so through disease or depravity
[Aristotle]
|
5257
|
Licentious people feel no regret, but weak-willed people are capable of repentance
[Aristotle]
|
5258
|
While replenishing we even enjoy unpleasant things, but only absolute pleasures when we are replenished
[Aristotle]
|
84
|
The greater the pleasure, the greater the hindrance to thought
[Aristotle]
|
1665
|
It is nonsense to say a good person is happy even if they are being tortured or suffering disaster
[Aristotle]
|
5259
|
If we criticise bodily pleasures as licentious and bad, why do we consider their opposite, pain, to be bad?
[Aristotle]
|
383
|
God feels one simple pleasure forever
[Aristotle]
|
2686
|
Aristotle does not confine supreme friendship to moral heroes
[Cooper,JM on Aristotle]
|
5260
|
Friendship holds communities together, and lawgivers value it more than justice
[Aristotle]
|
5261
|
Between friends there is no need for justice
[Aristotle]
|
5262
|
Only lovable things are loved, and they must be good, or pleasant, or useful
[Aristotle]
|
2687
|
For Aristotle in the best friendships the binding force is some excellence of character
[Cooper,JM on Aristotle]
|
85
|
Bad men can have friendships of utility or pleasure, but only good men can be true friends
[Aristotle]
|
5263
|
Most people want to be loved rather than to love, because they desire honour
[Aristotle]
|
5264
|
Friendship is based on a community of sharing
[Aristotle]
|
86
|
A bad political constitution (especially a tyranny) makes friendship almost impossible
[Aristotle]
|
87
|
Democracy is the best constitution for friendship, because it encourages equality
[Aristotle]
|
5265
|
Even more than a social being, man is a pairing and family being
[Aristotle]
|
88
|
Nobody would choose all the good things in world, if the price was loss of identity
[Aristotle]
|
5266
|
It would seem that the thinking part is the individual self
[Aristotle]
|
90
|
All altruism is an extension of self-love
[Aristotle]
|
91
|
A man is his own best friend; therefore he ought to love himself best
[Aristotle]
|
5267
|
Our reasoned acts are held to be voluntary and our own doing
[Aristotle]
|
92
|
Self-love benefits ourselves, and also helps others
[Aristotle]
|
2689
|
Good people enjoy virtuous action, just as musicians enjoy beautiful melodies
[Aristotle]
|
2690
|
Associating with good people can be a training in virtue
[Aristotle]
|
2573
|
To perceive or think is to be conscious of our existence
[Aristotle]
|
93
|
Existence is desirable if one is conscious of one's own goodness
[Aristotle]
|
95
|
If everyone believes it, it is true
[Aristotle]
|
5268
|
Disreputable pleasures are only pleasant to persons with diseased perception
[Aristotle]
|
4374
|
For Aristotle, pleasure is the perception of particulars as valuable
[Achtenberg on Aristotle]
|
96
|
Nobody would choose the mentality of a child, even if they had the greatest childish pleasures
[Aristotle]
|
97
|
There are many things we would want even if they brought no pleasure
[Aristotle]
|
5269
|
Pleasure is not the Good, and not every pleasure is desirable
[Aristotle]
|
98
|
It is right to pursue pleasure, because it enhances life, and life is a thing to choose
[Aristotle]
|
5270
|
Intellectual pleasures are superior to sensuous ones
[Aristotle]
|
99
|
If happiness were mere amusement it wouldn't be worth a lifetime's effort
[Aristotle]
|
100
|
The happy life is in accordance with goodness, which implies seriousness
[Aristotle]
|
101
|
Slaves can't be happy, because they lack freedom
[Aristotle]
|
103
|
Wise people can contemplate alone, though co-operation helps
[Aristotle]
|
18229
|
Only contemplation is sought for its own sake; practical activity always offers some gain
[Aristotle]
|
104
|
Contemplation (with the means to achieve it) is the perfect happiness for man
[Aristotle]
|
5272
|
The intellectual life is divine in comparison with ordinary human life
[Aristotle]
|
105
|
We should aspire to immortality, and live by what is highest in us
[Aristotle]
|
106
|
The best life is that of the intellect, since that is in the fullest sense the man
[Aristotle]
|
107
|
A life of moral virtue brings human happiness, but not divine happiness
[Aristotle]
|
108
|
The virtue of generosity requires money
[Aristotle]
|
109
|
Clearly perfect conduct will involve both good intention and good action
[Aristotle]
|
18232
|
The gods live, but action is unworthy of them, so that only leaves contemplation?
[Aristotle]
|
110
|
Lower animals cannot be happy, because they cannot contemplate
[Aristotle]
|
111
|
The more people contemplate, the happier they are
[Aristotle]
|
4379
|
It is very hard to change a person's character traits by argument
[Aristotle]
|
112
|
Most people are readier to submit to compulsion than to argument
[Aristotle]
|