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Single Idea 5134
[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature
]
Full Idea
Just saying that man's happiness is the supreme good seems a platitude, and some more distinctive account of it is still required. This might perhaps be achieved by grasping what is the function of man.
Gist of Idea
Perhaps we get a better account of happiness as the good for man if we know his function
Source
Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1097b22)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.75
A Reaction
Notice the 'perhaps', right at the heart of Aristotle's theory. The connection between happiness and function is not obvious. The connection is, of course, areté (virtue/excellence), which is known by the function, and generates the happiness.
The
59 ideas
with the same theme
[human nature as source of good and bad]:
7362
|
Humans are similar, but social conventions drive us apart (sages and idiots being the exceptions)
[Kongzi (Confucius)]
|
7991
|
Hate and lust have their roots in man's lower nature
[Anon (Bhag)]
|
143
|
The two ruling human principles are the natural desire for pleasure, and an acquired love of virtue
[Plato]
|
24260
|
The best part of the soul raises us up to the heavens, to which we are naturally akin
[Plato]
|
1763
|
Diogenes said a plucked chicken fits Plato's definition of man
[Diogenes of Sin., by Diog. Laertius]
|
23398
|
Human nature is naturally compassionate and good (as a 'sprout'), but people may not be good
[Mengzi (Mencius), by Norden]
|
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]
|
5231
|
To eat vast amounts is unnatural, since natural desire is to replenish the deficiency
[Aristotle]
|
22509
|
What is natural for us is either there at birth, or appears by normal processes
[Aristotle]
|
5858
|
Men are physically prime at thirty-five, and mentally prime at forty-nine
[Aristotle]
|
6559
|
Aristotle never actually says that man is a rational animal
[Aristotle, by Fogelin]
|
20813
|
Human purpose is to contemplate and imitate the cosmos
[Chrysippus]
|
5730
|
Our bodies weren't created to be used; on the contrary, their creation makes a use possible
[Lucretius]
|
23340
|
We consist of animal bodies and god-like reason
[Epictetus]
|
23366
|
We see nature's will in the ways all people are the same
[Epictetus]
|
18464
|
Justice is each person fulfilling his function
[Porphyry]
|
5764
|
When people fall into wickedness they lose their human nature
[Boethius]
|
8019
|
Along with his pantheism, Spinoza equates ethics with the study of human nature
[Spinoza, by MacIntyre]
|
17189
|
The essence of man is modifications of the nature of God
[Spinoza]
|
17207
|
By 'good' I mean what brings us ever closer to our model of human nature
[Spinoza]
|
17229
|
If infancy in humans was very rare, we would consider it a pitiful natural defect
[Spinoza]
|
7667
|
There are two sides to men - the pleasantly social, and the violent and creative
[Diderot, by Berlin]
|
22390
|
Kant thought human nature was pure hedonism, so virtue is only possible via the categorical imperative
[Foot on Kant]
|
23234
|
I cannot change the nature which has been determined for me
[Fichte]
|
21796
|
Man is God if he raises himself, by denying his nature and finitude
[Hegel]
|
21379
|
Man's three basic ethical incentives are egoism, malice and compassion
[Schopenhauer]
|
21483
|
Man is essentially a dreadful wild animal
[Schopenhauer]
|
5281
|
Consciousness is a social product
[Marx/Engels]
|
5276
|
The nature of an individual coincides with what they produce and how they produce it
[Marx/Engels]
|
22086
|
The most important aspect of a human being is not reason, but passion
[Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
|
5298
|
The human essence is not found in individuals but in social relations
[Marx]
|
23032
|
What is distinctive of human life is the desire for self-improvement
[Green,TH, by Muirhead]
|
24093
|
We can aspire to greatness by creating new functions for ourselves
[Nietzsche]
|
24121
|
Greeks might see modern analysis of what is human as impious
[Nietzsche]
|
24107
|
Once a drive controls the intellect, it rules, and sets the goals
[Nietzsche]
|
20128
|
Each person has a fixed constitution, which makes them a particular type of person
[Nietzsche, by Leiter]
|
22503
|
Nietzsche could only revalue human values for a different species
[Nietzsche, by Foot]
|
22344
|
Freud is pessimistic about human nature; it is ambivalent motive and fantasy, rather than reason
[Freud, by Murdoch]
|
23060
|
The good is not relative, but is rooted in facts about human needs
[Santayana]
|
23154
|
We divide mankind into friend and foe, and cooperate with one and compete with the other
[Russell]
|
7517
|
I could take a healthy infant and train it up to be any type of specialist I choose
[Watson,JB]
|
20756
|
Instead of having a nature, man only has a history
[Ortega y Gassett]
|
23824
|
Where human needs are satisfied we find happiness, friendship and beauty
[Weil]
|
7074
|
Man is a useless passion
[Sartre]
|
6687
|
Man is the desire to be God
[Sartre]
|
3843
|
There is no human nature
[Sartre]
|
23687
|
Moral virtues arise from human nature, as part of what makes us good human beings
[Foot, by Hacker-Wright]
|
5313
|
The rules of human decision-making converge and overlap in a 'human nature'
[Wilson,EO]
|
5490
|
Essentialism fits in with Darwinism, but not with extreme politics of left or right
[Ellis]
|
4132
|
The category of person is a weak basis for ethics, because it is not fixed but comes in degrees
[Williams,B]
|
23110
|
Human injustice is not a permanent feature of communities
[Rawls]
|
4366
|
We can't accept Aristotle's naturalism about persons, because it is normative and unscientific
[Williams,B, by Hursthouse]
|
8048
|
When 'man' is thought of individually, apart from all roles, it ceases to be a functional concept
[MacIntyre]
|
23090
|
Liberals assume people are naturally free, equal, rational, and morally good
[Kekes]
|
5452
|
'Essentialism' is opposed to existentialism, and claims there is a human nature
[Mautner]
|
7505
|
Many think that accepting human nature is to accept innumerable evils
[Pinker]
|
6586
|
Cynics are committed to morality, but disappointed or disgusted by human failings
[Fogelin]
|
20655
|
Humans have been hunter-gatherers for 99.5% of their existence
[Watson]
|