more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
It is not true that everything that there is seeks some single good: each thing has an inclination for its own good, the eye for sight, the body for health, and so on.
Gist of Idea
Everything seeks, not a single good, but its own separate good
Source
Aristotle (Eudemian Ethics [c.333 BCE], 1218a30)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Eudemian Ethics I,II and VIII', ed/tr. Woods,Michael [OUP 1992], p.10
A Reaction
Aristotle's pluralism. Elsewhere this pluralism arises from his function argument - that the good of each thing is the successful fulfilment of its function, which is different for each thing. This is basic to virtue theory, and has my approval.
| 3053 | Pythagoras taught that virtue is harmony, and health, and universal good, and God [Pythagoras, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 495 | Wisdom creates a healthy passion-free soul [Democritus] |
| 2129 | Goodness is mental health, badness is mental sickness [Plato] |
| 5154 | Excess and deficiency are bad for virtue, just as they are for bodily health [Aristotle] |
| 5268 | Disreputable pleasures are only pleasant to persons with diseased perception [Aristotle] |
| 5870 | Everything seeks, not a single good, but its own separate good [Aristotle] |
| 502 | Good breeding in men means having a good character [Democritus (attr)] |
| 22238 | Stoics said health is an 'indifferent', but they still considered it preferable [Stoic school, by Pormann] |
| 20861 | The health of the soul is a good blend of beliefs [Stoic school, by Stobaeus] |
| 22239 | Humans acquired the concept of virtue from an analogy with bodily health and strength [Seneca, by Allen] |
| 22237 | The Greeks had a single word meaning both 'beautiful' and 'good' [Pormann] |