more from Aristotle

Single Idea 4389

[catalogued under 23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / c. Justice]

Full Idea

Aristotle notoriously has difficulty in finding the specific emotion that is displayed in just and unjust actions, and equal difficulty in distinguishing the two errors of deficiency and excess required by the doctrine of the mean.

Gist of Idea

What emotion is displayed in justice, and what are its deficiency and excess?

Source

comment on Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1129a03) by J.O. Urmson - Aristotle's Doctrine of the Mean p.164

Book Reference

'Essays on Aristotle's Ethics', ed/tr. Rorty,Amélie Oksenberg [University of California 1980], p.164


A Reaction

Not a criticism of Aristotle, but it opens up the complexity of his view. It seems to make justice a super-virtue, a combination of lesser sets of combined mean and right feeling. Maybe.