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Ideas for 'Metaphysics', 'Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks' and 'The Meaning of the Word'

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4 ideas

23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / a. Nature of virtue
Excellence is a sort of completion [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Excellence is a sort of completion.
     From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1021b19)
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / b. Basis of virtue
Is excellence separate from things, or part of them, or both? [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Does the universe possess goodness and excellence as something separated and by itself, or because of its arrangement? But why should it not be both ways?
     From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1075a14)
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / g. Contemplation
Contemplation is a supreme pleasure and excellence [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Contemplation is a supreme pleasure and excellence.
     From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1072b22)
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 5. Existence-Essence
It is absurd to think you can change your own essence, like a garment [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: Man is necessity down to his last fibre, and totally 'unfree', that is if one means by freedom the foolish demand to be able to change one's 'essentia' arbitrarily, like a garment.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks [1873], p.7), quoted by Brian Leiter - Nietzsche On Morality 2 'Realism'
     A reaction: This is the big difference between the existentialism of Nietzsche and the more famous Sartrean approach, where the idea of being able to remake your essence is the most exciting and glamorous proposal. I'm with Nietzsche.