2014-2-PHI110-04
__NOTITLE__ Studying 2014/2 PHI110: Philosophy, Morality and Society. Week 4. Undertaken Study Period 2, 2014. Content is quoted and/or summarised from the university website in fair dealing for purpose of research or study. See also: StudyWISE and AIMS.
Aristotle's Ethics
This week, we will examine Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. After Plato (and Socrates), Aristotle is one of the most influential philosophers in history; neo-Aristotelianism remains a live option in moral philosophy today.
Like the other Greek philosophers, the primary object of Aristotle's inquiry is to examine the nature of the good life: this will turn out to be a life of rational activities comprising a general state of well-being where we are also able to 'do well' in life. This is 'happiness' or Eudaimonia (faring well, doing well, living well). But what are our common ideas of happiness?
Links
Herewith a list of further reading:
Lectures
Notes
Questions
Readings
Readings downloaded from e-Reserve.
- Blackburn, Simon. "Being good and living well" in Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics, Blackburn, Simon, 2001, 112-116 (original)
- Aristotle; Ross, W. D.; Urmson, J. O. "Nicomachean ethics (extract)" in Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation, Aristotle; Barnes, Jonathan, 1984, 1729-1742 (original)
- Aristotle; Solomon, Robert; Greene, Jennifer. "Extract" in Morality and the Good Life: An Introduction to Ethics Through Classical Sources, Solomon, Robert; Greene, Jennifer, 1999, 82-95 (original)
Answers
TODO: answer the reading questions.
Activities
- Discussion Forum for Week 4: Aristotle's Ethics
- Self Test Quiz - Week 04 Aristotle's Ethics
- Week 4 review: What have you learnt? (original)
Work
TODO
Things to do, most important on top:
- Listen to the Lectures
- Read the Lecture notes
- Read the Questions
- Read the Readings
- Answer the Questions
- Do the Activities
Done
Things that are done, most recent on top:
Glossary
Herewith a list of new and/or interesting words and selected definitions:
nicomachean
- nicomachean
- Of or pertaining to some ancient Greek named Nicomachus; particularly, either Nicomachus, physician to Amyntas II., King of Macedonia, and the father of Aristotle, the philosopher, or Nicomachus the Younger, a son of Aristotle, who, like his father and grandfather, was also an author.
- The "Ethics of Aristotle," said to have been published by Nicomachus the Younger after his father's death.
Nicomachean Ethics
- Nicomachean Ethics
- The Nicomachean Ethics is the name normally given to Aristotle's best-known work on ethics. The work, which plays a pre-eminent role in defining Aristotelian ethics, consists of ten books, originally separate scrolls, and is understood to be based on notes from his lectures at the Lyceum, which were either edited by or dedicated to Aristotle's son, Nicomachus.
eudemonia
- eudemonia
- A state of pleasant well-being.
- A person’s state of excellence characterized by objective flourishing across a lifetime, and brought about through the exercise of moral virtue, practical wisdom, and rationality.
dialectic
- dialectic
- The art or practice of arriving at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments.
- The process especially associated with Hegel of arriving at the truth by stating a thesis, developing a contradictory antithesis, and combining and resolving them into a coherent synthesis.
- Hegel's critical method for the investigation of this process.
- The Marxian process of change through the conflict of opposing forces, whereby a given contradiction is characterized by a primary and a secondary aspect, the secondary succumbing to the primary, which is then transformed into an aspect of a new contradiction. Often used in the plural with a singular or plural verb.
- The Marxian critique of this process.
- A method of argument or exposition that systematically weighs contradictory facts or ideas with a view to the resolution of their real or apparent contradictions.
- The contradiction between two conflicting forces viewed as the determining factor in their continuing interaction.
trait
- trait
- A distinguishing feature, as of a person's character. See Synonyms at quality.
- A genetically determined characteristic or condition: a recessive trait.
- A stroke with or as if with a pencil.
- A slight degree or amount, as of a quality; a touch or trace: a sermon with a trait of humour.
teleology
- teleology
- The study of design or purpose in natural phenomena.
- The use of ultimate purpose or design as a means of explaining phenomena.
- Belief in or the perception of purposeful development toward an end, as in nature or history.
ergon
- ergon
- A concept from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics that is most often translated as function, task, or work.
erg
- erg
- The centimeter-gram-second unit of energy or work equal to the work done by a force of one dyne acting over a distance of one centimetre.
treatise
- treatise
- A systematic, usually extensive written discourse on a subject.
- bsolete A tale or narrative.
vice
- vice
- An evil, degrading, or immoral practice or habit.
- A serious moral failing.
- Wicked or evil conduct or habits; corruption.
- Sexual immorality, especially prostitution.
- A slight personal failing; a foible: the vice of untidiness.
- A flaw or imperfection; a defect.
- A physical defect or weakness.
- An undesirable habit, such as crib-biting, in a domestic animal.
- A character representing generalized or particular vice in English morality plays.
- A jester or buffoon.
- Variant of vise.