After reading the assigned passages from Aristotle in The Ethical Life and listening to the podcast “Back to School,” respond to the following prompts…
After reading the assigned passages from Aristotle in The Ethical Life and listening to the podcast “Back to School,” respond to the following prompts.
How does Aristotle define moral virtue?
How is moral virtue acquired?
How does Aristotle’s understanding of moral virtue relate to the discussion of education found in the podcast “Back to School”?
Note: The assignment is based on the assigned reading from The Ethical Life. My grading of your answers is based on that reading. So, if you give me correct information that does not come from there, will not receive full credit. For instance, if you define moral virtue based on Spark Notes, you will not receive full credit because the definition may not be the one given in the assigned reading. You need to read the material from The Ethical Life and use that to answer the question.
You should answer the questions fully. I do not set a minimum length for the assignment on purpose. Having said that, you need to ask yourself the following question: does writing five, six, or even seven sentences seem sufficient for a week-long assignment that is worth a large portion of your grade? Probably not. My advice is to answer the questions as fully as you can. As with all written assignments, I will also be grading how well they are written. If your answer contains numerous typographical errors, the overall grade for the assignment will be reduced.
Answer
Aristotle Essay: Ethics
By: Essayicons.com
Aristotle is one of the greatest philosophers to ever live in human history. He is best known for his work in philosophy. His perception of human moral virtues has served as a foundation of almost every version of virtue ever developed throughout the past millennia. According to Aristotle, moral virtues are a state of character, not a passion or faculty (Russ p. 147-148). As a state of character, the things related to virtues in which humans stand well are like anger and passion. Humans are not called excellent or bad based on their passions and nature but based on their virtues and vices. Therefore, according to him, moral virtues are not passions or faculties but states of character.
According to Aristotle, moral virtues are acquired through the repetition of corresponding actions. Moral virtues are acquired through habits. Moral virtues are not acquired through nature since anything that happens in nature can form a habit contradicting nature. He demonstrates by using a stone in which, in nature, it moves downwards and can never be habituated to go upwards (Russ p. 144). Thus, moral virtues are neither acquired by nature nor contrary to nature; instead, people are adapted by nature to receive the virtues, and then they are perfected by repeated habits. For example, the moral virtue of art is not acquired by nature but rather by continuous habits of the corresponding action.
According to Aristotle, moral virtues on education contains two supportive aspects that correlate to education in ways of practical virtue. The two complements are the instruction of desire and the growing of ethical virtue. As illustrated by the philosopher, humans learn moral virtues via practice and habits and not through reasoning and instruction. His argument is different compared to other theoretical sciences. Therefore, his argument that Moral virtues are acquired through repeated practice and habits is related to the discussion of education found in the podcast “Back to School.”