Virtue Ethics Study Group
About the event
In Books I and II of the *Nicomachean Ethics*, Aristotle begins his investigation into what it means to live well. He considers the highest human good, the nature of happiness (*eudaimonia*), and the role that virtue plays in achieving it. He then turns to how good character is developed through habit and introduces his influential idea of virtue as a mean. In this session, we'll examine these arguments closely and consider what they tell us about becoming a good person and living a flourishing life.
Discussion questions
Book I: Happiness and the Good Life
• Aristotle says that every action aims at some good. What does he mean by this? • Why does Aristotle think there must be some highest good that we pursue for its own sake? • What is *eudaimonia*? How is it different from simply feeling happy? • Why does Aristotle reject pleasure, wealth, and honor as the highest good? • Is Aristotle's function argument convincing? Does being human really have a distinctive function? • Why does Aristotle define the human good in terms of activity, rather than simply possessing virtue? • How important are external goods, such as wealth, friendship, health, and good fortune, to *eudaimonia*? • Can someone be virtuous but nevertheless fail to live well because of bad luck?
Book II: Becoming Virtuous
• Why does Aristotle believe moral virtue comes from habit rather than nature? • If our character is formed by our habits, how do we acquire good habits before we are already virtuous? • What role do pleasure and pain play in determining our character? • Why isn't merely performing a good action enough to make someone virtuous? • What does Aristotle mean when he says virtue is a mean between extremes? • Is the mean simply moderation, or is Aristotle claiming something more complicated? • Why is the appropriate mean different for different people and circumstances? • How can we identify the mean if there is no simple rule for doing so? • Aristotle says we sometimes need to deliberately steer ourselves away from the vice we're naturally inclined toward. Is that a good method for changing character? • Can someone deliberately make themselves into a good person, or must good character largely be formed before adulthood?
