Aristotle, Nicomachean EthicsReading Guide

Book I.

Book 1 has thirteen chapters. Chapters 1, 4-5, and 7-13 are about happiness.

Chapter 2 explains why happiness is a properly studied by Political Science. Chapter 3

explains how and why the study of happiness (Political Science) differs from the study of

mathematics. Chapter 3 also explains why students of Political Science must be mature

adults. Chapter 6 examines the Platonic idea of the Good.

Chapter 1

When we say that something is good, what do we mean? What makes something

good?

In Chapter 1, Aristotle tells us that the good is well defined as that at which all

things aim. He supports this claim by noting the following: All techniques, methods,

practices, and choices aim at some good. Aristotle notes that there are different kinds of

goods: one might aim at an activity itself or at what the activity produces. These are

different kinds of goods. Aristotle claims that when an activity produces something, that

product is a greater good than the activity itself. He does not argue for this claim here.

His initial remarks generate a number of fundamental questions in the theory of value:

B1.Ch1.Q1: What makes something good?

B1.Ch1.Q2: Can you think of a good at which nothing aims?

1

B1.Ch1.Q3: Can you think of an aim that is not a good but that is pursued by

someone or is the goal of some method or practice or technique?

B1.Ch1.Q4: Do you think there are many kinds of good? What are they, and what

makes each different from the others?

B1.Ch1.Q5: Can you think of an activity (a) that is a good, (b) that produces

something good, and (c) that is better than the good it produces?

B1.Ch1.Q6: Can you think of an activity (a) that human beings pursue, (2) that

does not produce anything, and (c) that is not a good?

Aristotle claims that the many different human practices, techniques, and sciences

produce many different goods and aim at many different goods. He goes on to state that

when some of our activities and products are pursued for the sake of a single good, that

single good is preferable to the activities and products pursued for its sake.

B1.Ch1.Q7: Do you think human beings pursue only one good or many goods?

What reasons do you have for thinking what you think?

B1.Ch1.Q7: Can you think of a system of activity and production (a) all of the

parts of which are pursued for the sake of a single good but (b) at least some

of the parts of the system are more valuable than the single good that governs

the system?

Chapter 2

2

In Chapter 2, Aristotle asks us to consider an intriguing possibility: Is there,

among our goals in life, one goal (1) that we wish to secure for its own sake and (2) that

explains why we pursue all of our other goals in life? Call this goal ‘the ultimate good’.

B1.Ch2.Q1: Does everyone pursue at least one goal for its own sake, or do some

people pursue each and every goal for the sake of some other goal?

B1.Ch2.Q2: Does everyone have an ultimate good?

B1.Ch2.Q3: Does everyone pursue the same ultimate good, or do different people

pursue different ultimate goods?

Aristotle presents a short argument for another claim: we do not choose every

goal for the sake of some other goal. The argument for this claim goes as follows: If we

choose every goal for the sake of some other goal, then choice would continue

indefinitely; if choice continues indefinitely, then desire is futile; but desire is not futile;

hence we do not choose every goal for the sake of some other goal.

B1.Ch2.Q4: Are there reasons for thinking that, were we to pursue every goal

for the sake of some other goal, our pursuits would not be futile?

Aristotle next combines the two claims he has introduced to argue for a third

claim: the goal we wish to attain for itself, for the sake of which we wish to attain all our

other goals, is the best good in life. His argument goes like this: we do not choose every

end for the sake of some other end; there is one end that (1) we wish for itself and (2) all

of the other ends we wish for the sake of it; the end we wish for itself, for the sake of

which we wish for all other ends, is the best good.

3

B1.Ch2.Q5: Supposing that there is a best good, will knowledge of the best

good be of great practical importance for the conduct of life?

B1.Ch2.Q6: Will knowledge of the best good enable us to better pursue it?

Aristotle asks us to assume affirmative answers to both of these questions. On this

assumption, he claims we ought to determine what the best good is, at least in outline,

and of which of the sciences it is the object of investigation.

Aristotle then argues that Political Science investigates the best good. His

argument may be put as follows: the best good must be the object of the most

authoritative science. The most authoritative science is the master-craft. Political Science

is the most authoritative science and the master craft. In so arguing, Aristotle makes a

number of claims about Political Science. Political Science dictates which of the sciences

are to exist in the community, which branches of knowledge the different classes of

citizens are to learn, and how much they are to learn. All of the other branches of

knowledge are subordinate to and employed by Political Science. Political Science posits

laws concerning what people should and should not do. As a consequence of all these

facts, the aims of Political Science must include the aims of the other sciences.

B1.Ch2.Q7: Is Political Science the most authoritative field of study, or is

there another field of study with more authority?

Aristotle presents another argument: the good is the same for the individual

human being and for the human community; to secure the good of an individual human

being is better than nothing; to secure the good of a human community is nobler and

4

more divine; hence, the good for the human community is a greater and more perfect

good both to attain and to preserve.

B1.Ch2.Q8: Is what is good for the individual the same as what is good for the

human community?

B1.Ch2.Q9: Is it better to secure the good of an individual human being or to

secure the good of the human community?

B1.Ch2.Q10: Is it possible to secure the good of the human community while

sacrificing the good of the individual?

Chapter 3:

In Chapter 3, Aristotle raises a number of questions about the study of Political

Science. It is worthwhile to understand how Aristotle answered these questions, since his

answers give us insight into how he understood Political Science. But it is also important

to understand how you and contemporary Political Scientists would answer these

questions:

B1.Ch3.Q1: What are the main topics studied by Political Science?

B1.Ch3.Q2: Will there be exceptions to the laws discovered by Political Science,

or will they apply absolutely and universally?

B1.Ch3.Q3: What qualities make a person a good judge of the truth in a given

area of study?

5

Toward the end of Chapter 3, Aristotle suggests that there is an important

difference between being guided by feeling and being guided by principles. This raises a

number of basic questions in ethics that he will answer later in the treatise:

B1.Ch3.Q4: What is the difference between being guided by principles and being

guided by emotions?

B1.Ch3.Q5: Can one guided by principles alone, independently of all feeling?

B1.Ch3.Q6: Is it better to be guided by feelings or by principles? Why?

Chapter 4:

Having introduced a hierarchy of goods in Chapters 1 and 2, and having discussed

in Chapters 3 and 4 Political Science, which studies the supreme good for human beings,

in Chapter 4 Aristotle raises the principal question of the Nicomachean Ethics:

B1.Ch4.Q1: What is the highest of all goods that can be attained through action?

Aristotle notes that everyone agrees that the name for this highest good is ‘happiness’,

even if they disagree about what happiness is. This fact generates a series of related

questions:

B1.Ch4.Q2: What constitutes happiness?

B1.Ch4.Q3: Is happiness the same as living well or doing well?

B1.Ch4.Q4: What are the common opinions about happiness?

6

Aristotle ends Chapter 4 by considering the sort of procedure he will use in making his

arguments. He claims that he will start with what is knows to us and will proceed by

means of argument the basic laws (i.e., the “first principles”) of ethics. Aristotle is, in

effect, raising the following questions of method:

B1.Ch4.Q5: In pursuing our investigation into ethics, with which assumptions

will we begin?

B1.Ch4.Q6: In pursuing our investigation into ethics, what sorts of arguments will

we employ?

Chapter 5:

Chapter 5 reviews the various concepts of happiness common in Aristotle’s time.

Aristotle is chiefly concerned to examine whether any of these concepts of happiness is

reasonable. In other words, he is interested the arguments for or against a given proposal

for the highest good achievable in action for human beings:

B1.Ch5.Q1: Which of the common conceptions of happiness are reasonable?

B1.Ch5.Q2: Is happiness identical with the life of pleasure? Why or why not?

B1.Ch5.Q3: Is happiness identical with the life dedicated to fame? Why or why

not?

B1.Ch5.Q4: Is happiness identical with the life dedicated to moral excellence?

Why or why not?

B1.Ch5.Q5: Is happiness identical with the life dedicated to making money and

wealth? Why or why not?

7

B1.Ch5.Q6: Is happiness identical with the life of contemplation? Why or why

not?

Note that we share many, if not all, of the concepts of happiness common in ancient

Athens. People still differ over whether pleasure is the highest good, or money, or fame,

or moral righteousness, or wisdom. Aristotle’s concerns are our concerns.

Chapter 6:

In Chapter 6, Aristotle considers the idea that the highest good achievable in

human action is, or essentially involves, “the Ideal Good”. He attributes this view to the

“authors of the Theory of Ideas.” It seems plausible that these authors were members of

Plato’s Academy and may have included Plato himself. Aristotle rejects the proposal that

the Ideal Good is, or is essentially involved in, happiness. His discussion raises some

important questions about proposals similar to the one he attributes to the Platonists in

Chapter 6:

B1.Ch6.Q1: What is the Ideal Good posited by those who defend the theory of

ideas?

B1.Ch6.Q2: What difficulties are created by positing the Ideal Good?

Perhaps more important than the questions about the Ideal Good itself are related

questions that Aristotle raises in Chapter 6 concerning the nature of goodness:

B1.Ch6.Q3: What kinds of things can be good?

B1.Ch6.Q4: Are the different kinds of good things good in the same way?

8

B1.Ch6.Q5: Is there a single science of good things, or do different sciences study

different kinds of good things?

B1.Ch6.Q6: Is there a difference between the Ideal Good and the goodness that

belongs to things?

B1.Ch6.Q7: What is the relationship between being good and being unified?

B1.Ch6.Q8: What things are pursued for their own sake?

B1.Ch6.Q9: What is the difference between something that is good because it is

pursued for its own sake and something that is good because it is a means to

some other good?

B1.Ch6.Q10: Are all things pursued for their own sake good in the same way?

B1.Ch6.Q11: What do the different kinds of good things have in common that

explains why they are all good?

B1.Ch6.Q12: What kinds of goods can human beings secure?

B1.Ch6.Q13: Is knowledge of the Ideal Good useful for human beings?

Chapter 7:

Having reviewed common ideas about happiness in Chapters 5 and 6, Aristotle

attempts to explain his own concept of happiness in Chapter 7.

He begins by reiterating the definition of the good introduced in Chapter 1,

according to which the good is that for the sake of which everything else is done. See

again the various questions raised in Chapter 1 in relation to this conception of the good.

9

Aristotle briefly defends this idea of the good at the beginning of Chapter 7. In doing so,

he raises a number of questions, some of which are similar to those raised in Chapter 1:

B1.Ch7.Q1: Is there a conception of the good that applies to all practices and arts?

B1.Ch7.Q2: If we define goodness as that for the sake of which everything else is

done, what do we mean by the phrase “for the sake of”?

B1.Ch7.Q3: Is there one end for the sake of which all human beings do everything

do, or are there many ends pursued for their own sake which, taken together,

explain why human beings do everything they do?

B1.Ch7.Q4: Suppose there are many ends pursued for their own sake which,

taken together, explain why human beings do everything they do. Do they

constitute a unified set of ends?

B1.Ch7.Q5: Suppose either there is one end for the sake of which all human

beings do everything do, or that there are many ends pursued for their own

sake which, taken together, explain why human beings do everything they do.

Is this end, or are these ends taken together, the focus of the Political Science?

B1.Ch7.Q6: Aristotle claims that the argument he gives in this chapter concerning

the ultimate human good differs from the argument he gave in chapter 2. How

do the arguments differ?

Aristotle next distinguishes among final ends and instrumental ends, claiming the

supreme good in human life—that is to say, happiness—is a final end. He introduces the

idea the some final ends are more final than others. He then argues that happiness is an

absolutely final end.

10

B1.Ch7.Q7: What are the differing degrees of finality, according to Aristotle?

B1.Ch7.Q8: Are the differing degrees of finality equally well described as

differing degrees of goodness?

B1.Ch7.Q9: Why does Aristotle think that happiness is absolutely final for human

beings?

According to Aristotle, happiness is a self-sufficient end in human life. However,

he stresses the fact that he does not intend to argue that a human happiness is possible for

someone who lives isolated from others.

B1.Ch7.Q10: What does Aristotle mean by a self-sufficient human being?

B1.Ch7.Q11: Why is the happy life the same as the self-sufficient life?

B1.Ch7.Q12: Why can’t we increase our happiness by increasing the number of

goods we possess?

Aristotle is not satisfied with the claims that happiness is absolutely final and self-

sufficient. He doesn’t think these qualities define human happiness, although they are

true of human happiness. Rather, he argues that human happiness is defined in terms of

the natural function of a human being:

B1.Ch7.Q13: What is the relationship between the happy life and the natural

function of human beings?

B1.Ch7.Q14: Is there a kind of work or practice that human beings naturally

pursue?

11

Aristotle denies that happiness is constituted by the mere ability to function. More

than the mere potential to be happy is required in order to actually be happy. He thinks

that happiness involves that active exercise our ability to function:

B1.Ch7.Q15: Why does Aristotle think that the active exercise of our powers in

accordance with rational principles is the natural function for human beings?

B1.Ch7.Q16: When is the active exercise of our powers in accordance with

rational principles excellent?

Exercising your natural ability, even achieving excellence, is not sufficient for

happiness. Aristotle thinks that happiness involves excellent activity for the duration of

one’s life:

B1.Ch7.Q17: For how long must a person pursue her natural work or practice

with excellence before we can say we have lived a happy life?

B1.Ch7.Q18: What is the difference between being supremely blessed and

supremely happy?

At the end of the chapter, Aristotle again considers how one ought to pursue the

study of happiness. As in Chapter 2, he compares the arguments in Political Science with

those in Mathematics:

B1.Ch7.Q19: Aristotle recommends two methods everyone should follow in any

investigation. One method concerns levels of detail and the other concerns the

limits of explanation. What are the methods he recommends?

B1.Ch7.Q20: Is every fact a first principle? How so?

12

Chapter 8:

Aristotle has proposed his basic account of human happiness in Chapter 7. The

rest of the Nicomachean Ethics is best understood as an elaboration and defense of his

basic account. Aristotle begins his defense immediately in Book 1, Chapter 8.

First, Aristotle raises some questions having to do with philosophical method:

B1.Ch8.Q1: Which first principle does Aristotle wish to examine in light of

current opinions?

B1.Ch8.Q2: Do you agree with Aristotle’s claims that a true proposition

harmonizes with all of the facts and that a false proposition is quickly found to

be discordant with them?

Second, Aristotle evaluates his definition of happiness by means of the common

sense opinions about the nature of happiness:

B1.Ch8.Q3: What are the current opinions by means of which Aristotle examines

his definition of happiness?

B1.Ch8.Q4: Some of the activities and products we pursue are external to our

body and psyche, some are activities or products of the body, and some are

activities or products of the soul. Which are the best?

B1.Ch8.Q5: Is common sense correct in thinking that happiness is an activity or

product of the soul?

13

B1.Ch8.Q6: Is common sense correct in thinking that happiness is living well or

doing well?

B1.Ch8.Q7: Which characteristics are commonly attributed to happiness?

Third, Aristotle focuses his attention on the relationship between his definition of

happiness and the nature of virtue. This topic will dominate Books 2-9 of the

Nicomachean Ethics:

B1.Ch8.Q8: How does Aristotle’s definition of happiness involve virtue?

B1.Ch8.Q9: What is the difference between having a virtue and exercising a

virtue?

Fourth, Aristotle addresses the relationship between his definition of happiness and the

nature of beauty and pleasure. These topics define the discussion in Book 10 of the

Nicomachean Ethics:

B1.Ch8.Q10: Why are the activities that constitute the happy life essentially

pleasant, beautiful, and good?

B1.Ch8.Q11: What is pleasure? Beauty?

B1.Ch8.Q12: Does happiness require external goods? Which and how much of

each?

B1.Ch8.Q13: To what extent does happiness depend on good luck?

Chapter 9:

14

How does a person achieve happiness? This is the principal question driving the

discussion of Chapter 9. Having answered that question, Aristotle explains why it doesn’t

make sense to say that children and non-human animals are happy. He ends the chapter

by asking whether there can be degrees of happiness, in terms of either degrees of

goodness or length of time.

B1.Ch9.Q1: How do we acquire happiness?

B1.Ch9.Q2: What options does Aristotle consider?

B1.Ch9.Q3: Why can’t other animals and children be happy?

B1.Ch9.Q4: Does a happy life require both complete goodness and a complete

life?

Chapter 10:

Aristotle presents his final definition of happiness in Chapter 10. This makes the

chapter particularly important. Aristotle also asks when we are justified in saying that a

person is happy. Do we have to wait until a person is dead before we can make this

judgment with confidence? Or can events that occur after someone has died affect his or

her happiness?

B1.Ch10.Q1: If happiness requires a complete life, then when are we justified in

claiming that someone is happy?

B1.Ch10.Q2: Can anything affect someone after she or he is dead?

B1.Ch10.Q3: Can anything affect the happiness of someone after she or he is

dead?

15

B1.Ch10.Q4: Are there reasons for thinking that happiness is a stable condition?

B1.Ch10.Q5: Aristotle’s final definition of happiness may be reconstructed as

follows: A person is happy who realizes complete goodness in action, who is

adequately furnished with external goods, and who is destined to go on living

in the same manner not for any casual period but throughout a complete

lifetime, dying accordingly. What reasons might someone give for thinking

this definition is inadequate?

Chapter 11:

This chapter addresses the relationship between happiness and death. Aristotle

raises two chief questions. Each presupposes an account of what happens to someone

after death:

B1.Ch11.Q1: Can misfortune diminish the happiness of those who are dead?

B1.Ch11.Q2: Do the dead participate in good or evil at all?

B1.Ch11.Q3: What happens to a person when she or he dies?

Chapter 12:

Does someone deserve praise for being happy? Should we honor those who are

happy? If not, since happiness is the supreme good in human life, how should we

characterize the happy person?

B1.Ch12.Q1: Is happiness praiseworthy or honorable? Why or why not?

16

B1.Ch12.Q2: How does Aristotle conceive of blessedness?

B1.Ch12.Q3: Why might we think the happy person is blessed?

Chapter 13:

Aristotle understands happiness in terms of excellence. A person is happy only if

they live an excellent life. It is important, therefore, to know what excellence is.

B1.Ch13.Q1: What is excellence?

B1.Ch13.Q2: What is human excellence?

We know from Chapter 7, that happiness essentially involves the excellent

activity of the human soul. In order to understand happiness, we need to know something

about the human soul. Aristotle begins his discussion of the human soul by sketching its

basic structure.

B1.Ch13.Q3: Given that happiness is the realization of human excellence and that

human excellence is an excellence of the psyche, what is the nature of the

human psyche?

B1.Ch13.Q4: How many parts of the human psyche does Aristotle acknowledge,

and how are they related?

B1.Ch13.Q5: What are the two basic kinds of human excellence corresponding to

the two ways in which the human psyche is rational?

17

18

19

Book II.

Book 2 of the Nicomachean Ethics is mainly concerned with the general nature of

virtue. There are nine chapters. Chapter 1 is concerned with how we might acquire

virtue. Chapter 2 focuses on the nature of correct actions. Chapter 3 discusses the

role of pleasure and pain in virtuous action. Chapter 4 defines virtuous agency. In

Chapter 5, Aristotle explains the kind of psychological state a virtue is. Chapter 6 is

devoted to the so-called “Doctrine of the Mean,” according to which every virtue is a

mean state between two extremes of vice. Chapter 7 lists the various virtues and

vices. Chapter 8 discusses how virtues and vices are opposed to each other. Chapter

9 offers some general rules for being virtuous.

Chapter 1:

Aristotle begins Book 2 by reminding us that there are two kinds of virtue—

intellectual virtue and moral virtue. Aristotle will discuss the intellectual virtues in

Book 6. He discusses the moral virtues in Books 2-5 and 7-9.

Aristotle’s main concern in Chapter 1 is to explain how we acquire the moral

virtues.

Bk2.Ch1.Q1: How do we acquire intellectual excellence?

Bk2.Ch1.Q2: How do we acquire moral excellence?

Bk2.Ch1.Q3: How do we acquire habits?

Bk2.Ch1.Q4: How are natural powers different from powers acquired

through habituation?

20

Chapter 2:

Aristotle develops his account of agency and action in Books 2 and 3 of the

Nicomachean Ethics. Book 2, Chapter 2, focuses on the nature of “correct” actions.

What makes an action right or wrong?

Bk2.Ch2.Q1: If moral excellence depends upon having the right dispositions

to act, and if the actions we actually perform determine our dispositions

to act with regard to appetites and passions, what is the nature of action?

Bk2.Ch2.Q2: Which actions are correct?

Bk2.Ch2.Q3: If we assume that correct actions are actions that conform to the

correct principle for action, which actions are these?

Bk2.Ch2.Q4: With regard to a given kind of action, can one do it to excess or

not do it enough, and what are the consequences of such excessive or

deficient action?

Chapter 3:

In Chapter 3, Aristotle makes the perhaps surprising claim that ethics is

concerned with pleasure and pain. He argues for this claim at length. As part of his

argument, Aristotle states what good education is. He also introduces an important

distinction among the kinds of things that are choice worthy in life.

21

Bk2.Ch3.Q1: What, if anything, do pleasure and pain indicate about

ourselves?

Bk2.Ch3.Q2: Is Aristotle correct in thinking that pleasure and pain indicate

that we have the correct dispositions to act?

Bk2.Ch3.Q3: Is he correct that ethics is concerned with pleasure and pain?

What are his arguments for this claim?

Bk2.Ch3.Q4: What is the purpose of education?

Bk2.Ch3.Q5: What kinds of things are worthy of choice?

Chapter 4:

Sometimes vicious people do the right thing. They are vicious, but they can

perform virtuous acts. Perhaps they do so by accident. Perhaps they do so in order

to make other people think they are virtuous.

People who are not yet virtuous but who are developing their character can

also act virtuously. Such people are not yet virtuous, but they can perform virtuous

acts.

Aristotle recognizes that bad people and people not yet virtuous can

sometimes act correctly. Are such people virtuous as a result? Are they virtuous

insofar as they act correctly? In Chapter 4, Aristotle carefully distinguishes between

a virtuous act and a virtuous agent.

22

Bk2.Ch4.Q1: What is the difference between a non-virtuous agent doing what

a virtuous agent would do and a virtuous agent performing a virtuous

action?

Bk2.Ch4.Q2: What are Aristotle’s criteria for virtuous agency?

Bk2.Ch4.Q3: What is the difference between a virtuous action and a virtuous

agent?

Chapter 5:

In Chapter 5, Aristotle argues that virtues are to be classed among our

psychological dispositions. In so doing, he explains what an emotion is, what a

psychological power is, and what a psychological disposition is.

Bk2.Ch5.Q1: What are the three basic states produced in the psyche,

according to Aristotle?

Bk2.Ch5.Q2: What is an emotion?

Bk2.Ch5.Q3: What is a power of the psyche?

Bk2.Ch5.Q4: What is a disposition of the psyche?

Bk2.Ch5.Q5: Are the virtues and vices emotions? Why or why not?

Bk2.Ch5.Q6: Are the virtues and vices powers of the psyche? Why or why

not?

Bk2.Ch5.Q7: Are the virtues and vices dispositions of the psyche? Why or

why not?

23

Chapter 6:

Aristotle begins Chapter 6, by noting that virtues are not the only kind of

psychological disposition. He aims in Chapter 6 to differentiate the virtues from the

other sorts of psychological disposition. He beings by identifying the effects virtues

have on those who possess them. He then argues that virtue essentially involves

avoiding vice, a kind of error, by choosing the correct action—the “mean” between

the errors of vice—among available actions.

Bk2.Ch6.Q1: How do all virtues affect those who possess them?

Bk2.Ch6.Q2: What is the difference between the mean relative to the thing-

itself and the mean relative to a person?

Bk2.Ch6.Q3: In what sense is virtue a mean relative to a person?

Bk2.Ch6.Q4: What sort of disposition is ethical virtue?

Bk2.Ch6.Q5: How is it that certain actions admit of no mean state at all?

Bk2.Ch6.Q6: What is Aristotle’s general definition of ethical virtue?

Chapter 7:

In Chapter 7, Aristotle applies his general definition of virtue to the various

virtues and vices recognized in his culture.

Bk2.Ch7.Q1: What are the various virtues and vices, according to

Aristotle?

24

B2.Ch7.Q2: With what general aims are these virtues and vices

concerned?

Chapter 8:

Aristotle has already made it clear in Chapter 6 that each virtue is a mean

between two extremes. In some sense, every virtue is opposed to its corresponding

vices. In Chapter 8, Aristotle investigates the nature of this opposition.

Bk2.Ch8.Q1: How, in general, are virtues and vices opposed to each other?

Chapter 9:

Aristotle ends Book 2 by offering a set of general rules people should follow if

they want to be virtuous, rules that are expressed in terms of the theory of virtue he

has developed in the preceding chapters.

Bk2.Ch9.Q1: What general rules will help us to be virtuous?

25

Book III.

Book 3 has 12 chapters. In chapters 1-5, Aristotle explains how it is that

virtue and vice are voluntary. He defines in these chapters a number of

fundamentally important ideas in ethics: voluntary action, involuntary and non-

voluntary action, choice, deliberation, and wish. In chapters 6-13 Aristotle discusses

two traditional virtues: courage and temperance.

Chapter 1:

Aristotle begins Book 3 by distinguishing among voluntary, involuntary, and

non-voluntary actions. Aristotle defines each of these important kinds of action.

These distinctions are fundamental to thinking about moral and legal responsibility.

When are we in control of our own actions? In what circumstances does it make

sense to say that a person is not in control of his or her actions? In the context of the

Nicomachean Ethics, these distinctions are crucial for understanding Aristotle’s

account of happiness. A happy life, it turns out, is a product of voluntary activity.

Bk3.Ch1.Q1: Why is it important to differentiate voluntary and involuntary

actions?

Bk3.Ch1.Q2: Which actions are involuntary?

Bk3.Ch1.Q3: Which are voluntary?

Bk3.Ch1.Q4: What does it mean to say that an action is compulsory?

26

Bk3.Ch1.Q5: What does it mean to say that an action is intrinsically

involuntary but voluntary in the circumstances in which it is done?

Bk3.Ch1.Q6: Why can’t we be compelled to act by beauty and pleasure?

Bk3.Ch1.Q7: What kinds of actions are done through ignorance?

Bk3.Ch1.Q8: What is the difference between an involuntary and a non-

voluntary action?

Bk3.Ch1.Q9: What is the difference between acting through ignorance and

acting in ignorance?

Bk3.Ch1.Q10: What sort of ignorance is involved in an involuntary or non-

voluntary action?

Bk3.Ch1.Q11: What circumstances, about which an agent can be ignorant, are

relevant for deciding if the agent acted through ignorance?

Chapter 2:

Aristotle explains the nature of choice in Chapter 2. Choice is a kind of

voluntary activity. It is a particularly important kind, insofar as every virtuous

action involves choice. Aristotle distinguishes choice from desire, passion, wish, and

opinion.

Bk3.Ch2.Q1: What is the difference between choice and voluntary action?

Bk3.Ch2.Q2: Why is choice not desire?

Bk3.Ch2.Q3: Why is choice not passion?

Bk3.Ch2.Q4: Why is choice not wish?

27

Bk3.Ch2.Q5: Why is choice not opinion?

Bk3.Ch2.Q6: How does Aristotle define choice in this chapter?

Chapter 3:

Choice, as Aristotle understands it, essentially involves deliberation. In

Chapter 3, Aristotle explains the nature of deliberation, establishing the boundaries

for practical reasoning about means and ends for action and explaining the

relationship between deliberation and choice.

Bk3.Ch3.Q1: About what kinds of action can we deliberate?

Bk3.Ch2.Q2: How does Aristotle define deliberation in this chapter?

Chapter 4:

Aristotle has told us in Chapter 3, that deliberation is thinking about the

means to attaining our ends. In Chapter 4, Aristotle defines the kind of thinking

involved in establishing our goals—wishing.

Bk3.Ch4.Q1: For what sort of good do we wish?

Bk3.Ch4.Q2: Why is it important to distinguish between wishing for what is

good and wishing for what is apparently good?

Chapter 5:

28

In Chapter 5, Aristotle returns to the issue of voluntary action, approaching it

using the distinctions between virtue and vice developed in Book 2 and his account

of deliberation and choice in Chapters 2 and 3.

Bk3.Ch5.Q1: Why does Aristotle think we are responsible for our virtuous

and vicious actions?

Bk3.Ch5.Q2: In what way are our actions voluntary?

Bk3.Ch5.Q3: In what way are our ethical dispositions voluntary?

Chapter 6:

In Chapter 6 Aristotle begins his discussion of courage, the virtue related to

fear. Aristotle defines courage and fear. He explains why death is the most terrible

thing in life.

Bk3.Ch6.Q1: What is courage?

Bk3.Ch6.Q2: What do we fear?

Bk3.Ch6.Q3: In relation to what fearful things do we display courage?

Bk3.Ch6.Q4: Why is death the most terrible thing?

Bk3.Ch6.Q5: What is a beautiful death?

Chapter 7:

In Chapter 7 Aristotle continues his account of courage. He identifies the

motivation for courage, defines the courageous person, and defines the vices

29

associated with courage. He ends the chapter with a discussion of suicide, asking

whether or not suicide is ever virtuous.

Bk3.Ch7.Q1: Is anything so terrible that humans are unable to endure it?

Bk3.Ch7.Q2: What is the end at which virtue aims?

Bk3.Ch7.Q3: How do we err with regard to fear and confidence?

Bk3.Ch7.Q4: How does Aristotle define the courageous person?

Bk3.Ch7.Q5: What are the vices associated with courage? How are they

defined by Aristotle?

Bk3.Ch7.Q6: Why is suicide vicious?

Chapter 8:

Having defined the virtue of courage and the vices associated with it, in

Chapter 8 Aristotle distinguishes among five “imperfect” kinds of courage. He

defines each kind and explains how it is related to the virtue of courage.

Bk3.Ch8.Q1: How are the five different types of courage defined by Aristotle?

Chapter 9:

Courage is the virtue related to fear. Every virtuous action is pleasurable. As

a consequence, every courageous action is pleasurable. Fear, on the other hand, is

unpleasant. Aristotle recognizes that courage is associated with pain. Chapter 9

considers how the virtue of courage is related to pleasure and pain.

30

Bk3.Ch9.Q1: In what way is courage painful? In what way pleasant?

Chapter 10:

In Chapter 10, Aristotle shifts his attention from courage to temperance.

First, he notes what the two virtues have in common: both are related to the

irrational part of the soul discussed in Book 1, Chapter 13 and Book 2, Chapter 1.

Temperance is the virtue specifically related to pleasure. Aristotle distinguishes

among different kinds of pleasure and identifies the kind of pleasure related to the

virtue of temperance. Aristotle ends the chapter by discussing profligacy, a vice

related to very specific sorts of bodily pleasures.

Bk3.Ch10.Q1: Aristotle claims that courage and temperance are virtues of the

irrational part of the soul. What does he mean by this?

Bk3.Ch10.Q2: Temperance is concerned with what sort of pleasure,

according to Aristotle? How does this sort of pleasure differ from other

sorts recognized by Aristotle?

Bk3.Ch10.Q2: How does Aristotle define profligacy? Why is it vicious?

Chapter 11:

Chapter 11 beings with a discussion of different kinds of desire, where

desires are basic motives for action and the satisfaction of desire involves pleasure.

Aristotle then expands upon his account profligacy in Chapter 10 and introduces the

31

other vice associated with temperance, which he calls “insensibility” for lack of a

better term.

Bk3.Ch11.Q1: What is the difference between common and peculiar desires?

Bk3.Ch11.Q2: How does Aristotle define the vices associated with

temperance?

Bk3.Ch11.Q3: How does Aristotle define the temperate person?

Chapter 12:

Aristotle ends Book 3 by comparing the vice of cowardice with the vice of

profligacy. He argues that profligacy is the more voluntary vice and applies his

account of profligacy to the question of how we should raise our children.

Bk3.Ch12.Q1: In what way does Aristotle think profligacy is voluntary?

Bk3.Ch12.Q2: How are the profligate like children, according to Aristotle?

How does this affect how we should train children?

32

Book IV.

There are nine chapters in Book 4. Each chapter is concerned with some of

the virtues of character and their associated vices.

Chapter 1:

Courage is related to fear; temperance to pleasure. Chapter 1 is concerned

with the virtue and vices related to wealth: liberality, prodigality, and meanness.

Bk4.Ch1.Q1: How does Aristotle define liberality, prodigality, and meanness?

Bk4.Ch1.Q2: How is wealth related to the self, according to Aristotle?

Bk4.Ch1.Q3: How is liberality related to giving and getting wealth?

Bk4.Ch1.Q4: How is liberality related to a person’s resources?

Bk4.Ch1.Q5: What are the different forms of prodigality?

Bk4.Ch1.Q6: What are the different kinds of meanness?

Bk4.Ch1.Q7: Are their motives more powerful than fear, pleasure, and wealth?

What might they be?

Chapter 2:

Chapter 2 is concerned with the virtue of magnificence and its associated

vices. Magnificence, like liberality, is related to how we act with regard to wealth.

Bk4.Ch2.Q1: What is the difference between liberality and magnificence?

33

Bk4.Ch2.Q2: What vices are associated with magnificence?

Bk4.Ch2.Q3: Is magnificence an essentially political virtue?

Chapter 3:

Aristotle shifts attention away from the virtues related to wealth to discuss

the virtue related to honor. Chapter 3 is about the virtue of being great-souled and is

concerned with actions having to do with great honors, much as magnificence had to

do with great wealth. The virtue of being great-souled is opposed to the vices of

being small-souled and being vain:

Bk4.Ch3.Q1: What are the vices associated with being great-souled?

Bk4.Ch3.Q2: What are the objects of the great-souled person?

Bk4.Ch3.Q3: What is the greatest of the external goods in life?

Bk4.Ch3.Q4: Why does the great-souled person deserve great honor?

Chapter 4:

As magnificence was compared with liberality, so Aristotle compares the

virtue of being great-souled with the virtue having to do with proper ambition for

honor. This latter virtue is not given a name by Arisotle, but it is the mean between

inappropriate ambition and being unambitious.

Bk4.Ch4.Q1: How does Aristotle define the nameless virtue regarding honor?

34

Bk4.Ch4.Q2: Are either of the virtues related to honor possible for someone who

lives separately from society?

Chapter 5:

Aristotle has addressed thus far the virtues concerned with fear, pleasure,

wealth, and honor. He now considers the virtues and vices related to anger:

gentleness, irascibility, and lack of spirit.

Bk4.Ch5.Q1: How does Aristotle define gentleness, irascibility, and lack of spirit?

Bk4.Ch5.Q2: How does Aristotle define the bitter-tempered and the passionate?

Bk4.Ch5.Q3: Why might Aristotle think that human beings are more likely to

seek revenge than to forgive?

Chapter 6:

In Chapter 6, Aristotle discusses one of the virtues having to do with how we

relate to other human beings. Aristotle will address the virtue of friendship at length

in Books 8 and 9. Here he explains a virtue like friendship that lacks the emotional

dimensions of friendship. We might call this the virtue of being polite or of being

courteous, although Aristotle does not give it a name. Being a flatterer or being

obsequious are the excesses related to this virtue; being surly or being quarrelsome

are the defects associates with this virtue.

35

Bk4.Ch6.Q1: How does Aristotle define the nameless virtue that is a mean

between the vices of being obsequious or a flatterer and being surly or

quarrelsome?

Bk4.Ch6.Q2: How does this nameless virtue differ from friendship?

Bk4.Ch6.Q3: How does Aristotle defines the various vices associated with this

virtue?

Chapter 7:

The virtue of truthfulness in word and deed is another virtue related to our

conduct with other people. We would call this the virtue of sincerity. It is opposed to

the vices of boasting and self-deprecation.

Bk4.Ch7.Q1: How does Aristotle define the virtue of sincerity?

Bk4.Ch7. Q2: How does Aristotle define the vices of boasting and self-

deprecation?

Bk4.Ch7.Q3: How does the virtue of sincerity differ from the virtue of honesty

and the virtue of truthfulness in business transactions?

Bk4.Ch7.Q3: Why is truthfulness important?

Chapter 8:

36

Chapter 8 continues the discussion of the social virtues, focusing on the

virtue of having a good sense of humor or, for short, being witty.

Bk4.Ch8.Q1: Why, according to Aristotle, is it important for human beings to

have a good sense of humor?

Bk4.Ch8.Q1: How does Aristotle define the virtue of being witty?

Bk4.Ch8.Q1: How does Aristotle define the vice of being a buffoon?

Bk4.Ch8.Q1: How does Aristotle define the vice of being a boor?

Chapter 9:

Before considering at length the virtue of justice in Book 5, Aristotle briefly

considers shame and the supposed virtue of modesty.

Bk4.Ch9.Q1: Why does Aristotle deny that modesty is a virtue?

Bk4.Ch9.Q2: How does Aristotle define shame and modesty?

Bk4.Ch9.Q3: Why is modesty appropriate in the young but not in the mature

adult?

Book V.

There are eleven chapters in Book 5. The virtue of justice is the main focus of

the book. Aristotle distinguishes among various kinds of justice and the vices

associated with each.

Chapter 1:

37

In Chapter 1, Aristotle introduces the main ideas shaping his treatment of

justice and injustice in Book 5. He reviews existing views of justice and injustice, and

then introduces the concepts of justice as what is fair and as what is lawful. At the

end of the chapter he introduces and briefly explains the idea that the virtue of

justice contains all of the virtues of character.

Bk5.Ch1.Q1: What are Aristotle’s stated goals in Book 5?

Bk5.Ch1.Q2: What are the common conceptions of justice and injustice with

which Aristotle beings his investigation?

Bk5.Ch1.Q3: How do dispositions differ from kinds of knowledge and

powers?

Bk5.Ch1.Q4: What are the different ways in which a person can be called

‘just’?

Bk5.Ch1.Q5: What does it mean to be unfair?

Bk5.Ch1.Q6: Who decides what is lawful?

Bk5.Ch1.Q7: What is the purpose of the law?

Bk5.Ch1.Q8: In what way is justice the perfect virtue?

Bk5.Ch1.Q9: In what way is justice the whole of virtue?

Chapter 2:

In Chapter 2, Aristotle narrows the focus of his investigation into the nature

of justice. He will be concerned, in Book 5, with the special virtue of justice having to

38

do with fairness in our relations with others, and not with the universal virtue of

justice having to do with all of our virtuous relations with others. Aristotle

distinguishes between two kinds of fairness and associates a kind of corrective

justice with each kind of fairness.

Bk5.Ch2.Q1: Which of the two sorts of justice distinguished by Aristotle in

Chapter 1 will be the focus of the investigation in Book 5?

Bk5.Ch2.Q2: Both sorts of justice concern our relations with others, but how

do they differ in this regard?

Bk5.Ch2.Q3: Is everything lawful fair? Is everything fair lawful? How are the

unlawful and the unfair related?

Bk5.Ch2.Q4: How would Aristotle define the sort of justice that is the whole

of virtue?

Bk5.Ch2.Q5: What are the two basic kinds of justice as fairness?

Bk5.Ch2.Q6: What are the two sorts of corrective justice?

Chapter 3:

Aristotle explains distributive justice in Chapter 3. Distributive justice

concerns the fair allotment of public goods. He explains distributive justice in terms

of proportionality. Aristotle argues that equal shares of what is good should be given

to people who are equally deserving. However, since not all people are equally

deserving people, people should be given shares of what is good that are

“geometrically” proportional to what they deserve.

39

Bk5.Ch3.Q1: How does Aristotle explain justice-as-fairness in terms of

proportion?

Bk5.Ch3.Q2: What are the four terms involved in the proportion that defines

justice-as-fairness?

Bk5.Ch3.Q3: How might we decide that two people deserve equal shares of

what is good?

Bk5.Ch3.Q4: Why might someone think that some people deserve more of

what is good than other people?

Chapter 4:

Aristotle deals with corrective justice, which concerns the fair exchange of

what is good in the context of transactions between private individuals. Corrective

justice seeks to rectify unfair losses and gains in such transations.

Bk5.Ch4.Q1: With what sorts of transactions is corrective justice concerned?

Bk5.Ch4.Q2: How does the proportion that defines the mean of corrective

justice differ from that which defines the mean of distributive justice?

Bk5.Ch4.Q3: How does Aristotle conceive of the judge?

Bk5.Ch4.Q4: How does Aristotle conceive of gain and loss?

Chapter 5:

40

In Chapter 5, Aristotle introduces the idea of reciprocal justice and

distinguishes it from both distributive and corrective justice. Reciprocal justice aims

at establishing a fair exchange of commodities. Money, Aristotle tells us, is the

measure by means of which to judge the fairness of such transactions. He concludes

the chapter by offering general definitions of the virtue of special justice and the

vice of special injustice.

Bk5.Ch5.Q1: How does reciprocal justice differ from the other sorts of

justice?

Bk5.Ch5.Q2: How does Aristotle understand reciprocal proportion?

Bk5.Ch5.Q3: What is the basis for an exchange of services?

Bk5.Ch5.Q4: What is the purpose and nature of money?

Bk5.Ch5.Q5: How does Aristotle define the virtue of special justice and the

vice of special injustice?

Chapter 6:

Aristotle has completed his discussion of the various forms of special justice.

In Chapter 6 Aristotle distinguishes between two social groups within which the

relations of special justice can obtain: the political community and the home.

Bk5.Ch6.Q1: What distinguishes the just person who acts unjustly from the

unjust person who acts unjustly?

Bk5.Ch6.Q2: What is political justice?

Bk5.Ch6.Q2: Under what conditions is political justice possible?

41

Bk5.Ch6.Q3: Why should the law rule, as opposed to a person?

Bk5.Ch6.Q4: What is the function of a ruler?

Bk5.Ch6.Q5: Why can there be no injustice between a master and a slave or

between a father and a child?

Bk5.Ch6.Q6: Can there be justice between a husband and a wife?

Chapter 7:

Is justice natural or conventional? One way in which we might ask this

question, although not one of the ways Aristotle asks the question, is to ask: Are the

laws of political justice laws of nature or are the laws not natural laws but rules that

human beings choose to adopt in order to govern themselves? Aristotle uses the

distinction between the rules of justice and actions done according to these rules in

order to differentiate what is just or unjust from human conduct that is just or

unjust.

Bk5.Ch7.Q1: What are the differences between natural and conventional

justice?

Bk5.Ch7.Q2: How does Aristotle distinguish between what is just or unjust

and conduct that is just or unjust?

Chapter 8:

42

In chapter 7, Aristotle had introduced the difference just and unjust conduct.

He now explains why both just and unjust conduct is voluntary. Involuntary actions

are neither just nor unjust.

Bk5.Ch8.Q1: How does Aristotle distinguish between an unjust act and an act

of injustice?

Bk5.Ch8.Q2: When is an act incidentally just or unjust?

Bk5.Ch8.Q3: What are the three ways in which a person can injure another?

Bk5.Ch8.Q4: Which involuntary actions are forgivable, and which not?

Chapter 9:

Chapter 9 addresses four main issues: (1) whether or not someone can suffer

injustice voluntarily, (2) whether one can be unjust to oneself, (3) whether or not it

is easy to be just, and (4) among which parties is justice possible?

Bk5.Ch9.Q1: Why is it impossible for a person to suffer injustice voluntarily?

Bk5.Ch9.Q2: Who is guilty of injustice, the person who gives an unduly large

share or the person who receives it?

Bk5.Ch9.Q3: Can one be unjust to oneself?

Bk5.Ch9.Q4: Is it easy to be just?

Bk5.Ch9.Q5: Among whom do the claims of justice obtain?

Chapter 10:

43

As Aristotle conceives them, matters of equity are closely connected with

matters of justice. Indeed, according to Aristotle, equity is itself a kind of justice, but

a kind of justice that is essentially parasitic upon the various kinds of legal justice.

Bk5.Ch10.Q1: What is the essential nature of the equitable?

Bk5.Ch10.Q2: Why is it that the statement of absolute justice in law is

sometimes defective?

Bk5.Ch10.Q3: Who is the equitable person?

Chapter 11:

Chapter 11 picks up and completes Aristotle’s discussion of the central issues

raised in Chapter 9, namely, whether one can commit injustice against oneself.

Bk5.Ch11.Q1: Why is it impossible to commit injustice against oneself?

Bk5.Ch11.Q2: What is the difference between doing injustice and suffering

injustice?

Bk5.Ch11.Q3: In what sense does it analogically make sense that one can do

injustice to oneself and that one can cause oneself to suffer injustice?

Book VI.

In Book 2, Aristotle distinguished between the intellectual virtues and the

virtues of character. In Books 3-5, Aristotle focused his attention on various virtues

of character. Nevertheless, even as early as Book 1, it was evident that the

intellectual virtues would play a role in the full explanation of the virtues of

44

character and happiness. Books 2-5, then, lead us to expect that Aristotle will

discuss the intellectual virtues necessary for the deliberation and decision-making

essentially involved in the virtues of character. Moreover, Aristotle’s account of

happiness in Book 1 involves that claim that intellectual activity is itself essential to

living well.

There are 13 chapters in Book 6. In Chapter 1, Aristotle explains the

connection between the doctrine of the mean and intellectual activity. The notion of

choice is bound up with the notion of truth. Truth governs all intellectual activity

and, hence, all of the intellectual virtues. In Chapter 2, Aristotle considers the

relationship between choice and truth. In Chapters 3-13, Aristotle defines and

compares the intellectual virtues, which include demonstrative understanding,

technical knowledge, practical wisdom, comprehension, philosophical wisdom,

deliberative excellence, sound judgment, and considerate judgment.

Chapter 1:

Virtuous activity essentially involves choosing, in accordance with a correct

principle of action, the mean between vicious extremes. In Chapter 1, Aristotle

explores the notion of a correct principle. He recapitulates and expands upon his

account of the different parts of the soul, and he distinguishes between the

demonstrative and the calculative parts of the rational soul.

Bk6.Ch1.Q1: Why is it important to analyze the idea of the mean prescribed

by the correct principle?

45

Bk6.Ch1.Q2: What are the various parts of the human soul?

Bk6.Ch1.Q3: What is the difference between the rational capacity to

demonstrate and the rational capacity to calculate?

Chapter 2:

Aristotle begins Chapter 2 by differentiating among the three psychological

factors that govern action and the acquisition of the truth. He argues that virtuous

action is the attainment of truth in action. Aristotle then describes the role of the

truth in making correct choices.

Bk6.Ch2.Q1: What are the three factors that govern action and the acquisition

of truth?

Bk6.Ch2.Q2: What are the necessary conditions for making a correct choice?

Bk6.Ch2.Q3: What is the relation among choice, desire, and truth?

Bk6.Ch2.Q4: How is choice the cause of action?

Bk6.Ch2.Q5: How is truth relevant to action?

Chapter 3:

Having explained why the intellectual virtues are an important topic in the

study of ethics, in Chapter 3 Aristotle first lists the five main intellectual virtues and

then defines the first of these, the virtue of demonstrative understanding.

46

Bk6.Ch3.Q1: What are the five ways in which the mind achieves truth

through affirmation and denial?

Bk6.Ch3.Q2: What are the characteristics of demonstrative understanding?

Bk6.Ch3.Q3: What phrase would you use, instead of demonstrative

understanding, in order to describe this intellectual virtue?

Chapter 4:

Aristotle introduces a basic distinction in Chapter 4 between doing and

making. He uses this distinction to explain the nature of technical knowledge.

Bk6.Ch4.Q1: How does Aristotle define technical knowledge?

Bk6.Ch4.Q2: Why might one think that making is distinct from doing?

Chapter 5:

Practical wisdom, according to Aristotle, is useful in general as a means to the

god life. Practical wisdom differs in important ways from both demonstrative

understanding and technical knowledge.

Bk6.Ch5.Q1: How does prudence differ from demonstrative understanding

and technical knowledge?

Bk6.Ch5.Q2: Why might one think that, in doing, the end cannot be different

from the action itself?

Bk6.Ch5.Q3: How does Aristotle define practical wisdom?

47

Bk6.Ch5.Q4: Of which part of the soul is practical reason the virtue?

Chapter 6:

Reasoning according to correct principles is essential to virtuous action. By

Chapter 6, we have come to see that some correct principles are more fundamental

than others—some principles can be demonstrated on the basis of others, while

others are indemonstrable first principles. In Chapter 6 Aristotle introduces the

intellectual virtue by means of which we know indemonstrable first principles. This

virtue is variously called “rational comprehension” or “intelligence” or “rational

insight”.

Bk6.Ch6.Q1: What is rational insight?

Bk6.Ch6.Q2: Why must first principles by grasped through rational insight,

according to Aristotle?

Chapter 7:

Philosophical wisdom combines the intellectual virtues of rational

comprehension and demonstrative understanding. It is defined in terms of a special

set of objects of knowledge. It must be carefully distinguished from practical

wisdom. Philosophical wisdom plays an important part in Aristotle’s account of

human happiness in Book 10.

Bk6.Ch7.Q1: Why is Political Science not the highest form of knowledge?

48

Bk6.Ch7.Q2: How do philosophical wisdom and practical wisdom differ?

Bk6.Ch7.Q3: How does Aristotle define philosophical wisdom?

Chapter 8:

Aristotle distinguishes practical wisdom from political science and rational

insight in Chapter 8. He explains why young people cannot hope to have practical or

philosophical wisdom, although they may excel at mathematics. Aristotle also

introduces the notion of perceptual insight in Chapter 8, a kind of insight he

distinguishes from rational insight and which he explains more fully in Chapter 11.

Bk6.Ch8.Q1: How does practical wisdom differ from and Political Science and

Legislative Science?

Bk6.Ch8.Q2: What kinds of knowledge may a child possess?

Bk6.Ch8.Q3: How is practical wisdom related to rational insight?

Chapter 9:

Aristotle explained the nature of deliberation in Book 3. In Chapter 9 he discusses

excellence in deliberation, denying that it is a kind of knowledge, conjecture or

opinion.

Bk6.Ch9.Q1: Why is deliberative excellence not a kind of knowledge?

Bk6.Ch9.Q2: Why is deliberative excellence not a kind of conjecture?

Bk6.Ch9.Q3: Why is deliberative excellence not a kind of opinion?

49

Bk6.Ch9.Q4: How does Aristotle characterize deliberative excellence?

Chapter 10:

Some people seem to possess sound practical judgment. Aristotle recognizes

this, but thinks it is a different virtue from practical wisdom

Bk6.Ch10.Q1: How does Aristotle understand the differences between sound

judgment and practical wisdom?

Chapter 11:

Aristotle discussed equity and the equitable person in Book 5. In Chapter 11,

Aristotle explains more fully what is involved in making equitable decisions. The

equitable person has the intellectual virtue of being considerate toward others. At

the end of Chapter 11, Aristotle discusses the nature of perceptual insight, which is

similar to rational insight because it gives us insight into a kind of first principle for

action.

Bk6.Ch11.Q1: How does Aristotle define consideration for others?

Bk6.Ch11.Q2: What are the two species of insight introduced by Aristotle?

How do they differ?

Chapter 12:

50

Having defined and compared the various intellectual virtues, Aristotle

explains in Chapter 12 how they are useful for human happiness. At the end of the

chapter, he also considers the virtue of cleverness.

Bk6.Ch12.Q1: In what ways are the intellectual virtues useful?

Bk6.Ch12.Q2: How does Aristotle defend the usefulness of practical and

philosophical wisdom?

Bk6.Ch12.Q3: What is cleverness? How is it useful?

Chapter 13:

In Chapter 13, Aristotle compares his theory of virtue with Socrates’ theory,

explaining how he understands the relationship between the various of character

and the intellectual virtue of practical wisdom. Aristotle also explains why he thinks

practical wisdom is inferior to philosophical wisdom.

Bk6.Ch13.Q1: How do Aristotle and Socrates differ with regard to the

relationship between the virtues of character and practical wisdom?

Bk6.Ch13.Q2: Why does Aristotle think philosophical wisdom is superior to

practical wisdom?

51

Book VII.

There are fourteen chapters in Book 7. In Chapters 1-10 focus on akrasia.

Chapters 11-14 focus on the nature of pleasure and pain.

Akrasia is a psychological phenomenon. When a person chooses to pursue an

action other than the action she has deliberately decided is the best action for him

or her to choose, then Aristotle would say that that person is akratic. Akrasia is the

general phenomenon of agents choosing actions other than the actions they have

deliberately decided are the best actions to pursue. Akratic agents seem to lack the

power to do what they think is best.

How is akrasia possible? If an agent deliberates about her options and

decides that a course of action is best, how is it possible that she nevertheless

chooses a different course of action than the best one?

In contemporary discussions, the problem of akrasia is discussed in terms of

weakness of the will. It is unclear whether or not Aristotle or the other ancient

Greek philosophers had a concept of the will, so it is best to discuss Aristotle’s

problem as he understood it.

Chapters 1 and 2:

In chapters 1 and 2, Aristotle introduces the main problems he needs to solve

in order to explain akrasia and enkrasia. Enkratic agents have the power to choose

the actions that, after deliberating, they have decided are best.

52

Bk7.Ch1&2.Q1: What are the various problems Aristotle thinks he needs to

solve in order to account for akrasia and enkrasia?

Bk7.Ch1&2.Q2: From what sources are these problems derived?

Bk7.Ch1&2.Q3: Why is it important for Aristotle to state these problems?

Chapters 3 and 4:

Aristotle makes a number of distinctions relevant to distinguishing between

unqualified akrasia and qualified akrasia (or akrasia by analogy). He also

distinguishes among various kinds of pleasure.

Bk7.Ch3&4.Q1: How does Aristotle distinguish between unqualified akrasia

and qualified akrasia (or akrasia by analogy)?

Bk7.Ch3&4.Q2: What are the various kinds of pleasure distinguished by

Aristotle?

Chapter 5:

In Chapter 5, Aristotle distinguishes between acratic actions and those that

are the results of morbid or bestial dispositions.

Bk7.Ch5.Q1: What is an unnatural pleasure?

Bk7.Ch5.Q2: What is a morbid disposition?

53

Bk7.Ch5.Q3: How does Aristotle distinguish between actions caused by

morbid and bestial dispositions and akratic actions?

Chapter 6:

Aristotle now differentiates akrasia proper from akrasia with respect to

anger. He argues that the latter is less shameful than the former. Having done so, he

returns to the distinction between bestiality and akrasia, arguing that akrasia is

more evil but less horrible than bestiality.

Bk7.Ch6.Q1: How does Aristotle differentiate akrasia proper from akrasia

with respect to anger?

Bk7.Ch6.Q2: Why does Aristotle think that akrasia with respect to anger is

less shameful than akrasia proper?

Bk7.Ch6.Q3: Why does Aristotle think that akrasia is more evil but less

horrible than bestiality?

Chapter 7:

Aristotle defines the range of pleasures and pains relevant to the vice of

profligacy and the virtue of temperance. He then explains profligacy and

temperance. This discussion should be compared with Aristotle’s account of

temperance and profligacy in Book 3.

54

In explaining profligacy in Chapter 7, distinguishes the strictly profligate

person from the person who is “soft,” i.e. the person who deliberately avoids pain.

Aristotle concludes by distinguishing the weak from the impetuous akratic person.

Bk7.Ch7.Q1: How does Aristotle define the range of pleasures and pains

relevant to profligacy and temperance?

Bk7.Ch7.Q2: What is profligacy?

Bk7.Ch7.Q3: Who is the opposite of the profligate?

Bk7.Ch7.Q4: What is the difference between the strictly profligate person and

the person who deliberately avoids pain?

Bk7.Ch7.Q5: What is temperance?

Bk7.Ch7.Q6: What is the difference between the weak akratic person and the

impetuous akratic person?

Chapter 8:

In Chapter 8, Aristotle considers whether or not akratic persons can be

rehabilited so that they are enkratic. He argues that akrasia, while bad, is not strictly

speaking a vice.

Bk7.Ch8.Q1: Why can the akratic person be reformed, as opposed to the

profligate who cannot be reformed?

Bk7.Ch8.Q2: Why is it better to be an impulsive akratic than to be a weak

akratic?

55

Bk7.Ch8.Q3: Why is akrasia not a vice, strictly speaking?

Bk7.Ch8.Q4: In what way are the actions of an akratic person like those of a

vicious person?

Bk7.Ch8.Q5: How does Aristotle define the nature of akrasia?

Chapters 9 and 10:

Having defined akrasia, Aristotle now uses his account of akrasia to resolve a

number of outstanding puzzles concerning akrasia and enkrasia in Chapter 9. The

puzzles in Chapter 9 involve (a) differentiating akrasia and enkrasia from being

mercurial and being obstinate and (b) differentiating akrasia and enkrasia from

temperance, profligacy, and insensibility. The puzzles in Chapter 10 have to do with

(a) the relationship between akrasia and enkrasia and the intellectual virtues

discussed in Book 6 and (b) the relationship between akrasia and enkrasia and the

virtue of justice discussed in Book 5.

Bk7.Ch9.Q1: Does an enkratic person stand by whatever principle she has

adopted, or does she stand by the right principle?

Bk7.Ch9.Q2: Does an akratic person fail to adhere to whatever principle she

has adopted, or does she fail to adhere to the right principle?

Bk7.Ch9.Q3: What is the difference between an enkratic and an obstinate

person?

Bk7.Ch9.Q4: Can someone fail to adhere to a decision but not be akratic? How

might this happen?

56

Bk7.Ch9.Q5: Suppose someone indifferent to pleasure and pain. Why might

they fail to abide by the right decision?

Bk7.Ch9.Q6: How does Aristotle distinguish among the temperate person, the

enkratic person, and the profligate?

Bk7.Ch10.Q1: Can the akratic person be prudent? Why or why not?

Bk7.Ch10.Q2: Can the akratic person be clever? Why or why not?

Bk7.Ch10.Q3: In what sense does the akratic person know what is right?

Bk7.Ch10.Q4: In what sense does the akratic person not know what is right?

Bk7.Ch10.Q5: How is the akratic person “half-wicked”?

Bk7.Ch10.Q6: Why does Aristotle think the akratic person is not unjust?

Bk7.Ch10.Q7: When is it possible to reform the akratic person?

Chapters 11 and 12:

In Chapters 11 and 12, Aristotle shifts his attention away from akrasia and

enkrasia and present his explanation of the nature of pleasure and pain. Since,

according to Aristotle, happiness is defined in terms of virtue and every virtue is

defined in terms of pleasure and pain, a complete account of happiness requires an

explanation of the nature of pleasure and pain.

Bk7.Ch11.Q1: Why it is important for the political philosopher to study the

nature of pleasure and pain?

Bk7.Ch11.Q2: What are the current views about the goodness of pleasure?

57

Bk7.Ch12.Q1: How does Aristotle refute the current views about the

goodness of pleasure.

Bk7.Ch12.Q2: What are different sense of the term ‘good’?

Bk7.Ch12.Q3: What is the difference between natural and restorative

pleasures?

Bk7.Ch12.Q4: How does Aristotle define pleasure?

Chapter 13:

In Chapter 13, Aristotle discusses the relationship between pleasure and the

good. Aristotle argues against hedonism, the view that pleasure is the ultimate good,

but he is careful to articulate the reasons why someone might think hedonism is

true.

Bk7.Ch13.Q1: How might one argue from the premise that pain is evil to the

conclusion that pleasure is a good?

Bk7.Ch13.Q2: How might one argue from Aristotle’s definition of pleasure to

the conclusion that the ultimate good is a pleasure?

Bk7.Ch13.Q3: How might one argue from the premise that happiness is

perfectly unimpeded activity to the conclusion that happiness requires

goods of the body, external goods, and good luck?

Bk7.Ch13.Q4: How might one argue from the premise that all things pursue

pleasure to the claim that pleasure is the ultimate good?

58

Bk7.Ch13.Q5: How does Aristotle refute the claim that pleasure is not good?

Bk7.Ch13.Q6: How does Aristotle refute the claim that unimpeded activity is

not pleasure?

Chapter 14:

Having argued against hedonism in Chapter 13, Aristotle argues in Chapter

14 that there is a hierarchy among the various kinds of pleasure. Not all pleasures

are bad. Nor are all bodily pleasures bad, although some bodily pleasures—those

pursued by the profligate—are indeed undesirable.

Bk7.Ch14.Q1: How might one argue that not all bodily pleasures are bad?

Bk7.Ch14.Q2: Why does Aristotle think that some bodily pleasures appear

more desirable than others?

Book 8.

Aristotle discusses the virtue of friendship in Books 8 and 9. Book 8

differentiates among various kinds of friendship. In Chapters 1-6, Aristotle

distinguishes three basic kinds of friendship in terms of the three main purposes

people pursue in their friendships—pleasure, use, and excellence. In Chapters 7-14,

Aristotle considers how the differences between individuals and how the

differences between social contexts influence friendship.

Chapter 1:

59

Aristotle introduces the virtue of friendship by highlighting its importance

both for individuals and for society. He briefly notes some competing views on

friendship and raises some of the chief problems he hopes to resolve.

Bk8.Ch1.Q1: How might one argue that friendship is one of the most

indispensable means for a happy life?

Bk8.Ch1.Q2: How might one argue that friendship is the chief means to

promote concord in the political community?

Bk8.Ch1.Q3: Why might one think that friendship is an end in itself?

Bk8.Ch1.Q4: What are the existing views of the nature of friendship noted by

Aristotle?

Bk8.Ch1.Q5: What are some of the philosophical problems noted by Aristotle

concerning friendship?

Chapter 2:

In Chapter 2, Aristotle introduces the primary causes for friendship. He then

explains how friendship differs from goodwill. He ends the chapter by offering a

provisional definition of friendship by means of which to orient further discussion.

Bk8.Ch2.Q1: According to Aristotle, what sorts of things motivate friendship?

Bk8.Ch2.Q2: Why can’t we be friends with inanimate things?

Bk8.Ch1.Q3: How does Aristotle distinguish between goodwill and

friendship?

60

Bk8.Ch1.Q4: How does Aristotle provisionally define friendship?

Chapter 3:

In Chapter 3, Aristotle distinguishes among three basic forms of friendship

based on the three primary causes of friendship introduced in Chapter 2:

friendships based on pleasure, friendships based on usefulness, and friendships

based on virtue. Aristotle argues that friendships of pleasure and friendships of use

are inferior forms of friendship.

Bk8.Ch3.Q1: What are the three kinds of friendship differentiated by

Aristotle? What are some of the characteristics of each?

Bk8.Ch3.Q2: Why does Aristotle think that two of the three kinds of

friendship are based on accidental characteristics of friends? How does

this make them inferior forms of friendship?

Bk8.Ch3.Q3: Why are friendships based on the accidental characteristics of

friends easily dissolved, according to Aristotle?

Chapter 4:

In Chapter 4, Aristotle continues to differentiate among the three basic forms

of friendship, presenting additional arguments that friendships based on virtue are

superior to those based on pleasure and use.

61

Bk8.Ch4.Q1: Why might one think that friendship based on the good is

perfect?

Bk8.Ch4.Q2: Why do friendships not based on the good persist?

Bk8.Ch4.Q3: Who can become friends?

Bk8.Ch4.Q4: How are friendship, calumny, and suspicion related?

Bk8.Ch4.Q5: Why does Aristotle acknowledge the existence of friendships

based on use and pleasure?

Bk8.Ch4.Q6: Why does Aristotle deny that friendships based on use and

pleasure are the primary and proper kinds of friendships?

Chapter 5:

In Chapter 5, Aristotle distinguishes between potential friendship and active

friendship and argues that friendships persist only insofar as they are active.

Aristotle acknowledges the importance of pleasure for friendship. He distinguishes

between liking someone and being friends with someone. He also introduces the

idea that, when a person loves his or her friend, he or she loves him or her self.

Bk8.Ch5.Q1: How does Aristotle distinguish between the disposition to

friendship and active friendship?

Bk8.Ch5.Q2: Why does Aristotle think we must be active friends in order for

our friendships to persist?

Bk8.Ch5.Q3: How is pleasure important for friendship?

Bk8.Ch5.Q4: Why does Aristotle think that friendship based on virtue is best?

62

Bk8.Ch5.Q5: How does Aristotle distinguish between liking someone and

friendship?

Bk8.Ch5.Q6: Why does Aristotle think that when you love your friend you

love your self?

Chapter 6:

In Chapter 6, Aristotle presents the primary causes and signs of friendship.

He then discusses whether or not it is possible to have a large number of friends,

considering this question in relation to each of the three basic forms of friendship.

He then explains why friendships based on pleasure are more like friendships based

on virtue than are friendships based on use. He ends the chapter by introducing the

idea that some friendships are between people who are equals whereas other

friendships involve some sort of inequality.

Bk8.Ch6.Q1: According to Aristotle, what are the primary constituents or

causes of friendship?

Bk8.Ch6.Q2: According to Aristotle, what are the chief signs of friendship?

Bk8.Ch6.Q3: Can a person have many true friends? Why or why not?

Bk8.Ch6.Q4: Can a person have many friends of use and pleasure? Why or

why not?

Bk8.Ch6.Q5: Why does Aristotle think that friendships based on pleasure are

more like true friendships than are friendships of use?

Bk8.Ch6.Q6: What is peculiar about the friendships of princes and rulers?

63

Bk8.Ch6.Q7: In what sense are all three sorts of friendships discussed by

Aristotle friendships of equality?

Chapter 7:

In Chapter 7, Aristotle considers how to make sense of equality and

inequality in the context of friendship. He explains why equality is important in a

friendship, and he explains what it is that friends wish for each other.

Bk8.Ch7.Q1: What are friendships between unequal persons based on?

Bk8.Ch7.Q2: Why is equality important in friendship?

Bk8.Ch7.Q3: Why does equality of quantity (as opposed to equality

proportionate to desert) characterize the equality of friendship?

Bk8.Ch7.Q4: Why, in unequal friendships, do the benefits conferred and

received by each friend differ?

Bk8.Ch7.Q5: Why will friends who differ to any great degree not remain

friends, nor wish to remain friends?

Bk8.Ch7.Q6: What is it that friends will wish for each other?

Chapter 8:

In Chapter 8, Aristotle considers the importance of affection and honor in

friendship. He also considers which goals are sought for their own sake in the

context of a friendship. Aristotle ends the chapter by returning to the issue of

64

friendship between unequal persons, focusing here on the possibility of friendship

between bad people.

Bk8.Ch8.Q1: Why do most people desire honor and affection?

Bk8.Ch8.Q2: Why think honor is not sought for its own sake?

Bk8.Ch8.Q3: Why think affection is sought for its own sake?

Bk8.Ch8.Q4: Why does Aristotle think that affection is more important than

honor and that friendship is sought for its own sake?

Bk8.Ch8.Q5: Why think that friendship consists more in giving than in

receiving affection?

Bk8.Ch8.Q6: Why do friends remain friends?

Bk8.Ch8.Q7: How may unequal friends approximate true friendship?

Bk8.Ch8.Q8: How might true friends aid each other in staying good?

Bk8.Ch8.Q9: Why can’t bad persons help each other to be good?

Bk8.Ch8.Q10: Why can’t a bad person be true to herself or himself?

Bk8.Ch8.Q11: On what basis can unequal persons most easily become

friends? Why?

Chapter 9:

Aristotle had discusses the various kinds of justice in Book 5. In Chapter 9, he

addresses the relationship between the virtues of justice and friendship. In so doing,

he considers the various kinds of human community and the relationship among

these and justice and friendship.

65

Bk8.Ch9.Q1: What is the relationship between friendship and justice?

Bk8.Ch9.Q2: What is the essence of friendship?

Bk8.Ch9.Q3: What is the relationship between the political community and

other communities?

Chapter 10:

Aristotle continues his discussion of friendship, justice, and human

community in Chapter 10. He focuses on the different forms of political constitution

and the family relationships that are analogous to them.

Bk8.Ch10.Q1: What are the three forms of political constitution and their

corresponding perversions?

Bk8.Ch10.Q2: How are the various forms of political constitution analogous

to the various relationships in the household?

Chapter 11:

In Chapter 11, Aristotle shifts to consider the relationship between civic

leaders and leaders within a family. He also compares the different kinds of political

constitution with the different kinds of friendship.

Bk8.Ch11.Q1: How far do the claims of friendship between the ruler and the

ruled extend, in each form of civic and household government? Why?

66

Bk8.Ch11.Q2: What is the relationship between the different kinds of

constitution and the different kinds of friendship?

Chapter 12:

Aristotle focuses on friendships within the family in Chapter 12, focusing

specifically on the friendships between parent and child and between spouses.

Bk8.Ch12.Q1: What is the nature of friendship among relatives?

Bk8.Ch12.Q2: How is friendship related to the friendship between parent and

child?

Bk8.Ch12.Q3: What is the nature of the friendship between spouses?

Chapters 13 and 14:

In Chapters 13 and 14, Aristotle returns to the topic of equality in friendship,

focusing in Chapter 13 on how to achieve equality between friends in the three basic

kinds of friendship and focusing in Chapter 14 on how to achieve equality in

friendships between unequal friends.

Bk8.Ch13.Q1: How do friends who are equals make matters equal between

themselves in the case of those who are friends for the sake of utility?

Bk8.Ch13.Q2: How do friends who are equals make matters equal between

themselves in the case of those who are friends for the sake of pleasure?

67

Bk8.Ch13.Q3: How do friends who are equals make matters equal between

themselves in the case of those who are friends for the sake of virtue?

Bk8.Ch14.Q1: How do friends who are not equals make matters equal

between themselves?

Book IX.

Aristotle discusses the virtue of friendship in Books 8 and 9. Book 8

differentiates among various kinds of friendship. In Chapters 1-6, Aristotle

distinguishes three basic kinds of friendship in terms of the three main purposes

people pursue in their friendships—pleasure, use, and excellence. In Chapters 7-14,

Aristotle considers how the differences between individuals and how the

differences between social contexts influence friendship.

Chapter 1:

Aristotle introduces the virtue of friendship by highlighting its importance

both for individuals and for society. He briefly notes some competing views on

friendship and raises some of the chief problems he hopes to resolve.

Bk8.Ch1.Q1: How might one argue that friendship is one of the most

indispensable means for a happy life?

Bk8.Ch1.Q2: How might one argue that friendship is the chief means to

promote concord in the political community?

Bk8.Ch1.Q3: Why might one think that friendship is an end in itself?

68

Bk8.Ch1.Q4: What are the existing views of the nature of friendship noted by

Aristotle?

Bk8.Ch1.Q5: What are some of the philosophical problems noted by Aristotle

concerning friendship?

Chapter 2:

In Chapter 2, Aristotle introduces the primary causes for friendship. He then

explains how friendship differs from goodwill. He ends the chapter by offering a

provisional definition of friendship by means of which to orient further discussion.

Bk8.Ch2.Q1: According to Aristotle, what sorts of things motivate friendship?

Bk8.Ch2.Q2: Why can’t we be friends with inanimate things?

Bk8.Ch1.Q3: How does Aristotle distinguish between goodwill and

friendship?

Bk8.Ch1.Q4: How does Aristotle provisionally define friendship?

Chapter 3:

In Chapter 3, Aristotle distinguishes among three basic forms of friendship

based on the three primary causes of friendship introduced in Chapter 2:

friendships based on pleasure, friendships based on usefulness, and friendships

based on virtue. Aristotle argues that friendships of pleasure and friendships of use

are inferior forms of friendship.

69

Bk8.Ch3.Q1: What are the three kinds of friendship differentiated by

Aristotle? What are some of the characteristics of each?

Bk8.Ch3.Q2: Why does Aristotle think that two of the three kinds of

friendship are based on accidental characteristics of friends? How does

this make them inferior forms of friendship?

Bk8.Ch3.Q3: Why are friendships based on the accidental characteristics of

friends easily dissolved, according to Aristotle?

Chapter 4:

In Chapter 4, Aristotle continues to differentiate among the three basic forms

of friendship, presenting additional arguments that friendships based on virtue are

superior to those based on pleasure and use.

Bk8.Ch4.Q1: Why might one think that friendship based on the good is

perfect?

Bk8.Ch4.Q2: Why do friendships not based on the good persist?

Bk8.Ch4.Q3: Who can become friends?

Bk8.Ch4.Q4: How are friendship, calumny, and suspicion related?

Bk8.Ch4.Q5: Why does Aristotle acknowledge the existence of friendships

based on use and pleasure?

Bk8.Ch4.Q6: Why does Aristotle deny that friendships based on use and

pleasure are the primary and proper kinds of friendships?

70

Chapter 5:

In Chapter 5, Aristotle distinguishes between potential friendship and active

friendship and argues that friendships persist only insofar as they are active.

Aristotle acknowledges the importance of pleasure for friendship. He distinguishes

between liking someone and being friends with someone. He also introduces the

idea that, when a person loves his or her friend, he or she loves him or her self.

Bk8.Ch5.Q1: How does Aristotle distinguish between the disposition to

friendship and active friendship?

Bk8.Ch5.Q2: Why does Aristotle think we must be active friends in order for

our friendships to persist?

Bk8.Ch5.Q3: How is pleasure important for friendship?

Bk8.Ch5.Q4: Why does Aristotle think that friendship based on virtue is best?

Bk8.Ch5.Q5: How does Aristotle distinguish between liking someone and

friendship?

Bk8.Ch5.Q6: Why does Aristotle think that when you love your friend you

love your self?

Chapter 6:

In Chapter 6, Aristotle presents the primary causes and signs of friendship.

He then discusses whether or not it is possible to have a large number of friends,

considering this question in relation to each of the three basic forms of friendship.

71

He then explains why friendships based on pleasure are more like friendships based

on virtue than are friendships based on use. He ends the chapter by introducing the

idea that some friendships are between people who are equals whereas other

friendships involve some sort of inequality.

Bk8.Ch6.Q1: According to Aristotle, what are the primary constituents or

causes of friendship?

Bk8.Ch6.Q2: According to Aristotle, what are the chief signs of friendship?

Bk8.Ch6.Q3: Can a person have many true friends? Why or why not?

Bk8.Ch6.Q4: Can a person have many friends of use and pleasure? Why or

why not?

Bk8.Ch6.Q5: Why does Aristotle think that friendships based on pleasure are

more like true friendships than are friendships of use?

Bk8.Ch6.Q6: What is peculiar about the friendships of princes and rulers?

Bk8.Ch6.Q7: In what sense are all three sorts of friendships discussed by

Aristotle friendships of equality?

Chapter 7:

In Chapter 7, Aristotle considers how to make sense of equality and

inequality in the context of friendship. He explains why equality is important in a

friendship, and he explains what it is that friends wish for each other.

Bk8.Ch7.Q1: What are friendships between unequal persons based on?

Bk8.Ch7.Q2: Why is equality important in friendship?

72

Bk8.Ch7.Q3: Why does equality of quantity (as opposed to equality

proportionate to desert) characterize the equality of friendship?

Bk8.Ch7.Q4: Why, in unequal friendships, do the benefits conferred and

received by each friend differ?

Bk8.Ch7.Q5: Why will friends who differ to any great degree not remain

friends, nor wish to remain friends?

Bk8.Ch7.Q6: What is it that friends will wish for each other?

Chapter 8:

In Chapter 8, Aristotle considers the importance of affection and honor in

friendship. He also considers which goals are sought for their own sake in the

context of a friendship. Aristotle ends the chapter by returning to the issue of

friendship between unequal persons, focusing here on the possibility of friendship

between bad people.

Bk8.Ch8.Q1: Why do most people desire honor and affection?

Bk8.Ch8.Q2: Why think honor is not sought for its own sake?

Bk8.Ch8.Q3: Why think affection is sought for its own sake?

Bk8.Ch8.Q4: Why does Aristotle think that affection is more important than

honor and that friendship is sought for its own sake?

Bk8.Ch8.Q5: Why think that friendship consists more in giving than in

receiving affection?

Bk8.Ch8.Q6: Why do friends remain friends?

73

Bk8.Ch8.Q7: How may unequal friends approximate true friendship?

Bk8.Ch8.Q8: How might true friends aid each other in staying good?

Bk8.Ch8.Q9: Why can’t bad persons help each other to be good?

Bk8.Ch8.Q10: Why can’t a bad person be true to herself or himself?

Bk8.Ch8.Q11: On what basis can unequal persons most easily become

friends? Why?

Chapter 9:

Aristotle had discusses the various kinds of justice in Book 5. In Chapter 9, he

addresses the relationship between the virtues of justice and friendship. In so doing,

he considers the various kinds of human community and the relationship among

these and justice and friendship.

Bk8.Ch9.Q1: What is the relationship between friendship and justice?

Bk8.Ch9.Q2: What is the essence of friendship?

Bk8.Ch9.Q3: What is the relationship between the political community and

other communities?

Chapter 10:

Aristotle continues his discussion of friendship, justice, and human

community in Chapter 10. He focuses on the different forms of political constitution

and the family relationships that are analogous to them.

74

Bk8.Ch10.Q1: What are the three forms of political constitution and their

corresponding perversions?

Bk8.Ch10.Q2: How are the various forms of political constitution analogous

to the various relationships in the household?

Chapter 11:

In Chapter 11, Aristotle shifts to consider the relationship between civic

leaders and leaders within a family. He also compares the different kinds of political

constitution with the different kinds of friendship.

Bk8.Ch11.Q1: How far do the claims of friendship between the ruler and the

ruled extend, in each form of civic and household government? Why?

Bk8.Ch11.Q2: What is the relationship between the different kinds of

constitution and the different kinds of friendship?

Chapter 12:

Aristotle focuses on friendships within the family in Chapter 12, focusing

specifically on the friendships between parent and child and between spouses.

Bk8.Ch12.Q1: What is the nature of friendship among relatives?

Bk8.Ch12.Q2: How is friendship related to the friendship between parent and

child?

Bk8.Ch12.Q3: What is the nature of the friendship between spouses?

75

Chapters 13 and 14:

In Chapters 13 and 14, Aristotle returns to the topic of equality in friendship,

focusing in Chapter 13 on how to achieve equality between friends in the three basic

kinds of friendship and focusing in Chapter 14 on how to achieve equality in

friendships between unequal friends.

Bk8.Ch13.Q1: How do friends who are equals make matters equal between

themselves in the case of those who are friends for the sake of utility?

Bk8.Ch13.Q2: How do friends who are equals make matters equal between

themselves in the case of those who are friends for the sake of pleasure?

Bk8.Ch13.Q3: How do friends who are equals make matters equal between

themselves in the case of those who are friends for the sake of virtue?

Bk8.Ch14.Q1: How do friends who are not equals make matters equal

between themselves?

Book 10.

Aristotle completes his theory of human happiness in Book 10. In Chapters 1-

6, Aristotle presents his theory of pleasure and pain, integrating this into his overall

account of human happiness. In Chapters 6-9, Aristotle considers whether human

happiness consists in the activity of contemplation or in the activity of the various

moral virtues.

76

Chapters 1 and 2:

In Chapter 1 and 2, Aristotle considers again the relationship between

pleasure and the good. He first establishes why ethicists need to study the nature of

pleasure and pain. This discussion ties back to his account of virtue in Book 2.

Aristotle goes on to argue that not all pleasures are bad and explaoins why someone

might think that pleasure is the only good thing. These claims relate to Aristotle’s

discussion of hedonism in Chapters 11-14 of Book 7.

Bk10.Ch1.Q1: Why is pleasure worth investigating?

Bk10.Ch1.Q2: Why might someone think pleasure is bad?

Bk10.Ch2.Q1: Why might someone think that pleasure is the one and only

good thing?

Bk10.Ch2.Q2: Why is it nonsense to deny that the good is what all sentient

beings seek to obtain?

Chapters 3 and 4:

In Chapters 3 and 4, Aristotle begins his investigation onto the “ontology” of

pleasure and pain. In other words, he begins to explain what sort of thing pleasure

is. Is it a quality? Is it a motion or a process? Is it a kind of activity?

Bk10.Ch3.Q1: Can pleasure be a quality and also be a good?

Bk10.Ch3.Q2: Can pleasure admit of degrees and also be a good?

77

Bk10.Ch3.Q3: Why might someone deny that pleasure is a motion or a

process?

Bk10.Ch3.Q4: How might someone reply to the claim that there are pleasures

that should not be sought after?

Bk10.Ch4.Q1: Why does Aristotle think pleasure is perfect at any moment of

its duration?

Bk10.Ch4.Q2: Why does Aristotle deny that pleasure is a motion?

Bk10.Ch4.Q3: How is pleasure related to the activity of the senses?

Bk10.Ch4.Q4: Why do we not feel pleasure continuously?

Chapter 5:

Having explained pleasure in terms of human activity, in Chapter 5 Aristotle

distinguishes among the various kinds of pleasure and identifies those that are

distinctly human pleasures.

Bk10.Ch5.Q1: Why does Aristotle think there are different kinds of pleasure?

Bk10.Ch5.Q2: Which pleasures ought to be sought, and which avoided,

according to Aristotle?

Bk10.Ch5.Q3: Which pleasures are distinctively human pleasures, according

to Aristotle?

Chapter 6:

78

In Chapter 6, Aristotle argues that pleasure and pains are not psychological

dispositions. He also dismisses the idea that pleasure is the same as being amused.

Bk10.Ch6.Q1: Why is the dispositional account of happiness incorrect?

Bk10.Ch6.Q2: Why is happiness pursued for its own sake and not for

something else?

Bk10.Ch6.Q3: Why does Aristotle deny that happiness is the same as “having

fun” (i.e., amusement)?

Chapter 7:

In Chapter 7, Aristotle explains why it makes sense to think that human

happiness consists in contemplative activity.

Bk10.Ch7.Q1: Why is it reasonable to think that happiness consists of the

activity of contemplation?

Chapter 8:

Having made the case in Chapter 7 that happiness consists in contemplation,

Aristotle now explains why happiness does not consist in moral activity. He also

considers how much wealth a person needs in order to be happy and why the gods

love the happy person most.

Bk10.Ch8.Q1: Why is the life of moral excellence only a secondary kind of

happiness when compared with the life of active contemplation?

79

Bk10.Ch8.Q2: How much wealth is required in order to be happy?

Bk10.Ch8.Q3: Why will the gods love most the person who lives the life of

active contemplation?

Chapter 9:

Chapter 9 is a transitional chapter bridging from the Nicomachean Ethics to

Aristotle’s Politics. Aristotle concludes his discussion of human happiness insofar as

it is focused on individual human beings. He prepares the reader for the discussion

of human happiness in the context of political life, explaining how politics,

education, and human happiness are related.

Bk10.Ch9.Q1: How may we best ensure that as many people as possible are

happy?

Bk10.Ch9.Q2: How do we acquire scientific knowledge about lawmaking?

80