Aristotle

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Aristotle

An ethical issue that is debated in our society is the concern of driving while intoxicated. Although this was naturally not the case during Aristotle’s time, many of his ethical beliefs can be applied to refute this dilemma. I will prove the standing issue to be unethical through Aristotle’s discussion of virtue and his concept of voluntary/involuntary actions in the Nicomachean Ethics.
Aristotle believed that of the virtues learned in our youth, each has a respective excess and deficiency. The virtue is the mean (or midpoint) of the excess and deficiency. The mean can be thought of as “just right”, and the extremities can be labeled as “vices”. The mean should not be thought of as the geometric middle of the two vices- it varies between the vices, depending on the person. Aristotle believed that the mean and the vices are within our control and of the two extremes (vices) we should choose the less erroneous. It is not always easy to choose the less erroneous of the two. For example, Bill decides he wants to drink this Friday night, but he has to drive himself home. His choice of how much to drink lies between two vices: sobriety and drunkenness. Although neither may be his intention for the evening, it is obvious that the less erroneous of the two is sobriety. “So much, then, makes it plain that the intermediate state is in all things to be praised, but that we must incline sometimes towards the excess, sometimes towards the deficiency; for so shall we most easily hit the mean and what is right” (Aristotle 387).
Aristotle defines virtue (also known as excellence) of humankind as living in accordance with reason in the best kind of way. Simply put, doing what is characteristic of a thing to do. He argues that our reasoning, which is the foundation for our virtues, derives from habit and not from nature.
Neither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do excellences arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit. Again, of all the things that come to us by nature we first acquire the potentiality and later exhibit the activity…(Aristotle 376)
Hence, all of the virtues that we believe are what we practice. The point in mind is that all of our morals are instilled in us through the process of learning. What we see others (whether adults, teachers, etc.) practice when we are children has a direct bearing on our thoughts and opinions. We simply practice these thoughts and opinions in our day to day live...

The complete article is about 1137 words and 4.55 pages long.

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