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    Magna Moralia, Written Report

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    Gabriel Adora
    1) Aristotle aims to understand how virtue is obtained and examines prior philosophers' notions of virtue. He argues that Socrates equated virtue with reason alone while Plato better separated rational and irrational parts of the soul but linked virtue too closely with goodness. 2) In this work, Aristotle discusses the best good for humanity. He defines three types of goods: those that are honorable, praiseworthy, and potencies. Potencies can be used well or poorly depending on one's character. 3) True happiness, according to Aristotle, consists of living well through exercising virtue. It requires being an adult, living a complete life, and acting in accordance with virtue. Only then can one achieve the final end

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    Magna Moralia, Written Report

    Uploaded by

    Gabriel Adora
    109 views4 pages
    1) Aristotle aims to understand how virtue is obtained and examines prior philosophers' notions of virtue. He argues that Socrates equated virtue with reason alone while Plato better separated rational and irrational parts of the soul but linked virtue too closely with goodness. 2) In this work, Aristotle discusses the best good for humanity. He defines three types of goods: those that are honorable, praiseworthy, and potencies. Potencies can be used well or poorly depending on one's character. 3) True happiness, according to Aristotle, consists of living well through exercising virtue. It requires being an adult, living a complete life, and acting in accordance with virtue. Only then can one achieve the final end

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    MAGNA MORALIA BRIEF

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    1) Aristotle aims to understand how virtue is obtained and examines prior philosophers' notions of virtue. He argues that Socrates equated virtue with reason alone while Plato better separated rational and irrational parts of the soul but linked virtue too closely with goodness. 2) In this work, Aristotle discusses the best good for humanity. He defines three types of goods: those that are honorable, praiseworthy, and potencies. Potencies can be used well or poorly depending on one's character. 3) True happiness, according to Aristotle, consists of living well through exercising virtue. It requires being an adult, living a complete life, and acting in accordance with virtue. Only then can one achieve the final end

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    109 views4 pages

    Magna Moralia, Written Report

    Uploaded by

    Gabriel Adora
    1) Aristotle aims to understand how virtue is obtained and examines prior philosophers' notions of virtue. He argues that Socrates equated virtue with reason alone while Plato better separated rational and irrational parts of the soul but linked virtue too closely with goodness. 2) In this work, Aristotle discusses the best good for humanity. He defines three types of goods: those that are honorable, praiseworthy, and potencies. Potencies can be used well or poorly depending on one's character. 3) True happiness, according to Aristotle, consists of living well through exercising virtue. It requires being an adult, living a complete life, and acting in accordance with virtue. Only then can one achieve the final end

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    of 4

    MAGNA MORALIA

    BOOK I, CH. 1-4


    By ARISTOTLE

    A Written Report by:

    ADORA, Gabriel D.

    BLANCO, Juan Miguel O.

    CASTILLO, Horacio Tomas T. III

    Submitted to:

    Assoc. Prof. Fleurdeliz Altez-Albela, Ph.D.

    MAY 03, 2017


    Aristotle aims not only to know what virtue is, but also to understand how this is obtained

    or how it is produced. In this effort, he cited multiple philosophers to who previously attempted

    to give a holistic notion of virtue. First and foremost, he makes mention of Socrates, who used to

    make the virtues sciences. Aristotle argues that the sciences involve reason, and reason is to be

    found in the intellectual part of the soul. In making the virtue equivalent to the sciences,

    therefore, he is doing away with the irrational part of the soul. Plato, on the other land, did well

    in dividing the rational and irrational part of the soul and assigned virtues for each. However, he

    intertwined virtue with the treatment of the good, which is not appropriate because the goodness

    or truth of things do not possess any characteristic that is in common with virtue.

    What Aristotle aims to speak about in this book is the best good, and the best in the sense

    that this good is the best for mankind. According to him, goods are of three kinds: first, a good is

    honorable when something is good in itself; second, a good is praiseworthy when it arises as a

    consequence of an action; and third, potencies are those goods which a good man can use well

    and a bad man can use in an ill-manner. A potency can take in the form of an position of power,

    wealth, strength, and beauty among others. Aristotle states that forture causes the presence of

    potencies. For example, a male model who regularly does fashion shows to raise funds for

    children with disabilities set his eyes on another woman despite being in a loving relationship.

    Being reminded of this, he consciously chose to look away. This man possesses the potency of

    beauty, of which he uses for the good, which can indicate that he is a good man. Setting his eyes

    on another woman, however, shows that to some extent, he is not as honorable as some men

    might be. Despite this, he is praiseworthy for consciously choosing to be a good man and

    choosing to remain loyal with his current partner despite the temptation that came his way.

    Aristotle indicated further that there is another division of goods, which classify them
    into choice-worthy goods and goods that are not choice-worthy. This simply means that there are

    goods that, regardless of time and place, remain choice-worthy (like justice, states Aristotle), and

    there are those that are only good in particular circumstances like wealth, strength and power.

    Goods are also classified into ends and non-ends, wherein the ends are better than the non-ends

    because it is for the sake of that end in which the others become good. Among ends, there are

    also divisionsa complete good and an incomplete good. A complete good is one in which the

    presence of it leaves nothing else needed, while an incomplete good is one in which something

    may be present but necessitates something else in complement of the good. Aristotle, then,

    argues that the best good is the complete goodthat which leaves nothing else needed. A

    complete good, as such, is the final end. The final end is also the best end, which pertains to

    happiness.

    Happiness consists of doing well and living well. In life, there are useable goods and

    goods that you simply have, and Aristotle believes that in order to be happy, one must be

    surrounded by goods which are useable, because they are more choice-worthy than simply

    having good things that one cannot use, and therefore he or she does not need them. Moreover,

    Aristotle maintains that to live well, one needs to live in accordance with the virtues, and to live

    in accordance with the virtues is the end of happiness and is considered as the best thing.

    Virtue is the habit of the soul, and it can be used and exercised. In lieu of this, the usage

    and exercise of virtue leads to the best end, which is happiness. Happiness can only be found in

    completeness, which entails three things: first, it is found in a man and not a child, second, a

    complete period of time will be as long as man lives, and lastly, one needs to live in accordance

    with the virtues. These requirements are what Aristotle recommends in order to achieve the best

    and final end, which is happiness. For example, there exists a corrupt businessman with a leading
    corporate firm who is at the end of his life. According to Aristotles criteria for happiness, he

    only checks two of the three requirementsnamely that he is a man and that he is nearing the

    completion of his lifetime. However, he does not live in accordance with the virtues because he

    is corrupt. In this sense, man cannot be happy because happiness only thrives and can be found

    in completeness.

    Finally, Aristotle argues that with the soul having a nutritive part, there is a need for it to

    be nourished, because as stated earlier, virtue must be used and exercised. This means that virtue

    is an activity. In order for the soul to have impulse, it needs to be nourished because it is only

    through this nourishment that activity can take place. Void of any nourishment, and therefore

    void of any activity, man is also void of any happiness. For example, a woman wants to live a

    happy life, and thus she involves herself in activities that may be physically satisfying, like using

    narcotics, getting drunk, and engaging in illicit behaviors. The question here is whether or not

    these means would lead her to happiness. The answer is definitely no, using Aristotles

    standards. She will not become happy because she chose to indulge in things that is pleasurable

    for the body but not for the soul. The soul needs nourishment in order to be virtuous, and it is

    only by living in virtue that man becomes happy.

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