Essay 1 (Plato and Aristotle)

Essay 1 (Plato and Aristotle)
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Essay 1 (Plato and Aristotle)
According to Aristotle, "Happiness is an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue". There are numerous aspects of this statement. The main theme behind this statement is that happiness cannot be achieved from wealth, honor or health but it can be achieved only by acting in accordance with virtue. Virtue is the ability of an individual to act in the right manner at the right time in the right situation. It is the rational and moral wisdom of an individual. When an individual acts in accordance with virtue, it means he is acting morally and rationally in a given scenario. Virtue ethics discourage the use of extremes and encourage the use of mean of the two extremes. For example; a person should rationalize his actions and he should not pursue the extreme measures. Even though it is believed by some that virtue ethics is an obsolete idea and it not valid in the modern world, but the truth is otherwise. Virtue ethics is completely applicable in the modern world. The following paper would analyze the concept of virtue ethics and its application in the modern world.
Virtue Ethics
Virtue is a way an individual thinks and behaves based on his moral standards. Virtues are developed by an individual`s own cognizance and they are different from a person`s values. An individual must be able to morally rationalize his acts in order to act in accordance with virtue. Virtues are traits or qualities of the character of an individual that lead him towards happiness. For example; flourishing is a state of character which makes an individual conduct himself in a better manner. Thus, flourishing leads a person towards happiness. Similarly, ambition is an individual`s self-control regarding his goals. Patience is an individual`s ability to wait for what he desires. Respect is an individual`s regard for others.
In order to achieve happiness, a person should act or feel in a certain way to the right extent. An individual must rationalize the extent to which he must be patient or the extent to which he must respect others. Too little respect for others can drive a person towards immorality, while too much respect for others can make a person less confident. Thus, an individual must strike a balance while acting in accordance with virtue. The appropriateness of the action in accordance with time and scenario is essential as well. An individual should feel sympathy and pity when it is appropriate, he should feel anger only when it is appropriate and not in any other cases, and he should respect others to the extent that is appropriate and not too much or too less. Thus, virtues involve acting and behaving in appropriate manner. According to Aristotle, the right extent to which a person should feel or act is the mean between extremes (Curzer, 2012). This mean is not determinable in mechanical terms however it is "to feel them at the right times, with reference to the right objects, towards the right people, with the right motive, and in the right way" (Stanford.edu, 2012).
Virtues can be classified into two broad categories that are; intellectual virtues and moral virtues. Intellectual virtues deal with the rational part of the individual or as Aristotle calls it the rational part of the soul (Stanford.edu, 2012). Moral virtues deal with both the rational and the desiring part of the soul i.e. moral virtues involve controlling the passions of an individual rationally, for example, self-control over the individual`s temperance, curiosity, ambition etc.
According to Aristotle, there is distinction between perfect virtue and continence. Individuals having perfect virtue do not have to struggle in order to act in accordance with virtue however those who have continence or strength of will have to put in extra effort in order to control their desire or temptation to act against the virtue. People who fall short on perfect virtue may have circumstances that make it hard for them to exercise perfect virtue. For example; if an individual has enough wealth and he possesses something which belongs to someone else, he would find it hard to return that possession; however, if an individual is very poor and hardly has any money, it may be hard for such an individual to return someone else`s possession as he would be tempted to use that possession for his own good. Thus, the circumstances surrounding an individual determine how hard it is for an individual to act in accordance with perfect virtue (Winter, 2011).
Another factor that makes an individual fall short on perfect virtue is the lack of phronesis or moral wisdom. According to Aristotle, every individual h...