OpenGrad

Unit 4: Aristotle II — Ethics and Politics

Duration

Weeks 13-16

Central Questions

  • What is the human good, and how is it achieved?
  • What is virtue, and how is it acquired?
  • What is the role of reason in ethical life?
  • What is the relationship between individual flourishing and political community?
  • How does Aristotle's ethics compare to Plato's?

Overview

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is arguably the founding text of Western ethical theory. Unlike modern ethics, which often asks "What should I do?" or "What rules should I follow?", Aristotle asks "What kind of person should I become?" and "What is the good life for a human being?"

His answer: eudaimonia—happiness, flourishing, well-being. But this isn't subjective feeling; it's objective living-well, the actualization of human capacities, especially reason. Virtue (aretē) is the state of character that enables this flourishing.

This unit covers most of the Nicomachean Ethics and selections from the Politics. The goal is to understand Aristotle's ethical framework and its relationship to his metaphysics and politics.

Readings

Week 13: Happiness and the Human Function

Nicomachean Ethics Book I (complete, ~25 pages)

  • The good as that at which all things aim
  • The hierarchy of goods and sciences
  • Happiness (eudaimonia) as the highest good
  • The function argument: what is the ergon of a human being?
  • Happiness as activity of the soul in accordance with virtue

Nicomachean Ethics Book X, chapters 6-8 (~15 pages)

  • Contemplation (theoria) as the highest happiness
  • The life of contemplation vs. the political life

Reading time: ~5-6 hours

Writing assignment (due end of Week 13):

500 words on the function argument (NE I.7, 1097b22-1098a20):

Reconstruct Aristotle's argument that the human good is "activity of soul in accordance with virtue." What assumptions does this argument make? Is the concept of a human "function" (ergon) coherent? What would someone who denies that humans have a function say in response?

Week 14: Virtue and the Mean

Nicomachean Ethics Book II (complete, ~20 pages)

  • Virtue is not natural but acquired through habituation
  • Virtue as a mean between excess and deficiency
  • The role of pleasure and pain
  • Virtue as a state (hexis)

Nicomachean Ethics Book III, chapters 1-5 (~20 pages)

  • Voluntary and involuntary action
  • Choice (prohairesis) and deliberation
  • Responsibility and blame

Nicomachean Ethics Book VI (complete, ~25 pages)

  • Intellectual virtues
  • Practical wisdom (phronesis)
  • The relationship between practical and theoretical wisdom

Reading time: ~6-7 hours

Writing assignment (due end of Week 14):

500 words on phronesis (NE VI.5, 1140a24-1140b30):

What is practical wisdom (phronesis), and how does it differ from theoretical wisdom (sophia) and from craft knowledge (technē)? Why does Aristotle think practical wisdom is necessary for ethical virtue?

Week 15: Friendship and the Political Animal

Nicomachean Ethics Books VIII-IX (complete, ~50 pages)

  • The three kinds of friendship: utility, pleasure, virtue
  • Perfect friendship between good people
  • Friendship and justice
  • Self-love and friendship
  • Why we need friends

Politics Book I, chapters 1-2 (~15 pages)

  • The polis as natural
  • "Man is by nature a political animal"
  • The household and the city
  • The naturalness of slavery (Aristotle's view—engage critically)

Reading time: ~6-7 hours

Writing assignment (due end of Week 15):

500 words on friendship and the good life (NE VIII-IX):

Why does Aristotle think friendship is necessary for happiness? A self-sufficient person seems to need nothing. Why does Aristotle argue that the happy person still needs friends? What does this reveal about his conception of the human good?

Week 16: Synthesis and Semester Conclusion

No new reading. Re-read key passages from the semester. Prepare for unit essay and semester synthesis.

Questions for reflection:

  • How does Aristotle's ethics depend on his metaphysics (function, actuality, form)?
  • How does Aristotle's account of virtue compare to Socrates' claim that virtue is knowledge?
  • Is the doctrine of the mean a helpful guide to action, or is it circular?
  • What is the relationship between ethics and politics for Aristotle?
  • How would you compare Plato's and Aristotle's visions of the good life?

Unit Essay (due end of Week 16):

3,000 words.

Prompt: Compare and contrast Plato and Aristotle on the relationship between reason and virtue. For Plato (especially in Republic), virtue requires knowledge of the forms, particularly the form of the Good. For Aristotle, practical wisdom (phronesis) is the intellectual virtue that guides ethical action, but phronesis is distinct from theoretical knowledge. What is at stake in this disagreement? Which account is more compelling, and why?

Semester Synthesis Essay

Due: End of Week 16

5,000 words.

Prompt: What is the relationship between knowledge and virtue in ancient philosophy? Compare and contrast Plato and Aristotle on whether and how knowing the good leads to doing the good.

Your essay should:

  • Explain Socrates' apparent view (from the early dialogues) that virtue is knowledge
  • Explain how Plato develops this in the Republic (the philosopher-king, the form of the Good)
  • Explain Aristotle's critique and alternative (practical wisdom, habituation, the role of desire)
  • Defend a position: which account better explains moral failure? Which provides better guidance for ethical development?
  • Engage with primary texts throughout—this is not a survey but an argument

Key Concepts to Master

  • Eudaimonia: Happiness, flourishing, well-being; the highest human good
  • Ergon: Function, work, characteristic activity
  • Aretē: Virtue, excellence
  • Hexis: State, disposition, settled condition of character
  • Mesotēs: The mean; virtue as a mean between excess and deficiency
  • Phronesis: Practical wisdom; the intellectual virtue of deliberating well about what is good
  • Prohairesis: Choice; the combination of desire and deliberation
  • Philia: Friendship, love; the bond between virtuous people
  • Theoria: Contemplation; the highest activity of the highest capacity (nous)
  • Zoon politikon: Political animal; the nature of human beings as creatures of the polis

Connections Forward

  • Virtue ethics is revived in contemporary philosophy (MacIntyre, Foot, Hursthouse)
  • Hegel's concept of Sittlichkeit (ethical life) responds to Aristotle
  • Heidegger's existential analytic is partly a radicalization of Aristotelian practical philosophy
  • The Frankfurt School critiques the reduction of reason to instrumental reason—Aristotle's distinction between phronesis and technē is relevant
  • Marx's concept of species-being echoes Aristotle's function argument

Semester Complete

At the end of this semester, you will have:

  • Read four major Platonic dialogues and substantial portions of Aristotle's central works
  • Written approximately 20,000 words of philosophical prose
  • Developed close reading skills essential for all subsequent philosophy
  • Understood the foundational problems that Western philosophy never stops addressing

Take a break before Semester 2. When you return, we begin modern philosophy: Descartes, Spinoza, Hume, and Kant. The conversation continues.