- Title Pages
- Dedication
- PREFACE
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2. Socrates
- 3 The Cyrenaics
- 4 The Cynics
- 5 Plato
- 6 Aristotle: Happiness
- 7 Aristotle: Nature
- 8 Aristotle: Virtue
- 9 Aristotle: Virtue and Morality
- 10 The Sceptics
- 11 Epicurus
- 12 Stoicism: Action, Passion, and Reason
- 13 Stoicism: Virtue and Happiness
- 14 Christian Theology and Moral Philosophy
- 15 Augustine
- 16 Aquinas: Will
- 17 Aquinas: Action
- 18 Aquinas: Freedom
- 19 Aquinas: The Ultimate End
- 20 Aquinas: Moral Virtue
- 21 Aquinas: Natural Law
- 22 Aquinas: Practical Reason and Prudence
- 23 Aquinas: The Canon of the Virtues
- 24 Aquinas: Sin and Grace
- 25 Scotus: Will, Freedom, and Reason
- 26 Scotus: Virtue and Practical Reason
- 27 Ockham
- 28 Machiavelli
- 29 The Reformation and Scholastic Moral Philosophy
- Bibliography
- Index
Aristotle: Virtue
Aristotle: Virtue
- Chapter:
- (p.153) (p.154) 8 Aristotle: Virtue
- Source:
- The Development of Ethics: Volume 1
- Author(s):
Terence Irwin
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This chapter discusses Aristotle's references to the Function Argument, which mark some of the places in the ethics where he relies on claims about human nature. These references determine the shape of his account of the virtues of character and intellect. The Function Argument concludes that virtue has a central place in happiness, since it identifies happiness with activity of the soul in accordance with virtue. Virtue, in turn, is the state in which something performs its function well. This account of virtue is more informative than it may initially seem. Aristotle claims that the human function is realized in a life of action (praxis) of the rational part of the soul, and hence in the rational choice of actions to be valued for their own sakes. In claiming that the virtues complete human nature, he argues that they complete the nature of human beings as rational agents.
Keywords: Aristotle, virtue, character, intellect, Function Argument, function, rationality
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- PREFACE
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2. Socrates
- 3 The Cyrenaics
- 4 The Cynics
- 5 Plato
- 6 Aristotle: Happiness
- 7 Aristotle: Nature
- 8 Aristotle: Virtue
- 9 Aristotle: Virtue and Morality
- 10 The Sceptics
- 11 Epicurus
- 12 Stoicism: Action, Passion, and Reason
- 13 Stoicism: Virtue and Happiness
- 14 Christian Theology and Moral Philosophy
- 15 Augustine
- 16 Aquinas: Will
- 17 Aquinas: Action
- 18 Aquinas: Freedom
- 19 Aquinas: The Ultimate End
- 20 Aquinas: Moral Virtue
- 21 Aquinas: Natural Law
- 22 Aquinas: Practical Reason and Prudence
- 23 Aquinas: The Canon of the Virtues
- 24 Aquinas: Sin and Grace
- 25 Scotus: Will, Freedom, and Reason
- 26 Scotus: Virtue and Practical Reason
- 27 Ockham
- 28 Machiavelli
- 29 The Reformation and Scholastic Moral Philosophy
- Bibliography
- Index