Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (late Aristotle: in his 60s)
Aristotle defines his project as political science, where political science is simply an ethics for the state. As such, political science, insofar as it aims to govern what a whole nation of men ought to do, is more “godlike” than an ethics that prescribes rules for the individual only. Laws are the works of political art.
The mean
The good is the mean and this mean is perceived rather than discovered via reason. Human beings are endowed with reason, which enables them to make sense of the particular perceptions they experience and thereby approach the mean. Neither reason nor sensual pleasure/pain can motivate a moral action on its own. If we begin with a rational idea of what is virtuous, we act on it only if it is bolstered by a desire. Likewise, a natural desire must be guided by reason in order to produce a moral action.
Some deviation from the mean cannot be avoided, but blatant outliers are blamed.
Class
Where a friendship is unequal, the love must also be unequal (proportional).
“This is why lovers sometimes seem ridiculous, when they demand to be loved as they love; if they are equally lovable their claim can perhaps be justified, but when they have nothing lovable about them it is ridiculous” (206).
Marriage
Marriage is both useful (division of labour) and pleasurable (natural propensity to form couples) and sometimes virtuous (if there is a good common bond, e.g. children).
The relationship between man and wife is aristocratic because man rules in accordance to his worth and leaves women’s business to his wife. If a man permits his wife no say in anything or if a woman rules thanks to wealth and power (which eclipse her husband’s superior excellence), the relation becomes oligarchic.
Sympathy
Only women and womanly men want their friends to share in their grief.
Self-love and pleasure
The good man (he who does what he ought to do) is a lover of self as he reserves what is noble for himself. The wicked man should not be a lover of self since he is a slave to his evil passions.
The measure of virtue
The good man is the yardstick against which every action is evaluated because he takes the most pleasure in the most virtuous action. Therefore, because happiness is the only thing that is an end it itself, the good man does what he ought to do.
Reason is what distinguishes man from animal. It is man’s most human quality. The most authentic man—he who is most true to his nature—is the happiest man. Thus, living according to reason is the happiest life as well as the most virtuous.
Virtuous action consists of both will and deeds. But where deeds depend upon needs (e.g. wealth to be generous), thinking is autonomous.
God does nothing, therefore he thinks. We must then assume that thought is blessedness/happiness. The man who most closely resembles God is the most blessed. That man is the philosopher.
Habit
Goodness is inculcated either through nature, habituation, or teaching. If it were by nature, everyone would be virtuous. Likewise, the mob cannot be convinced by argument because they have no sense of shame, only a sense of fear. Habit is what remains.
The law, derived from reason and practical wisdom, must fix virtue until it becomes habit. The law has an impersonal compulsive power and men follow it without resentment.
Context
The law does not hold good for every particular situation. A judge well-versed in law must take context into account. In other words, he must know the universal laws inside and out before he can tailor them. He needs experience as well as knowledge. This expert is the only man fit to command.
In a nutshell:
The good is the mean, which can only be approached through understanding coupled with sensual perception. The good man is the rational man, who is also the most authentic man qua man and therefore the happiest. He is motivated by self-love, which leads him to reserve the most noble and virtuous actions for himself. Regarding sympathy, the good man has his friends share in his joys, but not in his grief (a womanly weakness).
The philosopher is closest to God (God is a contemplative being), and it is he who is fit both to make laws and tailor them for particular circumstances.
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