Aristotle Essay

Aristotle was a philosopher who was born in the Greek colony of Stagira in Macedonia. After his father’s death, Aristotle went to Athens to study under Plato. Although they had different views on ethics, Aristotle was considered Plato’s most talented student. He created the first systematic treatment of ethics in western civilization was called Nicomachean Ethics. In this system, he stressed the supremacy of rational nature and purposive nature of the universe. Aristotle believed that ethics was extremely practical and to become virtuous, a person must practice. He also believed that young individuals couldn’t be virtuous because of their lack of experience.

Every exploration has a teleological basis that aims at some end or good. Teleology is the doctrine of ends in which reality is organized. This means that every action in life points to a goal or end. Many examples of these types of ends are stated on page 23 of Great Traditions in Ethics By Theodore C. Denise, Nicolas P. White, and Sheldon P. Peterfreund when Aristotle states that “the end of the medical art is heath, that of shipbuilding a vessel, that of strategy victory, that of economics wealth.” This proves Aristotle’s point that every action that an individual does has some goal on which he or she hopes to reach. He next states on page 24 of Great Traditions in Ethics that “every subject is best handled by those of experience.” By this he means that when a person is specialized or educated in a certain subject, they will be a good judge of that subject. On the other hand, when a man has an all around education and not specialized in one specific subject, he or she will be a good judge in general.

Next, he proceeds by discussing what the end of all human actions is. He states that the one objective in which individuals pursue throughout his or her lives is happiness. This is the ultimate end of all human actions in which people strive to achieve. Although most people identify being happy as having pleasure, wealth, and honor, every person has a different view on what will make them happy. Aristotle also believed that happiness would be perfected by reason and rationality.

He thought that the definition of happiness couldn’t be understood until the nature of virtue was examined. He mentioned that nature of virtue depends on the two