Ethics And Ethics Of Aristotle's The Nicomachean Ethics

In our society today, we are mostly challenged by two questions: ‘is it right to do this or that? And ‘how should I be living in society?’(Bessant, 2009). Similar questions were greatly discussed in the history by our ancestors in their philosophical discussions. The most ancient and long-lasting literature on moral principles and ethics were described by Greek philosopher Aristotle. He had an excellent command on various subjects ranging from sciences to mathematics and philosophy. He was also a student of a famous philosopher. His most important study on ethics, personal morality and virtues is ‘The Nicomachean Ethics’, which has been greatly influencing works of literature in ethics and heavily read for centuries, is believed to be written 2000 years ago. However, it still serves as an iconic work of literature for readers as it provides modern readers with new perspectives to known human behaviors and needs. In his writing, Aristotle insisted that there are no particular standard set for morality and that any ethical theory must be based specifically on the human psychology and human nature. Aristotle’s writings and research is based on analytical methods, which is why it serves as a basis for modern research methods. In the current paper, Aristotle’s view on happiness and virtues will be discussed in details.

Aristotle’s Background

In human history, Greek civilization is found to be one of the oldest and most resourceful civilizations. This civilization gave so many thinkers and philosophers to the World, who have argued excellent ideas and, as a result of this, equipped human beings with the foundation of various branches of knowledge. Modern generations and societies, who have seen major developments in different bran...

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...arête). Like every other thing, human beings also have some ‘function’ to perform, and according to Aristotle, the function of human beings is ‘to reason’. The goodness of human beings is attributed to performing ‘well.’ In fact, according to Aristotle the goodness of human beings is just not merely dependent upon the performance of the function, but rather the human character. Therefore, the possible way to distinguish between a happy or an unhappy person is determined by the quality of their life performance.

Aristotle’s work is nearly 2000 years old, but the people have not changed considerably in the many years, because human physiology remains the same. The types of the issues and problems he discussed in that time are still prevalent in our lives today. His rules to live life and explanation of virtue are equally important and helpful for us in today’s world.