Discuss Aristotle's Argument With Descartes 'Virtue'

Aristotle seems to agree with Descartes to an extent regarding sensation. While Descartes believes that we cannot trust our senses at all, Descartes is a firm believer instead that we should seek only that which is undeniably true. Thus, since our senses can lie to us we should not trust them. This is best exemplified by his seeking of ideas that are ““Trying to build something that is firm and lasting”” Aristotle on the other hand believes that we should trust our senses if we are to become virtuous people. Hence the quote, “So virtue is a purposive disposition, lying in a mean that is relative to us and determined by a rational principle, by that which a prudent man would use to determine it.” According to this quote in the book Aristotle believe that virtue is accomplished by seeking the mean between pleasure and pain, and it is only through that, that we can attempt to be …show more content…
Descartes uses this argument to prove that since when we dream there is no definitive way for us to know for certain whether we are awake or not, as a result, how can we trust something that deceives us so blatantly.
“the same things do not seem sweet to a feverish and to a healthy person” Aristotle also appears to make the argument that our senses lie to us after long exposure or to those are that are ill. For example, when was ill everything can taste poorly, or when we have eaten so much even what we at first thought was quite appetizing, is now sickening.
In conclusion, after finishing Ethics we can deduce that Aristotle rejected the idea of mind-body dualism, while Descartes, according to what we have read so far, seems to be a firm believer in it, a lot like Socrates. As a result, Aristotle seems to believe that the body and mind are connected and it is primarily through seeking the meme can we achieve virtue. On the other hand, Descartes believes the senses should not be trusted at all and