Finding Virtue In Aristotle's Ethics

In today’s society less and less people think about morality when making their decisions. This is partly due to the fact that most people don’t think about what is going to bring them absolute happiness. They believe that doing what gives them pleasure at the moment is what will make them happy. In Aristotle’s Ethics he explains a much different point of view. He believes that moral excellence and finding virtue is what will bring humans true happiness. In Book I of Aristotle’s Ethics he discusses the four causes. Cause number one is the material cause, which is what the object is made out of. Cause number two is the formal cause, which determines the structure of the object. Cause number three is the efficient cause, which is what brought …show more content…
He explains that the misfortunes that happen directly to the person will weigh heavy on them, while misfortunes that happen to their loved ones carry a much lighter weight (Aristotle, Ethics, p. 364). Aristotle theorizes that a person’s ability to use their reasoning to stay on the right path can also determine if they are a good person or not. There are many ways in which humans are tempted to stray off of the path of virtue but with self-control it is possible to stay on the path. One thing that humans have to learn to control is their excess or deficiency of things. He explains that the only way to control this is to have reason (Aristotle, Ethics, p. 370). Aristotle says that having either excess or deficiency of anything is a vice. For example, Aristotle says that either an excess or defect of exercise causes a person to become weaker, or an excess or defect in food causes a person to lose their health. But a perfect equilibrium causes and increase in strength and an increase in heath (Aristotle, Ethics, p. 371). He says that this theory can also be applied to our emotions. Too much or too little of an emotion is a vice. For example, everyone feels fear, but a person that feels too much fear is a coward and a person who doesn’t feel enough fear is rash, but a person that feels a reasonable amount of fear is courageous. Aristotle says that the person who is able to find the mean of all their emotions is a person who is able to find virtue. One thing humans must also learn to deal with is the parts of their soul. The soul is broken up into 2 categories but it has three parts. The first category consists of the vegetative part and the irrational part. They are grouped together because they are both considered irrational. The second category consists of just the rational part of the