Nicomachean Ethics

“Indeed, the same person often changes his mind; for when he has fallen ill, he thinks happiness is health, and when he has fallen into poverty, he thinks it is wealth. And when they are conscious of their own ignorance, they admire anyone who speaks of something grand above their heads.”

In the first book, Aristotle explores the slipperiness of some of the definitions of good, virtue, and happiness. Often, the way individuals perceive happiness is wrapped up in what they do not have. It is something always unattainable, just out of reach. Conversely, Aristotle proposes that happiness is a product of the soul through virtue, or good.

“Now happiness, more than anything else, seems complete without qualification. For this we choose always because of itself, never because of something else. But honour, pleasure, understanding, and every virtue we choose because of themselves also—since we would choose each of them even if it had no further result—but we also choose them for the sake of happiness, supposing that through them we shall be happy.”

Aristotle suggests that human beings need to have function in both their professional and personal lives. In their professional lives, this function is seen through what they produce and do: a carpenter makes furniture, a farmer grows crops, and the like. In personal life, the function or the outcome is happiness. He suggests that humans choose to do good and pursue virtuous acts because they know it will help them to obtain happiness. This is the greatest desire of the soul.

“Virtue, then, is of two sorts, virtue of thought and virtue of character. Virtue of thought arises and grows mostly from teaching; that is why it needs experience and time. Virtue of character <i.e., of êthos> results from habit <ethos>; hence its name ‘ethical,’ slightly varied from ‘ethos.’”

Aristotle distinguishes between virtues of character and virtues of thought. At the end of his study, he concludes that virtues of thought are of a higher order than virtues of character. Contemplation through study is the best virtue that leads to happiness. Contemplation encompasses all the virtues of thought and pairs them with prudence, found in virtues of character.

“We can be afraid, for instance, or be confident, or have appetites, or get angry, or feel pity, and in general have pleasure or pain, both too much and too little, and in both ways not well. But having these feelings at the right times, about the right things, toward the right people, for the right end, and in the right way, is the intermediate and best condition, and this is proper to virtue.”

Throughout his work, Aristotle advocates for balance as revealed in the theme Finding Balance in Virtue. Pleasure and pain, as well as vice and virtue, contribute to a balance of character and good. To best hit the center target, the individual must be willing to dip slightly into each side, avoiding the extremes. Aristotle claims that there is a right way to live. His philosophy indicates that this right way of living is found through virtue and the pursuit of happiness.

“That is why it is also hard work to be excellent. For in each case it is hard work to find the intermediate; for instance, not everyone, but only one who knows, finds the midpoint in a circle.”

Humans trend toward extremes. They want to avoid pain at all costs and pursue pleasure at all costs. Aristotle’s approach suggests that this propensity for extremes makes it difficult to always do what is right and to find the best way to live. Therefore, he argues that an inactive person can never be virtuous. To achieve virtue, the individual must be active with intention, making decisions that contribute to a common good.

“Virtue, then, is about feelings and actions. These receive praise or blame if they are voluntary, but pardon, sometimes even pity, if they are involuntary. Hence, presumably, in examining virtue we must define the voluntary and involuntary.”

Aristotle rejects the idea that a person can be virtuous and live a life of passivity. It may be easy to never inflict injustice if one never produces action. However, happiness is achieved only through virtuous action. It requires conscious and intentional choice and effort.

“We deliberate not about ends, but about means to ends. A doctor, for instance, does not deliberate about whether to cure, or an orator about whether to persuade, or a politician about whether to produce good order, or any other <expert> about the end <that the science aims at>. Rather, we lay down the end, and then examine the ways and means to achieve it.”

This quotation supports the idea that virtue and happiness are about action. The choices that humans make day-to-day influence the end goal. Aristotle proposes that humans cannot always make choices that are based upon the end goal of happiness. This would be too lofty and disconnected from the reality of everyday life. Rather, they must make decisions based upon what is best for others and through the lenses of pleasure and pain.

“For it is more proper to do good than to receive good, and more proper to do fine actions than not to do shameful ones.”

In Aristotle’s work, action always trumps passivism. It is better to be doing something and making mistakes than doing nothing at all. Good, and ultimately happiness, are achieved through choice and action.

“The person who is angry at the right things and towards the right people, and also in the right way, at the right time, and for the right length of time, is praised. This, then, will be the calm person, if calmness is praised.”

Aristotle defines “calmness” as a virtue. However, calmness, in his view, is not dissociated with anger. Instead, anger is an important and useful part of the virtue. It must be directed at the right people for the right things. Anger should be about justice. If anger is harnessed in this way, then the person who exhibits it is considered praiseworthy.

“We mean someone who is truthful both in what he says and in how he lives, when nothing about justice is at stake, simply because that is his state of character. Someone with this character seems to be a decent person.”

Several of the virtues explored relate to people and how they interact with one another. In this instance, truthfulness is an important part of relationships. Its virtue lies in its ability to help others achieve common good and the end goal of happiness. This approach to virtue hints at Aristotle’s later focus on friendships, as outlined in the theme The Importance of Relationships for Good.

“Now in every matter that they speak about, the laws aim either at the common benefit of all, or at the benefit of those in control, whose control rests on virtue or on some other such basis.”

The book distinguishes between the distinct types of lives of man. The political life is concerned with doing what is best for all, the common good. Aristotle argues that the laws are intended to contribute to the common good and benefit everyone. A person who loves justice follows the law.

“Currency, then, by making things commensurate as a measure does, equalizes them; for there would be no community without exchange, no exchange without equality, no equality without commensuration.”

Aristotle’s view of equality is marked by exchange. Equality references what people give and take in a mutually beneficial relationship. In complete friendship, an equal exchange of virtue is enacted. Those who do not have equal relationships have failed relationships that will quickly dissolve.

“Justice is a mean, not as the other virtues are, but because it is about an intermediate condition, whereas injustice is about the extremes.”

Balance is an important theme in Aristotle’s work, as outlined in the theme Finding Balance in Virtue. He explores how balance contributes to an understanding of virtue and vice, pleasure and pain. Balance also plays a key role in friendships that are mutually advantageous. Aristotle also professes that balance is necessary in justice; it is a mean like any other virtue, surrounded by vices.

“That is why we allow only reason, not a human being, to be ruler. For a human being awards himself too many goods and becomes a tyrant, but a ruler is a guardian of the just, and hence of the equal. If a ruler is just, he seems to profit nothing by it.”

Aristotle’s views on governments and rulers acknowledge that hierarchal structures can never be predicated upon equality, making them innately non-virtuous. However, he recognizes the law and government as supremely virtuous. Therefore, all hierarchal structures must be completely devoted to common good rather than personal gain.

“People think doing injustice is up to them; that is why they think that being just is also easy. But it is not.”

Aristotle recognizes that doing the right thing is often extremely difficult. It can be challenging to see the ramifications of one’s actions or how they might negatively affect others. It can also be difficult to avoid a choice of pleasure when it is offered. Humans are inclined to cast judgment and believe themselves to be the exception, but the reality is that living a virtuous life is not easy.

“Let us say, then, that there are five states in which the soul grasps the truth in its affirmation or denials. These are craft, scientific knowledge, prudence, wisdom and understanding.”

Aristotle views the virtues of thought as the highest virtues. They contribute most to his understanding of The Meanings of Good and Happiness. Often, these virtues are balanced with virtues of character to create higher levels of virtue, such as study and contemplation.

“The reason why no one thing is always pleasant is that our nature is not simple, but has more than one constituent, insofar as we are perishable; hence the action of one part is against nature for the other nature in us, and when they are equally balanced, the action seems neither pleasant nor painful.”

Those who seek pleasure all the time tend to find themselves growing bored of it. This is because there is pleasure in novelty. Aristotle suggests that humans are hard-wired to grow tired of pleasure and to seek new avenues for finding it. This can help keep people balanced, but it can also lead them to continue to pursue increasingly extreme forms of pleasure.

“Friendship would seem to hold cities together, and legislators would seem to be more concerned about it than about justice.”

Aristotle’s devotion to the topic of friendship reflects his belief in its importance. Relationships contribute to good personally and politically. Aristotle suggests that if more humans engaged in complete friendships that allow both parties to support each other and work together to achieve final happiness, then enforcing justice will not be needed.

“But complete friendship is the friendship of good people similar in virtue; for they wish goods in the same way to each other insofar as they are good, and they are good in their own right.”

Aristotle distinguishes complete friendship from other forms of friendship as outlined in the theme The Importance of Relationships for Good. Other types of friendship are based upon a desire for self-gratification. Each person gives of themselves and takes of the other until those reservoirs are empty. Once that happens, the relationship dissolves. In true friendship, good is the focus. Each person utilizes virtue and offers instead of taking.

“Friendship, then, consists more in loving; and people who love their friends are praised; hence, it would seem, loving is the virtue of friends.”

Loving is not a virtue that Aristotle explores prior to this point in his work. Like all other virtues, however, loving has something to offer to the common good and the political life. Aristotle recognizes that loving one’s fellow humans contributes to a better life that is more centered on virtue for all.

“As has often been said, then, arguments about ways of being affected and about actions are no more definite than their subject matter. Clearly, then, we should not render the same things to everyone.”

Aristotle points to understanding and study as the highest virtue. For him, it is divine, a means to achieving happiness. However, he also recognizes that his experience may not be the same as that of others. There are many roads to happiness but all are paved with virtue. The path each person takes is an individual decision.

“For the excellent person is of one mind with himself, and desires the same things in his whole soul.”

While spending considerable time discussing the importance of friendships and relationships, Aristotle also argues that being a friend to oneself is equally important. Knowing oneself and determining right action for oneself is extremely important and contributes to happiness.

“But do we choose life because of pleasure, or pleasure because of life?”

Life and pleasure are intrinsically linked. Humans seek pleasure because they love to live, and they seek life because they love pleasure. Aristotle does not agree that all pleasure is good, nor does he think that all pleasure is bad. Like everything else, it is about finding a balance and recognizing the role each component plays in a larger context of happiness.