The Ethics of Aristotle

277 Pages·2013·0.64 MB·English

THE ETHICS OF
ARISTOTLE
Translator: J. A. Smith
An Electronic Classics Series Publication
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The Ethics of Aristotle
THE ETHICS OF enquiry to be pursued (an order which in the actual treatise
is not adhered to).
The principle of distribution of the subject-matter between
ARISTOTLE
the two works is far from obvious, and has been much de-
bated. Not much can be gathered from their titles, which in
any case were not given to them by their author. Nor do
these titles suggest any very compact unity in the works to
IIIIINNNNNTTTTTRRRRROOOOODDDDDUUUUUCCCCCTTTTTIIIIIOOOOONNNNN
which they are applied: the plural forms, which survive so
oddly in English (Ethics, Politics), were intended to indicate
The Ethics of Aristotle is one half of a single treatise of which
the treatment within a single work of a group of connected
his Politics is the other half. Both deal with one and the same
questions. The unity of the first group arises from their
subject. This subject is what Aristotle calls in one place the
centring round the topic of character, that of the second from
“philosophy of human affairs;” but more frequently Political
their connection with the existence and life of the city or
or Social Science. In the two works taken together we have
state. We have thus to regard the Ethics as dealing with one
their author’s whole theory of human conduct or practical
group of problems and the Politics with a second, both fall-
activity, that is, of all human activity which is not directed
ing within the wide compass of Political Science. Each of
merely to knowledge or truth. The two parts of this treatise
these groups falls into sub-groups which roughly correspond
are mutually complementary, but in a literary sense each is
to the several books in each work. The tendency to take up
independent and self-contained. The proem to the Ethics is
one by one the various problems which had suggested them-
an introduction to the whole subject, not merely to the first
selves in the wide field obscures both the unity of the sub-
part; the last chapter of the Ethics points forward to the Poli-
ject-matter and its proper articulation. But it is to be remem-
tics, and sketches for that part of the treatise the order of
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The Ethics of Aristotle
bered that what is offered us is avowedly rather an enquiry all this, though it brings more clearly before us what goodness
than an exposition of hard and fast doctrine. or virtue is, and how it is to be reached, remains mere theory
Nevertheless each work aims at a relative completeness, or talk. By itself it does not enable us to become, or to help
and it is important to observe the relation of each to the others to become, good. For this it is necessary to bring into
other. The distinction is not that the one treats of Moral and play the great force of the Political Community or State, of
the other of Political Philosophy, nor again that the one deals which the main instrument is Law. Hence arises the demand
with the moral activity of the individual and the other with for the necessary complement to the Ethics, i.e., a treatise de-
that of the State, nor once more that the one gives us the voted to the questions which centre round the enquiry; by
theory of human conduct, while the other discusses its ap- what organisation of social or political forces, by what laws or
plication in practice, though not all of these misinterpreta- institutions can we best secure the greatest amount of good
tions are equally erroneous. The clue to the right interpreta- character?
tion is given by Aristotle himself, where in the last chapter of We must, however, remember that the production of good
the Ethics he is paving the way for the Politics. In the Ethics character is not the end of either individual or state action:
he has not confined himself to the abstract or isolated indi- that is the aim of the one and the other because good charac-
vidual, but has always thought of him, or we might say, in ter is the indispensable condition and chief determinant of
his social and political context, with a given nature due to happiness, itself the goal of all human doing. The end of all
race and heredity and in certain surroundings. So viewing action, individual or collective, is the greatest happiness of
him he has studied the nature and formation of his charac- the greatest number. There is, Aristotle insists, no difference
ter—all that he can make himself or be made by others to of kind between the good of one and the good of many or
be. Especially he has investigated the various admirable forms all. The sole difference is one of amount or scale. This does
of human character and the mode of their production. But not mean simply that the State exists to secure in larger mea-
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The Ethics of Aristotle
sure the objects of degree which the isolated individual at- life of the adult citizen, and the stage of the actual exercise or
tempts, but is too feeble, to secure without it. On the con- enjoyment of citizenship. Hence the Ethics, where his atten-
trary, it rather insists that whatever goods society alone en- tion is directed upon the formation of character, is largely
ables a man to secure have always had to the individual— and centrally a treatise on Moral Education. It discusses es-
whether he realised it or not—the value which, when so se- pecially those admirable human qualities which fit a man
cured, he recognises them to possess. The best and happiest for life in an organised civic community, which makes him
life for the individual is that which the State renders pos- “a good citizen,” and considers how they can be fostered or
sible, and this it does mainly by revealing to him the value of created and their opposites prevented.
new objects of desire and educating him to appreciate them. This is the kernel of the Ethics, and all the rest is subordi-
To Aristotle or to Plato the State is, above all, a large and nate to this main interest and purpose. Yet “the rest” is not
powerful educative agency which gives the individual in- irrelevant; the whole situation in which character grows and
creased opportunities of self-development and greater capaci- operates is concretely conceived. There is a basis of what we
ties for the enjoyment of life. should call Psychology, sketched in firm outlines, the deeper
Looking forward, then, to the life of the State as that which presuppositions and the wider issues of human character and
aids support, and combines the efforts of the individual to conduct are not ignored, and there is no little of what we
obtain happiness, Aristotle draws no hard and fast distinc- should call Metaphysics. But neither the Psychology nor the
tion between the spheres of action of Man as individual and Metaphysics is elaborated, and only so much is brought for-
Man as citizen. Nor does the division of his discussion into ward as appears necessary to put the main facts in their proper
the Ethics and the Politics rest upon any such distinction. perspective and setting. It is this combination of width of
The distinction implied is rather between two stages in the outlook with close observation of the concrete facts of con-
life of the civilised man—the stage of preparation for the full duct which gives its abiding value to the work, and justifies
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The Ethics of Aristotle
the view of it as containing Aristotle’s Moral Philosophy. Nor enabling them to organise and administer their states and
is it important merely as summing up the moral judgments regulate by law the life of the citizens to their advantage and
and speculations of an age now long past. It seizes and dwells happiness, but it is the same kind of knowledge which on a
upon those elements and features in human practice which smaller scale secures success in the management of the fam-
are most essential and permanent, and it is small wonder ily or of private life.
that so much in it survives in our own ways of regarding It is characteristic of such knowledge that it should be de-
conduct and speaking of it. Thus it still remains one of the ficient in “exactness,” in precision of statement, and close-
classics of Moral Philosophy, nor is its value likely soon to be ness of logical concatenation. We must not look for a math-
exhausted. ematics of conduct. The subject-matter of Human Conduct
As was pointed out above, the proem (Book I., cc. i-iii.) is is not governed by necessary and uniform laws. But this does
a prelude to the treatment of the whole subject covered by not mean that it is subject to no laws. There are general prin-
the Ethics and the Politics together. It sets forth the purpose ciples at work in it, and these can be formulated in “rules,”
of the enquiry, describes the spirit in which it is to be under- which rules can be systematised or unified. It is all-impor-
taken and what ought to be the expectation of the reader, tant to remember that practical or moral rules are only gen-
and lastly states the necessary conditions of studying it with eral and always admit of exceptions, and that they arise not
profit. The aim of it is the acquisition and propagation of a from the mere complexity of the facts, but from the liability
certain kind of knowledge (science), but this knowledge and of the facts to a certain unpredictable variation. At their very
the thinking which brings it about are subsidiary to a practi- best, practical rules state probabilities, not certainties; a rela-
cal end. The knowledge aimed at is of what is best for man tive constancy of connection is all that exists, but it is enough
and of the conditions of its realisation. Such knowledge is to serve as a guide in life. Aristotle here holds the balance
that which in its consumate form we find in great statesmen, between a misleading hope of reducing the subject-matter
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The Ethics of Aristotle
of conduct to a few simple rigorous abstract principles, with ciple which governs all Greek thought about human life, viz.
conclusions necessarily issuing from them, and the view that that it is only intelligible when viewed as directed towards
it is the field of operation of inscrutable forces acting with- some end or good. This is the Greek way of expressing that
out predictable regularity. He does not pretend to find in it all human life involves an ideal element—something which
absolute uniformities, or to deduce the details from his prin- it is not yet and which under certain conditions it is to be. In
ciples. Hence, too, he insists on the necessity of experience that sense Greek Moral Philosophy is essentially idealistic.
as the source or test of all that he has to say. Moral experi- Further it is always assumed that all human practical activity
ence—the actual possession and exercise of good character— is directed or “oriented” to a single end, and that that end is
is necessary truly to understand moral principles and profit- knowable or definable in advance of its realisation. To know
ably to apply them. The mere intellectual apprehension of it is not merely a matter of speculative interest, it is of the
them is not possible, or if possible, profitless. highest practical moment for only in the light of it can life
The Ethics is addressed to students who are presumed both be duly guided, and particularly only so can the state be prop-
to have enough general education to appreciate these points, erly organised and administered. This explains the stress laid
and also to have a solid foundation of good habits. More throughout by Greek Moral Philosophy upon the necessity
than that is not required for the profitable study of it. of knowledge as a condition of the best life. This knowledge
If the discussion of the nature and formation of character is not, though it includes knowledge of the nature of man
be regarded as the central topic of the Ethics, the contents of and his circumstances, it is knowledge of what is best—of
Book I., cc. iv.-xii. may be considered as still belonging to man’s supreme end or good.
the introduction and setting, but these chapters contain mat- But this end is not conceived as presented to him by a
ter of profound importance and have exercised an enormous superior power nor even as something which ought to be.
influence upon subsequent thought. They lay down a prin- The presentation of the Moral Ideal as Duty is almost ab-
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The Ethics of Aristotle
sent. From the outset it is identified with the object of de- his own positive view of Happiness, and, though he avow-
sire, of what we not merely judge desirable but actually do edly states it merely in outline his account is pregnant with
desire, or that which would, if realised, satisfy human desire. significance. Human Happiness lies in activity or energising,
In fact it is what we all, wise and simple, agree in naming and that in a way peculiar to man with his given nature and
“Happiness” (Welfare or Well-being) his given circumstances, it is not theoretical, but practical: it
In what then does happiness consist? Aristotle summarily is the activity not of reason but still of a being who possesses
sets aside the more or less popular identifications of it with reason and applies it, and it presupposes in that being the
abundance of physical pleasures, with political power and development, and not merely the natural possession, of cer-
honour, with the mere possession of such superior gifts or tain relevant powers and capacities. The last is the prime
attainments as normally entitle men to these, with wealth. condition of successful living and therefore of satisfaction,
None of these can constitute the end or good of man as such. but Aristotle does not ignore other conditions, such as length
On the other hand, he rejects his master Plato’s conception of life, wealth and good luck, the absence or diminution of
of a good which is the end of the whole universe, or at least which render happiness not impossible, but difficult of at-
dismisses it as irrelevant to his present enquiry. The good tainment.
towards which all human desires and practical activities are It is interesting to compare this account of Happiness with
directed must be one conformable to man’s special nature Mill’s in Utilitarianism. Mill’s is much the less consistent: at
and circumstances and attainable by his efforts. There is in times he distinguishes and at times he identifies, happiness,
Aristotle’s theory of human conduct no trace of Plato’s “other pleasure, contentment, and satisfaction. He wavers between
worldliness”, he brings the moral ideal in Bacon’s phrase down belief in its general attainability and an absence of hopeful-
to “right earth”—and so closer to the facts and problems of ness. He mixes up in an arbitrary way such ingredients as
actual human living. Turning from criticism of others he states “not expecting more from life than it is capable of bestow-
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The Ethics of Aristotle
ing,” “mental cultivation,” “improved laws,” etc., and in fact their developed form they are known as virtues (the Greek
leaves the whole conception vague, blurred, and uncertain. means simply “goodnesses,” “perfections,” “excellences,” or
Aristotle draws the outline with a firmer hand and presents a “fitnesses”), some of them are physical, but others are psy-
more definite ideal. He allows for the influence on happi- chical, and among the latter some, and these distinctively or
ness of conditions only partly, if at all, within the control of peculiarly human, are “rational,” i e, presuppose the posses-
man, but he clearly makes the man positive determinant of sion and exercise of mind or intelligence. These last fall into
man’s happiness he in himself, and more particularly in what two groups, which Aristotle distinguishes as Goodnesses of
he makes directly of his own nature, and so indirectly of his Intellect and Goodnesses of Character. They have in com-
circumstances. “’Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus” mon that they all excite in us admiration and praise of their
But once more this does not involve an artificial or abstract possessors, and that they are not natural endowments, but
isolation of the individual moral agent from his relation to acquired characteristics. But they differ in important ways:
other persons or things from his context in society and na- (1) The former are excellences or developed powers of the
ture, nor ignore the relative dependence of his life upon a reason as such—of that in us which sees and formulates laws,
favourable environment. rules, regularities systems, and is content in the vision of
The main factor which determines success or failure in them, while the latter involve a submission or obedience to
human life is the acquisition of certain powers, for Happi- such rules of something in us which is in itself capricious
ness is just the exercise or putting forth of these in actual and irregular, but capable of regulation, viz our instincts and
living, everything else is secondary and subordinate. These feelings, (2) the former are acquired by study and instruc-
powers arise from the due development of certain natural tion, the latter by discipline. The latter constitute “charac-
aptitudes which belong (in various degrees) to human na- ter,” each of them as a “moral virtue” (literally “a goodness of
ture as such and therefore to all normal human beings. In character”), and upon them primarily depends the realisation
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The Ethics of Aristotle
of happiness. This is the case at least for the great majority of novel (for they are anticipated in Plato), but that by him
men, and for all men their possession is an indispensable they are for the first time distinctly and clearly formulated.
basis of the best, i e, the most desirable life. They form the
chief or central subject-matter of the Ethics. (1.) Character, good or bad, is produced by what Aristotle
Perhaps the truest way of conceiving Aristotle’s meaning calls “habituation,” that is, it is the result of the repeated do-
here is to regard a moral virtue as a form of obedience to a ing of acts which have a similar or common quality. Such rep-
maxim or rule of conduct accepted by the agent as valid for etition acting upon natural aptitudes or propensities gradually
a class of recurrent situations in human life. Such obedience fixes them in one or other of two opposite directions, giving
requires knowledge of the rule and acceptance of it as the them a bias towards good or evil. Hence the several acts which
rule of the agent’s own actions, but not necessarily knowl- determine goodness or badness of character must be done in a
edge of its ground or of its systematic connexion with other certain way, and thus the formation of good character requires
similarly known and similarly accepted rules (It may be re- discipline and direction from without. Not that the agent him-
marked that the Greek word usually translated “reason,” self contributes nothing to the formation of his character, but
means in almost all cases in the Ethics such a rule, and not that at first he needs guidance. The point is not so much that
the faculty which apprehends, formulates, considers them). the process cannot be safely left to Nature, but that it cannot
The “moral virtues and vices” make up what we call char- be entrusted to merely intellectual instruction. The process is
acter, and the important questions arise: (1) What is charac- one of assimilation, largely by imitation and under direction
ter? and (2) How is it formed? (for character in this sense is and control. The result is a growing understanding of what is
not a natural endowment; it is formed or produced). Aristotle done, a choice of it for its own sake, a fixity and steadiness of
deals with these questions in the reverse order. His answers purpose. Right acts and feelings become, through habit, easier
are peculiar and distinctive—not that they are absolutely and more pleasant, and the doing of them a “second nature.”
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