Human Function Aristotle’s Basis for Ethical Value Essay

Human Function: Aristotle’s Basis for Ethical Value I. Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics Depend on the Human Function Aristotle presents a system of virtue ethics in Nicomachean Ethics. This work presents a prescriptive theory with the aim of showing how humans may reach a proper state of happiness in which the natural human end is fulfilled. This end is regarded as an end in itself to which subordinate ends are related. This master end itself is understood as a type of activity rather than a state that can be achieved with a limited series of actions, and this activity is described as a general practice of acting well in accord with reason. The Ethics launches an inquiry into what makes human happiness, or eudaimonia, possible, and†¦show more content†¦The value of actions that may be performed or goods that may be acquired are measured by how well they will help the deciding agent to act virtuously, and the extremes and deficiencies of actions and goods are determined by whether they will maximize or minimize that value. To make this concept of value more concrete, we should consider what embodies the virtue of functioning well in accord with reason. For Aristotle, this means that virtue can be exercised either in a political life or a life of contemplation. The political life allows an exercise of reason about human affairs, so it exercises the human function and allows fulfillment of the human end. According to the Politics, the political life occurs in a sphere organized hierarchically above the village and household and is made possible when humans meet their needs at those lower levels. (However, the political sphere also makes decisions about how to meet needs more efficiently.) The political sphere is characterized by self-sufficiency. The life of contemplation, though, as introduced in Book I and discussed in Book X of the Ethics, is made possible when politics takes care of human affairs, and it is the superior of the two forms of virtuous lives. Contemplation is more godlike because it is t he purest exercise of reason free of the earthly conflicts that trouble the political sphere; it is the most continuous and most self-sufficient. This confirms Aristotle’s conception of the gods asShow MoreRelatedConstructing A Good Human Being : Ethics By Aristotle1594 Words   |  7 PagesConstructing a Good Human Being: Ethics by Aristotle Aristotle’s philosophy of ethics reflects the complexity of human action, deliberation, and human life in general. His philosophy provides a flexible basis for integrating the subjective and the objective. 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