ARISTOTLE ON THE BEST GOOD: IS NICOMACHEAN ETHICS 1094a18-22 FALLACIOUS?
نویسنده
چکیده
The first sentence of NE I.2 has roughly the form: “If A [there is a universal end] and B (because, if not-B, then C), then D [this end will be the best good]”. According to some commentators, Aristotle uses B to infer A; but then the sentence is fallacious. According to other commentators, Aristotle does not use B (until later on); but then the sentence is bizarre. Contrary to both sets of commentators (but following Wedin 1981), I suggest that Aristotle uses B together with A to infer validly that there is a non-instrumental—and thus unique—universal end (hence D). On this interpretation the above two problems disappear, but a subtler problem emerges: not-B does not entail C.
منابع مشابه
Lear : Happy Lives and the Highest Good
University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher, except for reading and browsing via the World Wide Web. Users are not permitted to mount this file on any network servers. Introduction ARISTOTLE...
متن کاملThe Family in Aristotle in Memoriam J. A. Doull
The principal sources for Aristotle's account of the family are Politics I and II and Nicomachean Ethics VIII. In Politics I, the oikos (family, household) is defined as that specific form of koinwnia (community, association) which integrates individuals into a common life that enables them to become, as members of an oikos, members of a polis (political community, city-state) as well. In Nicom...
متن کاملThe Habits of Aristotle
Perhaps the most enduring legacy of Aristotle’s ethics is his theory of moral habits, largely found in the opening chapters of Book II of Nicomachean Ethics. By elucidating not only the requirements of virtue but also the methods by which we develop virtue, Aristotle’s ethics offers us a realistic hope of realizing his moral ideal. However, as we shall see, Aristotle presents only a brief sketc...
متن کاملThe Concept of Ergon: Towards an Achievement Interpretation of Aristotle’s “Function Argument”
Aristotle thinks that if you want to live well, you should organize your life by reference to the best thing that humans can achieve in action—something he calls “the human good.” In Nicomachean Ethics 1. 7, Aristotle helpfully defines the human good as “activity of the rational part of the soul on the basis of virtue and if there are more virtues than one, on the basis of the best and most end...
متن کاملIs Aristotle's Account of Incontinence Inconsistent?* By:
Article: Included among the many topics on which Aristotle writes in the Nicomachean Ethics is an account of incontinence or akrasia. Many controversies have arisen among interpreters of Aristotle on this issue, and a few of these disputes will be discussed in this paper. In the first part of this paper I shall indicate the usual way of reading Aristotle's account of incontinence, which I shall...
متن کامل