ETHICS NOTES
HC2
-Aristotle and the highest good
Aristotle thinks that the highest good is determined by eudaimonia (good + spirit) also some luck is
needed.
Eudaimonia → happiness in a fulfilling sense, welfare, well-being
Different people can give different answers to eudaimonia, wise men and simple men.
What is eudaimonia?
- Can’t be pleasure and can’t be wealth too because we use wealth to access to things we that will give
us happiness, it’s a tool.
- Can’t be honor, but gives honor. Again honor is there also for the sake of something else, similar to
wealth.
- Can’t be virtue. Aristotle considers this but argues that having virtues is not enough, because I could be
virtuous, but live a life of inactivity, a life of misfortunes and misery, and certainly this life could be
better if we add more.
Highest good must be:
- Self sufficient → Aristotle means that it is something that is enough for a good life. This is why he
rejects pleasures. It is also something that is desirable for itself. Unlike e.g. wealth, which we desire for
other things.
- Desirable for itself
- Not desirable for the sake of some other good >
- wealth ,
honor ,
virtue
- All other goods are desirable for its sake → What this means is that you cannot augment it, make it
better by adding more goods, unlike pleasure or having virtues, since all other goods are desired to
bring about the highest good.
So highest good is final, the ultimate purpose, goal of good life:
E
- Telos: (amaç) goal, end, purpose, function → A lute player’s telos is to play the lute beautifully
- so, the goodness resides in the fulfilment of one’s telos.
- Logos: speech, structured thought, reason, ratio. Speech and reason are connected, and one cannot
* exist without the other.
- Teleological: relative to the purpose
- Arete: excellence, virtue, excellence in fulfilling one’s telos. Excellence displayed in the fulfillment of
purpose or function (telos). The meaning of “arete” is not an ethical one, it changes depending on what
it describes. Everything has an arete, also changes person to person.
, - The telos, the purpose of humans is an active life with an element of reason (logos)
- The eudaemon life, which is the highest good, is a life where perform our telos with excellence, with
& arete.
&
- Eudaemon life is one where we perform the activity of reason with most excellent way.
Two portions of the soul:
1. Rational
2. Irrational
6
→ two parts of the irrational soul:
1. Completely without reason
2. Not without reason → the excellence in the activities of the irrational part of the soul that’s
not without reason are the ethical virtues.
ARISTOTLE
- Founder of the lyceum in Athens
- Student of Plato’s academy in Athens. ,
- Logic, physics, metaphysics, ethics, politics, rhetoric, poetics
Aristotle and virtue
-Aristotle describes ethical virtue as a tendency or disposition (hexis), induced by our habits, to have
appropriate feelings.
-To develop ethical virtue, during childhood, we need to be exposed to situations that call for
appropriate actions and emotions; but as we rely less on others and become capable of doing more of
our thinking (we gain autonomy), our deliberate skills improve, and our emotional responses are
perfected.
& -Political deliberation is the best arena where virtuous persons can exercise, train, and hone their virtue
-Anyone who has developed a skill in performing a complex and difficult activity, the virtuous person
takes pleasure in exercising their intellectual skills.
- Polis: city, city-state → Polis comes into being for the sake of life but exists for the sake of the good life
(everyone does everything for the sake of what they believe to be good).
*
- !! The telos of a polis is eudaimonia, the good life! Polis is a sort of community, needs the
contribution of virtuous persons, and their competence at deliberation, problem solving and decision
making.
, Golden Mean
- Every ethical virtue is a condition intermediate (a golden mean) between 2 other states. 1 involving
& excess and the other deficiency.
- Virtues are no different from technical skills → ex: courageous person experiences fear to a degree
that appropriate to circumstances between the coward and the rash person.
- Finding mean in any situation isn’t a mechanical or thoughtless procedure but requires a full &
detailed acquaintance w/ the circumstances and being excellent at taking rational decisions.
- Aristotle → no ethical theory can offer a decision procedure.
- Aristotle → “: the virtuous person “sees the truth in each case, being as it were a standard and
&
measure of them”; hence, good persons are good at deliberation as a process of rational inquiry, and
succeed in discovering what is best in each situation.
HC3
Utilitarianism vs Libertarianism
*
1. Utilitarianism: do what provides the most good and least harm
*
2. Libertarianism: do what respects human freedom and self-ownership.
Utilitarianism opposes the view that actions can be inherently bad or good. The ethical value of
&
actions is grounded purely on the consequences they bear.
* Libertarianism defends an anti-authoritarian position: there are basic human rights that no authority
and institution should deny or stamp on.
Similarities → refusal of dogmas, grounded on rationalism.
So → utilitarianism centered on happiness/utility/good, NOT on individual human beings.
*D → libertarianism centered on individual human beings, their dignity and freedom, NOT on their
* happiness.
John Locke →Liberalism (natural rights, self-evident rights, morality, and governance)
- FATHER OF LIBERALISM! Deeply influenced libertarian thought
- Huge influence on American Revolution and 1st American Constitution
- Most important political work → Two Treatises of Government
Utilitarians -
Jeremy Bentham , John Stuart Mi
Liberalism -
John Locke
Kant Rawls ,
, ...
HC2
-Aristotle and the highest good
Aristotle thinks that the highest good is determined by eudaimonia (good + spirit) also some luck is
needed.
Eudaimonia → happiness in a fulfilling sense, welfare, well-being
Different people can give different answers to eudaimonia, wise men and simple men.
What is eudaimonia?
- Can’t be pleasure and can’t be wealth too because we use wealth to access to things we that will give
us happiness, it’s a tool.
- Can’t be honor, but gives honor. Again honor is there also for the sake of something else, similar to
wealth.
- Can’t be virtue. Aristotle considers this but argues that having virtues is not enough, because I could be
virtuous, but live a life of inactivity, a life of misfortunes and misery, and certainly this life could be
better if we add more.
Highest good must be:
- Self sufficient → Aristotle means that it is something that is enough for a good life. This is why he
rejects pleasures. It is also something that is desirable for itself. Unlike e.g. wealth, which we desire for
other things.
- Desirable for itself
- Not desirable for the sake of some other good >
- wealth ,
honor ,
virtue
- All other goods are desirable for its sake → What this means is that you cannot augment it, make it
better by adding more goods, unlike pleasure or having virtues, since all other goods are desired to
bring about the highest good.
So highest good is final, the ultimate purpose, goal of good life:
E
- Telos: (amaç) goal, end, purpose, function → A lute player’s telos is to play the lute beautifully
- so, the goodness resides in the fulfilment of one’s telos.
- Logos: speech, structured thought, reason, ratio. Speech and reason are connected, and one cannot
* exist without the other.
- Teleological: relative to the purpose
- Arete: excellence, virtue, excellence in fulfilling one’s telos. Excellence displayed in the fulfillment of
purpose or function (telos). The meaning of “arete” is not an ethical one, it changes depending on what
it describes. Everything has an arete, also changes person to person.
, - The telos, the purpose of humans is an active life with an element of reason (logos)
- The eudaemon life, which is the highest good, is a life where perform our telos with excellence, with
& arete.
&
- Eudaemon life is one where we perform the activity of reason with most excellent way.
Two portions of the soul:
1. Rational
2. Irrational
6
→ two parts of the irrational soul:
1. Completely without reason
2. Not without reason → the excellence in the activities of the irrational part of the soul that’s
not without reason are the ethical virtues.
ARISTOTLE
- Founder of the lyceum in Athens
- Student of Plato’s academy in Athens. ,
- Logic, physics, metaphysics, ethics, politics, rhetoric, poetics
Aristotle and virtue
-Aristotle describes ethical virtue as a tendency or disposition (hexis), induced by our habits, to have
appropriate feelings.
-To develop ethical virtue, during childhood, we need to be exposed to situations that call for
appropriate actions and emotions; but as we rely less on others and become capable of doing more of
our thinking (we gain autonomy), our deliberate skills improve, and our emotional responses are
perfected.
& -Political deliberation is the best arena where virtuous persons can exercise, train, and hone their virtue
-Anyone who has developed a skill in performing a complex and difficult activity, the virtuous person
takes pleasure in exercising their intellectual skills.
- Polis: city, city-state → Polis comes into being for the sake of life but exists for the sake of the good life
(everyone does everything for the sake of what they believe to be good).
*
- !! The telos of a polis is eudaimonia, the good life! Polis is a sort of community, needs the
contribution of virtuous persons, and their competence at deliberation, problem solving and decision
making.
, Golden Mean
- Every ethical virtue is a condition intermediate (a golden mean) between 2 other states. 1 involving
& excess and the other deficiency.
- Virtues are no different from technical skills → ex: courageous person experiences fear to a degree
that appropriate to circumstances between the coward and the rash person.
- Finding mean in any situation isn’t a mechanical or thoughtless procedure but requires a full &
detailed acquaintance w/ the circumstances and being excellent at taking rational decisions.
- Aristotle → no ethical theory can offer a decision procedure.
- Aristotle → “: the virtuous person “sees the truth in each case, being as it were a standard and
&
measure of them”; hence, good persons are good at deliberation as a process of rational inquiry, and
succeed in discovering what is best in each situation.
HC3
Utilitarianism vs Libertarianism
*
1. Utilitarianism: do what provides the most good and least harm
*
2. Libertarianism: do what respects human freedom and self-ownership.
Utilitarianism opposes the view that actions can be inherently bad or good. The ethical value of
&
actions is grounded purely on the consequences they bear.
* Libertarianism defends an anti-authoritarian position: there are basic human rights that no authority
and institution should deny or stamp on.
Similarities → refusal of dogmas, grounded on rationalism.
So → utilitarianism centered on happiness/utility/good, NOT on individual human beings.
*D → libertarianism centered on individual human beings, their dignity and freedom, NOT on their
* happiness.
John Locke →Liberalism (natural rights, self-evident rights, morality, and governance)
- FATHER OF LIBERALISM! Deeply influenced libertarian thought
- Huge influence on American Revolution and 1st American Constitution
- Most important political work → Two Treatises of Government
Utilitarians -
Jeremy Bentham , John Stuart Mi
Liberalism -
John Locke
Kant Rawls ,
, ...
