VIRTUE ETHICS actions.

He posits that part of the rational soul is

characterized by moral virtues such as justice and
ARISTOTLE
courage.
Aristotle (384 B.C. to 322 B.C.) was an
VIRTUE (GOLDEN MEAN)
Ancient Greek philosopher and making
contributions to logic, metaphysics, mathematics, VIRTUE
physics, biology, botany, ethics, politics,
agriculture, medicine, dance and theatre. His work DEFICIENCY GOLDEN MEAN EXCESS
in the natural and social sciences greatly influenced
virtually every area of modern thinking.
The golden mean represents a balance
EUDAIMONIA between extremes, i.e. vices. For example, courage
is the middle between one extreme of deficiency
-Greek for “happiness”.
(cowardness) and the other extreme of excess
-Does not simply mean joy or pleasure, but also
(recklessness). A coward would be a warrior who
success and fulfilment – in essence, it is what you
flees from the battlefield and a reckless warrior
have when you achieve your full human potential.
would charge at fifty enemy soldiers. This doesn't
-For Aristotle, ultimate happiness would be
mean that the golden mean is the exact arithmetical
‘contemplation’.
middle between extremes, but that the middle
-Religions are generally for this.
depends on the situation. There is no universal
A life of eudaimonia is a life of striving. It’s middle that would apply to every situation.
a life of pushing yourself to your limits, and finding
Aristotle said, "It's easy to be angry, but to
success. A eudaimonistic life will be full of the
be angry at the right time, for the right reason, at the
happiness that comes from achieving something
right person and in the right intensity must truly be
really difficult, rather than just having it handed to
brilliant." Because of the difficulty the balance in
you.
certain situations can represent, constant moral
SOUL improvement of the character is crucial for
recognizing it. This, however, doesn't imply that
Aristotle believes that the soul is merely a Aristotle upheld moral relativism because he listed
set of defining features and does not consider the certain emotions and actions (hate, envy, jealousy,
body and soul as separate entities. He suggests that theft, murder) as always wrong, regardless of the
anything with life has a soul. He holds that the soul situation at hand. The golden mean applies only for
is the essence of all living things. However, humans virtues, not vices. In some ethical systems, however,
differ from other living things because of their murder can be justified in certain situations, like
capacity of rational thinking. self-defense.
He introduces the three kinds of soul:
-Vegetative soul includes the physical body that can
grow. GROUP 1:
-Sentient soul includes sensual desires, feelings and
Christian Anthony Anog
emotions.
-Rational soul is what makes man human. It John Julio Dayrit
includes the intellect that allows man to know and
Erna Joyce Terren
understand things.
Nino Babaran
Aristotle suggest that the rational nature of
the self is to lead a good, flourishing and fulfilling
life (self-actualization). The pursuit of happiness is
a search for a good life that includes doing virtuous