Aristotle s Symposium The Nicomachean Ethics - 1934 Words

720532457 The Symposium verses The Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (Ethics) is regarded as one of the, if not the greatest work concerning ethics in history. The word ethics derives from the Greek word ethos, which translates more properly as â€Å"character†, and it would seem that Aristotle’s concern in The Ethics, is what constitutes good character, and that goodness is of practical use; that merely knowing how to be a way is only half of what’s necessary, and that the known must be practiced. A related treatise, The Politics, is often regarded as the sequel to The Ethics, in part because Aristotle closes The Ethics by saying that his ethical inquiry has arranged the foundation for an inquiry into political questions. (Reeve. Page 194.) As such, Aristotle regarded ethics and politics as two separate but related fields, giving way to the idea that ethics surveys the good of the individual, while politics examines the good of the city-state (polis), but also that the good of the individual is secondary to the good of the city-state. Friendship Aristotle devotes two of the ten books of The Ethics to discussing friendship and its forms. Happiness, according to Aristotle, is a public affair, so with whom this happiness is shared is of great importance, and the suggestion that true happiness can be found in the life of a loner is absurd. In books VIII and IX of The Ethics Aristotle says that friendship (philia) itself is a virtue, and is not only important forShow MoreRelatedAristotle s Theory Of Virtue1493 Words   |  6 PagesAristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is a reflection as to what virtue is. Aristotle’s definition of virtue can be described as the as the â€Å"state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean relative to us, this being determined by reason and by that reason by which the man of practical wisdom would determine it† (Nicomachean Ethics, 31). In addition to that, Aristotle illustrates two types of virtue that stem from his primary idea; moral and intellectual virtue. Aristotle expounds moral virtue