Aristotle was the first person to develop ethics as a systematic science. He provided it with a definition by producing it from the word that had initially signified a joint residence, tradition, traits of character engendered by the conditions of a joint residence. The title of ethics, if to investigate the essence basing on letters, is given by the word "ethos", which meant tradition. Thus, the ethical virtue of Aristotle is called by consonance with the word "habit". In this connection, it becomes clear that no virtue of the irrational part of the soul takes place by nature: everything that exists by force of nature will not change by virtue of habit (Aristotle, Ross 50-59).
Aristotle made a significant contribution to the whole antiquity by analyzing ethical issues due to the fact that he paid attention to the positive role of sensations. At the same time, the views of Aristotle have a lot of differences with those of Socrates and Plato, with Aristotle criticizing them for their marginal rationalism. Hence, Aristotle believed that by connecting moral with mind they disregarded our passions. However, it is important to not just know the virtue, but to act in accordance with it. The very action takes place because of the fact the mind connects with a sensation. So, it is impossible to be a virtuous person and disregard the joy of a virtuous action.
The introduction into the theory of passions analyzed on the positive side allowed Aristotle to make crucial steps towards the development of the theory. First of all, according to Aristotle' philosophy, moral and virtuous behavior appear to be in connection with the concept of the variability of a person's behavior, the assumption of the thought about a certain freedom of choice that a person possesses within the frames of his ethical existence. In essence, this implies moving towards a deeper understanding of subjectivity. So, if to suppose that a person acts solely on the basis of his mind and that everything is discovered, there would remain no doubt about how to act. Apparently, Aristotle understood that very well, speaking about the fact that the knowledge of virtues does not provide any knowledge at all in a certain case.
Hence, according to Aristotle, a virtue is educated. However, a person that is not predisposed to the perception of this ethical knowledge will remain aloof to this teaching. This conclusion is again connected with the introduction of the necessity of an emotional mindset to perform an ethical action. If a person is not emotionally tuned towards good, this ethical enlightenment will prove useless to him.
Therefore, the virtuous behavior appears the action that is perform under the influence of emotions guided by mind. For the argumentation of this statement, Aristotle considers the interaction of different parts of the soul, in many ways resorting to Plato's understanding of its elements. Thus, Aristotle divides the souls into rational and irrational parts, with the latter divided into developing and aspiring. The developing soul is able to care about procreation, to feel the lack of nutrition, but it lacks any sensitive ambitions, any affects. That is why this part does not relate to a virtue. However, affects are able to engender a virtue way of life only if they are controlled by mind. The interaction of rational and irrational parts of the soul is provided by its hearing part. Due to the hearing part, the irrational soul perceives the knowledge that is hidden within the rational part that contains intellectual virtues. The rational part of the soul is also somewhat related to a virtue, since for the practical implementation of a virtue it is required to act wisely, that is, to focus on not just the common notion of a virtue, but also on specific goals that a person tries to achieve while a virtuous creature, while acting for the sake of his well-being and the prosperity of his polis (Aristotle, Ross 50-59).
At the same time, both Plato and Aristotle regard the true knowledge as distinct from common and widespread believes of an uneducated crowd. Both of them consider that true knowledge as the highest goal of a person and the crucial element of happiness (Cleary et al, 2013). However, according to Plato's teaching, a virtue is merged with the knowledge of verity, the study of philosophy leads to the possession of not only a mental, but a physical perfection. On the other hand, Aristotle more precisely determines the difference between knowledge and a practical life. With that, he places philosophy in a close connection with experienced knowledge (Cleary et al, 2013). Therefore, Aristotle's philosophy is divided into theoretical and practical components. According to his view, the main task of the theoretical component is to subsume the information gained from experience under the unity of a notion, and to derive individual truths from the common ones.
Furthermore, the ethical concepts of a virtues are formed on the basis of affects under the influence of the hearing part of the soul. The principle of their determination lies in finding a measure between two vices. For instance, courage is a certain measure between fear and insane daring, but this measure is not just a middle, but a determined attitude for every kind of virtue (Aristotle, Ross 50-59). For example, courage is closer to an insane daring than to fear. Prudence is the measure between dispassion and immorality, but is closer to dispassion. Generosity is the measure between miserliness and prodigality, but is close to the latter.
The principle of determination, however, it related only to ethical virtues. It does not suit the highest intellectual virtues, since the highest rational virtue, according to Aristotle, must by all-sufficient (Cleary et al, 2013). This highest degree of virtue does not imply any merger of sensational and rational elements. The intellectual virtue is wisdom, along with sobriety and sagacity. Thus, Aristotle promotes the contemplation that acts as the highest good as the ideal of the wise rational activity, since it is the activity that contains a goal within itself.
Moreover, Aristotle made a significant step in the development of the ethical thought by having positively evaluated the role of affects in moral activity. With that, he was against passions. A passion or an intense emotional tension, according to him, can divert a person from the right action, since, by succumbing to passions, we lose mind control. As stated by Aristotle, people must keep an eye on the things they can be affected by, since everyone is prone to affection differently. The most important thing to take into account, therefore, is pleasure and other consequences in entails, since these are things the judgment of which appears very biased in terms of our evaluation.
Consequently, only sober sensations play a positive role in the ethical concept of Aristotle. At the same time, it is known that in the actual world humanity is obliged in many ways to passions, since they are the crucial elements of an artistic fire and the excruciating search for verity, and every sacrifice implies a lot of passion. On the whole, in his ethical concept, Aristotle proceeds from the eudemonistic thesis. He believes that the aspiration to happiness is the simplest and most comprehensible desire of a human-being. However, the path to happiness if provided by ethics. The human good is represented by the activity of the soul in accordance with a virtue, and if there are several virtues, then the soul acts in correlation with best and most complete virtues (Aristotle, Ross 50-59). Therefore, according to Aristotle, the very happiness is the life in accordance with virtues.
Works Cited
Cleary, John J., John Myles Dillon, Brendan O'Byrne, and Fran O'Rourke. Studies on Plato, Aristotle, and Proclus Collected Essays on Ancient Philosophy of John Cleary. Leiden: Brill, 2013. Print.
Aristotle, and W. D. Ross. Ethica Nicomachea. Oxford: Clarendon, 1925. 50-59. Print.
