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“Happiness depends on ourselves.” More than anybody else, Aristotle enshrines happiness as a central purpose of human life and a goal in itself. As a result he devotes more space to the topic of happiness than any thinker prior to the modern era. Living during the same period as Mencius, but on the other side of the world, he draws some similar conclusions. That is, happiness depends on the cultivation of virtue, though his virtues are somewhat more individualistic than the essentially social virtues of the Confucians. Essentially, Aristotle argues that virtue is achieved by maintaining the Mean, which is the balance between two excesses. Aristotle’s doctrine of the Mean is reminiscent of Buddha’s Middle Path, but there are intriguing differences. For Aristotle the mean was a method of achieving virtue, but for Buddha the Middle Path referred to a peaceful way of life which negotiated the extremes of harsh asceticism and sensual pleasure seeking. The Middle Path was a minimal requirement for the meditative life, and not the source of virtue in itself. A Little Background Aristotle is one of the greatest thinkers in the history of western science and philosophy, making contributions to logic, metaphysics, mathematics, physics, biology, botany, ethics, politics, agriculture, medicine, dance and theatre. He was a student of Plato who in turn studied under Socrates. Although we do not actually possess any of Aristotle’s own writings intended for publication, we have volumes of the lecture notes he delivered for his students; through these Aristotle was to exercise his profound influence through the ages. Indeed, the medieval outlook is sometimes considered to be the “Aristotelian worldview” and St. Thomas Aquinas simply refers to Aristotle as “The Philosopher” as though there were no other. Aristotle was the first to classify areas of human knowledge into distinct disciplines such as mathematics, biology, and ethics. Some of these classifications are still used today, such as the species-genus system taught in biology classes. He was the first to devise a formal system for reasoning, whereby the validity of an argument is determined by its structure rather than its content. Consider the following syllogism: All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal. Here we can see that as long as the premises are true, the conclusion must also be true, no matter what we substitute for “men or “is mortal.” Aristotle’s brand of logic dominated this area of thought until the rise of modern symbolic logic in the late 19th Century. Aristotle was the founder of the Lyceum, the first scientific institute, based in Athens, Greece. Along with his teacher Plato, he was one of the strongest advocates of a liberal arts education, which stresses the education of the whole person, including one’s moral character, rather than merely learning a set of skills. According to Aristotle, this view of education is necessary if we are to produce a society of happy as well as productive individuals.
Continue reading: Aristotle… ARETÉ (αρετή)—in ancient Greek a term describing a maximum of ability and potency for action (optimum potentiae); a man’s effectiveness and skill in goodness. In the Polish language it corresponds to the term “cnota” (virtue) or “dzielnośći; (bravery). The problem of areté was one of the key ethical and pedagogical problems of antiquity (Jaeger); it is treated as the foundation of Platonic ontology (Kraemer); etymologically it is a noun without a subject: it comes from the word άριστος—the superlative degree of αγαθός [agathos]—good, and it can be most faithfully translated as “excellence” (the quality of being the best). DIFFERENT TYPES OF ARETÉ— Heroic Arete. In Homer’s poems the Iliad and Odyssey, the desire for areté or the possession of areté is a characteristic of the aristocracy. They lived in eminent families under the leadership of a local oligarchy described as αγαθός (good). In Homer the word applied to men capable of fighting—able warriors. They had to possess the best weapons, and their wealth guaranteed the quality of these weapons. The mean capable of effectively defending the group united in themselves strength, courage, good birth, and martial skills. Moral or spiritual values were rarely mentioned. Areté primarily meant the strength and skill of a warrior or wrestler, and especially heroic virtue. It was inseparable from a spirit of competition and pride that involved a feeling of duty and responsibility toward the idea of areté. Over time the concept of areté was extended to prudence and cunning, advantageous traits in war. The desire to win the crown of areté is the essence of heroism.
Continue reading: About Virtue – ARETÉ (αρετή)…
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1-10-2011 
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