Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle - Detailed Notes

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This will be divided into multiple posts because of the 20,000 character limit.


I got through what is considered one of the foundation texts for all of Western philosophy. It is also a foundational texts for politics, theology. 2400 years after it was first written, it is still relevant and profound.

It is, however, a very dense text. It is written in such a way that requires full attention. I often found myself having to re-read paragraphs in order to understand just what Aristotle was trying to communicate. Sometimes, out of laziness I admit, if I didn't understand after re-reading several times in a row I would give up and move on.

I used this audio course as a study guide:

This audio course helps clarify some of the denser arguments and ties it to later philosophers.

As I was reading, I often found myself thinking, "That makes sense.' or even 'that's pretty obvious.' After letting everything about this dense book sink in, it is pretty mind-blowing if only because of how it forms an intricate web of common sense that is actionable and applicable.

Here are my notes. Take them with a grain of salt, as I admit that I might have missed the point at times, and may even have a few errors:


Book I: Happiness
Happiness is the ultimate goal in life. All that we do, all our choices, actions, we do in order to increase our happiness.

Happiness, in the context of this book, is a direct translation from the ancient Greek word eudaimonia. A definition from Sparknotes: Eudaimonia - Normally translated as “happiness,” eudaimonia also carries connotations of success and fulfillment. For the Greeks, happiness is not an inner, emotional state, but the activity, or energeia, of a successful person. The Greeks did not share our sharp distinction between the public and the private, so for them, happiness is a public matter that can be evaluated just as accurately by an observer as by the person being observed.

Many believe that happiness is a product of pleasure, honor, and wealth. But these goods should instead be viewed as products of an end(said end being lasting and sustainable fulfillment) instead of ends themselves.

These are goods that are subordinate to actions and circumstances. Aristotle suggests we aim at a good that creates a happiness that is based on universality and objectivity.

It isn't to say that we should be without good things like reasonable health, material prosperity, friends, family, etc. But, once again, these should be by-products in our pursuit of fulfillment.
For happiness does not lack anything, but is self-sufficient.

We must look to human nature in order to properly identify human fulfillment. Humans make choices and acquire practical wisdom(or prudence); happiness is closely tied to our choices and our knowledge.

It is only through the proper development of rationality that humans will find fulfillment and happiness.
For it is the mark of an educated man to look for precision in each class of things just as far as the nature of the subject admits; it is evidently equally foolish to accept probable reasoning from a mathematician and to demand from a rhetorician scientific proofs.

Happiness isn't just for ourselves, but for our community. Aristotle viewed ethics as a part of politics and social life. Happiness, as a goal, must be pursued in accordance with humans' social nature.

Therefore, we derive our happiness not just from ourselves and our own pursuit of excellence and glory, but from other human beings. A modern approach would involve balancing the demands of individual life with the (legitimate) demands of a larger community.

 

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Book II: Virtue of Character
When Aristotle mentions virtue, he is referring to moral excellence in humans. Virtue has different definitions based on cultural context so it is important to keep this broad definition in mind.

Virtue is the product of habits, choice, and the mean between extremes.

Virtue is something that has to be practiced constantly until it becomes automatic.
Thus, in one word, states of character arises out of like activities. This is why the activities we exhibit must be of a certain kind; it is because the states of character correspond to the differences between these. It makes no small difference, then, whether we form habits of one kind or another from our very youth; it makes a great difference, or rather all the difference.

Habits are actions that are done automatically with little to no thought or will power. It is the development of good habits (or habits of mastery) that help us make better, more moral, and more intelligent choices. Negative habits, like addictions, will have the opposite effects. There is no golden mean for outright vices like ill-will, envy, adultery, and theft.
For this reason, then, our whole inquiry must be about these; for to feel delight and pain rightly or wrongly has no small effect on our actions.

A moral virtue is found in a happy middle, or a golden mean.

The happy middle is different depending on the action, desire or emotion. Take courage for example - the extremes are foolish rashness and cowardice. With courage, being rash is closer to the happy medium. With drinking, being a teetotaler is closer to the happy medium than being a drunkard.
Thus a master of any art avoids excess and defect, but seeks the intermediate and chooses this - the intermediate not in the object but relative to us.

It's also relative depending on the individual, the golden mean will be different for each person.

In order to know the golden mean in different actions, desires, emotions, and situations; it takes self-control and prudence.

Aristotle was not a fan of hedonism, and views the blind pursuit of pleasure as a vice not conducive to moral virtue:
We ought, then , to feel towards pleasure as the elders of the people felt towards Helen, and in all circumstances repeat their saying; for if we dismiss pleasure thus we are less likely to go astray. It is by doing this, then, (to sum the matter up) that we shall best be able to hit the mean.

People need role models who are good examples of moral virtue - Christians sometimes ask themselves 'What Would Jesus Do?'

Moral virtue is neither natural nor unnatural, but acquired as a habit through repetition. Virtue is something that has to be practiced constantly until it becomes automatic.

 

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Book III: Preconditions of Virtue
We are responsible for our choices and our actions. In order to accept responsibility for actions, you have to do them voluntarily, not under compulsion; with relevant knowledge, and not have done an action blindingly, unthinkingly, or because of ignorance.

This notion of the voluntary action does not take into account one's individual freedom like later philosophers, theologians, and politicians have come to understand it. In order for our choices to be virtuous, they have to made on the basis of deliberation and rationality.
This is plain also from the ancient constitutions, which Homer represented; for the kings announced their choices to the people. The object of choice being of things in our own power which is desired after deliberation, choice will deliberate desire of things in our own power which is decided after deliberation, choice will deliberate desire of things in our own power; for when we have decided as a result of deliberation, we desire in accordance with our deliberation.

Courage and temperance are virtues that, besides having corresponding vices, are ideally found in a happy medium. Courage is about dealing with our fears of pain and poverty, not necessarily the elimination of those fears.
Hence also courage involves pain, and is justly praised; for it is harder to face what is painful than to abstain from what is pleasant.

Temperance is ultimately about having a good handle on deferring gratification, since yielding to pleasure is self-indulgent and even destructive.
So too to the unjust and to the self-indulgent man it was open at the beginning not to become men of this kind, and so they are unjust and self indulgent voluntarily; but now they have become so that it is not possible for them to be so.

Hence the appetitive element in a temperate man should harmonize with the rational principle; for the noble is the mark at which both aim, and the temperate man craves for the things he ought, as he ought, as when he ought; and this is what rational principle directs.