Ética a Nicómaco .-Aristóteles – Summary
En Ética a Nicómaco CliffsNotes
Main Points of Aristotle’s Ethical Philosophy
La virtud (areth, areté): Significa, literalmente, excelencia, mérito, perfección, inteligencia, fuerza, energía, nobleza de ánimo, generosidad, alteza. Es una disposición del alma, una capacidad y aptitud permanente que inclina a comportarse de una manera determinada. No tiene nada que ver con el intelectualismo socrático, que identificaba virtud con conocimiento. Aristóteles da a la voluntad mucha importancia en relación con la virtud. La conducta sólo será justa o buena si el individuo actúa a sabiendas y mediante una decisión consciente, firme e inquebrantable, decide acometer una acción por sí misma. La virtud incluye conocimiento, voluntad firme y una elección reflexiva de los medios necesarios para llevar a cabo una acción.
La virtud se adquiere mediante el ejercicio (poniéndola en práctica) y el hábito (éthos): «para que un hombre se haga justo es necesario que practique la justicia». De esta manera Aristóteles rechaza que seamos virtuosos por naturaleza (de nacimiento) o mediante aprendizaje. La virtud es el modo de ser de una persona, expresado a través de sus acciones («praxis»). Cuando se convierte en hábito, la virtud expresa la manera de ser de una persona en relación con la realidad que le rodea: es su modo de estar en el mundo, en la política, en la economía, en la cultura y en el Estado. Es su actitud ante el dinero, la familia, el Estado y la felicidad.
1. The highest good and the end toward which all human activity is directed is happiness, which can be defined as continuous contemplation of eternal and universal truth.
2. One attains happiness by a virtuous life and the development of reason and the faculty of theoretical wisdom. For this one requires sufficient external goods to ensure health, leisure, and the opportunity for virtuous action.
3. Moral virtue is a relative mean between extremes of excess and deficiency, and in general the moral life is one of moderation in all things except virtue. No human appetite or desire is bad if it is controlled by reason according to a moral principle. Moral virtue is acquired by a combination of knowledge, habituation, and self-discipline.
4. Virtuous acts require conscious choice and moral purpose or motivation. Man has personal moral responsibility for his actions.
5. Moral virtue cannot be achieved abstractly—it requires moral action in a social environment. Ethics and politics are closely related, for politics is the science of creating a society in which men can live the good life and develop their full potential.
Book 8 Chapter 3: The Three Kinds of Friendship
There are three varieties of friendship, corresponding to the three objects of affection. The varieties of friendship can be distinguished by determining what kind of good is the object of both parties.
- Friendships based on mutual utility (e.g., two men are friendly because each can be useful to the other in some way). This kind of friendship tends to be short-lived and is easily dissolved when the abilities or needs of one or both parties change.
2. Friendships based on mutual pleasure (i.e., two people are friendly not for what either is or what either can do, but because of the pleasure which each provides the other, e.g., witty conversation). This kind of friendship is also easily dissolved and is most common in general social relationships and among the young.
3. Friendship between good men of similar virtue or excellence who possess intrinsic rather than incidental goodness and who wish the good of each other for the other’s sake and not for any lesser motive. The attitudes of each party in such a relationship are determined by what the other party is and not by any incidental consideration. This is the most perfect and stable kind of friendship, and may be considered friendship in the truest sense of the word. It includes the other kinds, since both parties, by being good in themselves, are also good for each other, and provide each other with that which is both useful and pleasant. Such friendships are beneficial to both parties, but are extremely rare. For such a friendship to develop, much time and intimacy are required as well as personal goodness, for it is easy to desire friendship but difficult to build or deserve a solid relationship of this kind.
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