Verified Document

Plato, Kant, And Aristotle Plato, Term Paper

Discuss Aristotle's doctrine of the mean

The mean is the result of moral virtues being balanced within the individual. Aristotle saw the mean as the middle road to happiness. He argued that all of life is really an attempt to find the highest good. Pleasure is momentary, but happiness is an ethical state of balance of the individual soul.

Explain the role Aristotle assigns individuals for removing their own ignorance

Although he felt teaching was necessary to achieve this goal. Aristotle placed a strong responsibility upon the head of the individual for removing their own ignorance. He stressed that happiness was the utmost moral goal of every individual, and striving for such a balanced and virtuous state was the unique characteristic that set humanity apart from the beasts (and slaves and women, in his view). Thus, human beings had a responsibility to achieve knowledge, one of the components of true happiness.

What is Aristotle's definition of friendship, and what are the kinds (of friendship) he discusses?

Friendship is the result of and necessary to lead a virtuous life. Rather than friendships achieved for social utility or pure pleasure, the best friendships are moral, and formed out of pure like-mindedness.

Kant frames the categorical imperative in different...

Do the different statements of the supreme principle of ethics cohere well together or are they contradictory?
Kant's most famous definition of the imperative is that nothing can possibly be conceived in the world or out of it that can be called good without qualification except a good will, in other words, intention is what matters, not the result of the act. Kant argues for interiority, and against a focus on practical results over and over throughout his text in ways that ultimately, but controversially cohere.

Argue, using only the categorical imperative, for this conclusion: It is wrong to cheat on this test.

It is wrong to cheat on this test, because to do so would come from an ill will, even if it gained the recipient an a, it would do nothing to prove the purpose of the test, namely the state of the student's knowledge, and it would violate the bond of trust between student and teacher

What does Kant say for helping those who need our help (when we are in a position to help)?

It is imperative to help those in need when we are in a position to do so, regardless of whether this is legally incumbent upon us, it is morally incumbent upon us. One must act as though every action was a universal law, as one would like one's self to be aided when in need, by others.

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Kant and His Theories of
Words: 2665 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

The Critique of Pure Reason proposed and researched, highlighting expertise of how the mind's synthetic framework makes up the world. As a review of taste, such a technique does not try to separate some home that is distinct to beautiful items, however rather intends at exposing how the mind discovers specific items beautiful. Kant thinks that this is possible since the intellect that is associated with common spatiotemporal experience,

Plato, Thomas Aquinas and Jeremy Bentham Have
Words: 1549 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Plato, Thomas Aquinas and Jeremy Bentham have exerted great influence over our ideas of justice and have spawned various schools of thought. This paper compares views on justice by looking at their writings on the ideal state and what constitutes moral behavior. Plato (427-327 BC) is one of the most famous philosophers of antiquity. In The Republic, Plato wrote of his concept of individual justice as an offshoot of what he

Plato on Justice the Greek Word Which
Words: 1740 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

Plato on Justice The Greek word which Plato uses to mean "justice" -- dike or dikaios -- is also synonymous with law and can also mean "the just"; as Allan Bloom (1991) notes, Plato uses a more specific term -- dikaiosyne -- in the Republic, which means something more like "justice, the virtue" (p. 442). Gregory Vlastos (1981) goes even further to note that, with Plato's very vocabulary for these concepts

Aristotle and Happiness What Is the Point
Words: 1467 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Aristotle and Happiness What is the point of life? Happiness? Virtue? Power? All of these? The ancient Greek philosophers would have pushed us gently in the direction of virtue, although they would also have argued that both happiness and power derive from virtue and so the quest for a fulfilled life does not have to be seen in terms of a trade-off between doing good and doing well. This paper examines

Aristotle's View of Virtue and
Words: 985 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

Writes Copper, "the Nicomachean Ethics, many hold, is the greatest work ever written on practical philosophy" (p. 126). The greatest portion of this appeal comes from Aristotle's ability to reconcile the cultivation of a pure, inner self with the promotion of the universal good of mankind as a whole (Cooper). While Aristotle's conception of virtue can be a valuable practical guide on how to live one's life, his philosophy is

Kant -- Condillac's Proposal Etienne
Words: 751 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

Since right now computers are non-living, they must be programmed with knowledge (facts). If we used the analogy of a human who somehow was devoid of experience (senses, etc.) then that human would have to be retaught evertyhing in order to interpret the universe. However, computers of today are basically supercharged calculators; they respond to stimuli that is programmed in by taking a voluminous number of facts and processing those

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now