¶ … Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle's attempts to come to an understanding of human nature ultimately lead him to an understanding of justice. He attempts to understand how humans can reach true happiness, and delves deeply into the definitions of true happiness (eudaimonia) and virtue, and outlines how virtue and happiness are intertwined. Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics deals with metaphysics, and focuses on ides like soul, happiness, virtue, and friendship. In Nicomachean Ethics, he concludes that happiness ultimately derives from activities of the soul that are in accordance with virtue. Says Aristotle "happiness is an activity of soul in accordance with perfect virtue" (Book I).
Aristotle argues that the life that leads to the most happiness is a life of philosophical contemplation. However, he acknowledges that in order to achieve this life some members of a city-state must live a life of politics, adhering to the principles of justice, the highest of the virtues. Ultimately, Aristotle argues that a life devoted to virtues is second only in achieving eudaimonia to a life that is devoted to philosophical reflection.
In Book V of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle delves into a discussion of dikaiosune (justice). He notes that justice is extremely important in a society of free and equal people. Further, he makes a clear distinction between justice and ethics. Justice consists of following the rules, while ethics is comprised of doing the right and moral thing in cases where justice may lead to the wrong result.
To the philosopher Aristotle, justice is the ultimate virtue, as it requires having all other virtues, and unifies and orders the other virtues. The other virtues are friendliness, temperance, truthfulness, wit, courage, generosity, magnanimity, magnificence, right ambition, and good temper.
Says Aristotle of justice "all men mean by justice that kind of state of character which makes people disposed to do what is just and makes them act justly and wish for what is just; and similarly by injustice that state which makes them act unjustly and wish...
Political Philosophy Plato and St. Thomas Aquinas both have some strong opinions on the nature of man and knowledge. Plato held that the soul and body were related, but Aquinas rejected that particular position for the human soul (Alican, 2012; Torrell, 2005). He viewed God and the Angels as intelligent but not rational beings, and addressed the fact that the animal (physical) part of the human experience was what led to
Political Philosophy The purpose of the present paper is to compare and contrast the following books: On Liberty, written by John Stuart Mill in 1859 and The manifesto of the communist party, written by Marx and Engels in 1848. The first part of the paper will describe and analyze the political ideas included in each of the books. The second part will be an attempt to evaluate some of the positive
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