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Aristotle & Virtue Theory


Slow1357

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Let's imagine a person who knows when to speak and how, a person who really knows how to debate, a person who is brave but not reckless, a person who can control his anger, a person who is generous but can control the way he gives money, everyone wants to be that person, right? Aristotle did believe that people of these kinds did exist in a very small amount. The virtue is based on your character, and can be gained by practice and habituation as Aristotle believed:

 

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What exactly does it mean to be virtuous? In a nut shell, Aristotle believed that having virtue is doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right way, in the right amount, toward the right people.


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The virtue is in the middle of two ends which are called vices (deficiency & excess). The virtue stands in the middle of both of the vices, which is the golden mean. Aristotle believed that the "Courage is the first virtue that makes all other virtues possible". Let's take an example of virtues on the golden mean of being courage:


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As you can notice, the vice of defect is cowardice which is 'the too little' of the golden mean (virtue), and the vice of excess which is 'the too much' of the golden mean, which is overconfidence or recklessness. In a nut shell, cowardice is the deficiency of courage, and overconfidence is the excess of courage, both are obviously bad, but it's perfect at its sweet spot (the golden mean). A normal person believes that being courage is to put yourself and danger and cause harm to yourself, but that's not how courage is defined in Aristotle's sense; Aristotle said that a courageous person would use his mind, check his own abilities before rushing into danger, check the possibility of succeeding with less injury, and taking actions that are right in the particular situation. E.g: You find a woman being mugged by a thief, the first thing you should do is use your mind, then check your own abilities. Let's say your body is well-built and the thief's body isn't and you have a good stamina, here, after checking it's possible and your abilities would help you, a courageous person would rush into the situation and take actions against the thief. Let's imagine the same situation, but with the opposite abilities. What should the courageous person do? Rush into the situation and put his own life in danger? Well, no. A person who has the virtue of being courage would actually call the police if the situation is 'too big for him to tackle alone'.

Other examples of golden means:

 

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The persons who exist with a virtue are called 'Moral Exemplars', you aren't supposed to gain a virtue alone, nah. You're supposed to watch them, learn from them, then act the way they're acting. So you learn virtue by watching it, then practicing it, then doing it, and then you may call yourself a Moral Exemplar.

Why do I have to be virtuous? You must be virtuous to achieve 'Eudaimonia' (A life well lived). A person who lives in 'eudaimonistic' life is a person who is always improving, setting new goals after achieving each goal, which will result happiness.
Thank you for reading. Nothing was copied here, everything is based on my understanding of this theory, mistakes might be found, would be grateful if it was read and corrected by someone who knows more about this theory.
Most of the sources were taken from this amazing video:

 

 

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