Ethical Theorist

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According to Aristotle, everything we pursue or aim at is good. Aristotle (84 BC) a Greek philosopher and scientist was a student of Plato and followed his Socrates Philosophical tradition. Nevertheless, Aristotles emphasis was quite different from Platos.

Aristotle (84 BC) a Greek philosopher and scientist shared with Plato the distinction of being the most famous of the ancient philosophers. Nevertheless, Aristotles emphasis was quite different from Platos. He was versed in aoad range of subjects including science, anatomy and philosophy. He established the first empirical guidelines for the conduct of scientific investigations.

Aristotle is also credited with the use of logic as a method for conducting research. He devised the idea of dividing areas of study into separate categories with specific methods of study for each field, and wrote over 400 books on everyanch of learning, including logic, ethics, politics, metaphysics, biology, physics, psychology, poetry, and rhetoric.

Among the texts are treaties on logic, called Organon or "instrument", because they provide the means by which positive knowledge is to be attained. His treatment of the Prime Mover, or first cause, as pure intellect, perfect in unity, immutable, and as he said, "the thought of thought". To his son Nicomachus he dedicated his work on ethics, called the Nicomachean Ethics, this is the first systematic treatment of ethics in Western civilization.

Aristotles principal doctrines, or theories disputed Platos theory. He reasoned that form cannot exist apart from particular objects, or as he puts it, "No form without matter, no matter without form". Accordingly, Aristotle rejected the notion that the Good exists independently of daily experience and human personality. In his view moral principles exist in the daily activities of human life and can be discovered by examining those activities.

Happiness, for Aristotle, is to be attained by developing ones potential for a life of reason. The life of reason has two aims the pursuit of truth through reflection and understanding and the pursuit of virtue through intelligent conduct. Virtue represented a midpoint between extremes of excess and defect. Some actions, however like murder or theft, he saw as bad in themselves and therefore having no midpoint.

Aristotle rejects three common conceptions of happiness, pleasure, honor, and wealth. Happiness, for Aristotle, cannot be identified with any of these things, even if all three are part of an overall happy life. Pleasure is found in satisfying desires, but whether or not we can satisfy our desires is as much up to chance as it is up to us. If human happiness were nothing more than pleasure, then the attainment of the chief human end would not be up to us. We would be "slaves to our desires."

Aristotle also rejects the idea that the life of honor, the life of being publicly recognized and revered, is the happy life. Again, he points out that whether or not we are honored is not up to us. This view of happiness would put the attainment of our chief end in life into the hands of others. Furthermore, we do not seek honor purely for its own sake, we also seek it as a measure of our worth. But happiness is sought for its own sake.

Aristotle sees wealth as merely useful, it is not sought for itself but for what it can be used to achieve. Wealth is a mean for something else, a rich person who works hard to accumulate wealth is not in search of just money, but does it to eventually obtain happiness.

Aristotle as an attempt to find out our highest good views ethics as the end, which he maintains, is really final. Though many ends of life are only means to further ends, our aspirations and desires must have some final object or pursuit. This end is called happiness.

Aristotle believes that human beings have three parts to their psychologies, what he calls three "souls" the vegetative soul (that unconscious part that takes care of autonomic functions such as digestion and circulation), the animal soul (that conscious part that feels emotions, desires, and appetites), and the rational soul (that part that thinks, evaluates, judges, forms beliefs, etc.). Of these, the animal and rational souls may both exhibit excellent rationality. The rational soul may be rational in itself, and the animal soul may be subject to reason�that is, ruled by reason. When the rational soul is doing its job well, it attains wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.

The habits of thought and intellectual skills that help it to do this job are called intellectual virtues. These are the virtues that are acquired through the kind of training one receives in school. But someone can have great "book smarts" and still be very irrational in how they conduct their lives they are led by irrational desires, uncontrolled emotions, etc. Their animal soul is not subject to the guidance of reason. Such a person lacks what Aristotle calls moral virtue.

Aristotles Doctrine of Mean relies on the reasoning that for every emotion, every desire or appetite, every behavioral disposition, there is a corresponding moral virtue, as well as moral vices. Virtues and vices are states of character. According to Aristotle, emotions and desires have purposes with respect to the whole person, but they fulfill these purposes only if they are felt at the right time, in the right way, to the right degree.

How you are conditioned to feel and respond to life situations is your character. This "right amount" of an emotion or desire is said to be the mean between the extremes of excess and deficiency. Thus, for every feeling you have, you can be virtuous (if your character is such that you feel it in the appropriate way), or you can exhibit the vice of excess (too much of the feeling) or the vice of deficiency (too little). For example, with respect to anger there is the vice of short-temperedness (excess), the vice of insensibility (deficiency) and the virtue of even-temperedness. There is also a golden mean with respect to the disposition to perform certain kinds of actions. For example, the generous person has the virtue of being disposed to give away money in a fitting way, neither too much nor too little. Our rational soul, when it is operating effectively, can tell through experience what is fitting�but until our feeling and dispositions are aligned with what reason dictates, we are not excellently rational.

Aristotles Doctrine of Mean and view of choice provides a link between ethics and effective leadership. As an example, if a decision is made in either extreme, excess (abuse of power) or deficiently (incompetent) will affect and overrun others with corrupt or inept individuals. All choices affect an out come, and every action has a consequence, the choice lies on the individual. According to Aristotle, choice implies a rational principle and thought. Choice is concerned with the means to the end, not the end itself.

Most moral virtues are to be understood as falling at the mean between to vices. Aristotles doctrine is represented in the following manner.

Vice of Deficiency Virtuous Mean Vice of Excess

Cowardliness Courage Rashness

Insensibility Temperance Intemperance

Illiberality Liberality Prodigality

Pettiness Munificence Vulgarity

Humble-Mildness High-Mildness Vaingloriness

Want of Ambition Right Ambition Over Ambition

Spiritless ness Good Temper Irascibility

Surliness Friendly Civility Obsequiousness

Ironical Depreciation Sincerity Boastfulness

Boorishness Modesty Buffoonery

Shamelessness Modesty Bashfulness

Callousness Just Resentment Spitefulness

Aristotle says that our states of character are cultivated "through like activities." Our feelings and behavioral dispositions are a matter of habituation. If we consistently behave in an angry way in a given situation, we will develop the habit of feeling anger in that situation. If we consistently behave in a calm manner in the situation, we will develop the habit of feeling calm.

Consequently, if a leader is presented with a dilemma, leans toward the mean of that particular virtue, he or she then makes the right choice. Leadership often involves ambiguity, which requires strong decision-making skills. Leadership also involves the means of courage, temperance, patience, truthfulness, modesty, and proper ambition. If a leader pursues the mean, he or she is employing moral goodness. Therefore, the choices a leader makes affects not only him self or her self but also the perceptions of the leaders followers. Hence, if we want to develop virtuous states of character, we need to do so through repeatedly acting in the corresponding ways until it becomes internalized. Virtues are really nothing more than good habits.

Ruggiero, Vincent Ryan. (17). Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues. Mountain View, California. Mayfield Publishing Company.

Greek Philosophy. http//www.wsu.edu8080/~dee/GREECE/ARIST.HTM

Aristotle. http//home.echo-on.net/~smithda/aristotle.html

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