Transcript of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics - Book I

is to take you know warm or room temperature air and change it into cold air and spit it out right that's the function of an air conditioner is to is to cold air cold air is to cool air it's to make it colder era style does this totally Aristotle thing previously in this course we've been talking about different moral or ethical theories like utilitarianism and Conte and deontological moral theory right these theories are broadly answers to the following question what is the morally right thing to do right utilitarianism has one answer its whatever thing produces the greatest total of pleasure - pain and the Conte in theory has a different answer well the morally right thing to do is whatever doesn't treat a person as a mere means for example okay but let's say we had an answer to this question let's say we could all agree on what the morally right things were or that at least you settled on some answer to this question then there'd be another question which is what's so good about morality why do we have to do the morally right thing why should I do the morally right thing if I know that the morally right thing is to donate all my money to famine relief for example why do I have to do that what's so good about morality that's the next question that we're gonna try to answer in this course we're only gonna read two answers to this question but we're sort of putting this one aside for now we're done with that we're gonna read the answers of two well two very famous philosophers who are very different from one another from very different eras of philosophical history one of them is Aristotle Aristotle and the other one is Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche and I'll just tell you upfront what their answers are why should I do the morally right thing according to Aristotle the answer is well because the morally right thing doing the morally right thing will make you happy it will make you fulfilled it will allow you to flourish given the kind of creature that you are and of course you want to be happy you want to flourish that's Aristotle's answer you should do the morally right thing because it because doing the morally right thing is flourishing for you Nietzsche's answer is very different why should I do the morally right thing don't you shouldn't doing the morally right thing is for losers do something else that's Nietzsche's answer okay we're gonna get to Nietzsche next time this video right now is just about Aristotle we're going to get Aristotle's argument that gets us to the conclusion that doing the right thing just is flourishing or happiness for a human being okay let's start with the conclusion the conclusion of Aristotle's argument is that happiness happiness or flourishing flourishing is this is the way Aristotle would put it exercising the virtues okay that's the conclusion that's where we're gonna get to in the end and Aristotle gives us his argument for this conclusion in book 1 of Nicomachean ethics the first step in the argument happens in section 2 here's what Aristotle says I'm gonna read it once all the way through but it is a very difficult passage and we're gonna need to work through it in steps so then we will we'll go through it more slowly if there is some end of the things we do which we desire for its own sake everything else being desired for the sake of this and if we do not choose everything for the sake of something else for at that rate the process would go on to infinity so that our desire would be empty in vain clearly this must be the good and the chief good okay that's from section 2 of book 1 of Nicomachean ethics this is the first step in the argument to the conclusion that happiness or flourishing is exercising the virtues acting in a virtuous way that's what exercising the virtues means acting in a virtuous way just is the same thing as being happy or flourishing as a human being that's the conclusion and this is the first step in the argument that gets us to that conclusion ok so let's go through it step by step if there is some end of the things we do which we desire for its own sake ok well let's start with end of the things we do so the end of something as Aristotle is using the phrase of course this was a originally written in Greek the end of something is the purpose of it the aim so if there is some aim of our activities of our actions if there's some purpose for our for our activities there's something that we're attempting to get which we desire for its own sake desire for its own sake ok so we need to talk about what it is to want something for its own sake or to want it for the sake of something else take money for example do you desire money here's the money there's the head and somebody and there's like some money signs I think that you do you desire money if someone offered you money with no strings attached you would take it you'd say oh thank you very much this is very nice I desire it give it to me why do we desire money do we want have money just for its own sake just to have money no we want money so that we can do things with it so that you can spend it so that you can buy coffee or cakes or jet skis or lake houses or whatever it is that you want to use the money to buy we don't desire money for its own sake we desire it to get other things its desired we choose money if we're given the option we choose money for the sake of something else that is for the sake of the things that we would spend the money on so money isn't something that we want for its own sake and actually the same can be said of all the things that I just mentioned that you would spend the money on if you would spend the money on you know a cup of coffee well what's the cup of coffee good for is it good to have cups of coffee just to have them no cups of coffee here I'll put the but the that's the steam coming out of the cup of coffee right cups of coffee are good for drinking that's what they're good for if you just have lots of cups of coffee but you can't drink them then they're no good you only want coffee for something else for the drinking of coffee and the same goes of course for like lake houses here's your lovely lake house there's the lake and it's good you know ripples in the water and there's your lake house you got a door and our roof okay there's a tree next to it okay what a nice lake house what's having lake house is good for well it's good for going to them and showing them off to your friends and sitting on the porch in the springtime or whatever it's good for residing it that's what a lake house is good for it's good for something else money is only good to have because you use it for other things and the same with coffee and the same with lake houses all of these things are desired or chosen for the sake of something else Aristotle is wondering well there might be something that we desire for its own sake like we want that thing just to have it that's it and once we have it were satisfied we don't use it for something else now we should think about what kind of thing that would be like what thing do we desire for its own sake we'll get to that in like I don't know 90 seconds but first we need to finish going through this passage okay so if there is some end of the things we do which we desire for its own sake everything else being desired for the sake of this so if there's something that we want right and we only want that thing just to have it we don't want to use it for anything else and all the other stuff that we want we just want it for that one thing right so there's this one thing this mystery thing right and we want that just to have it and this all this other stuff that we want we only want this other stuff because this other stuff gets us just one thing right that's what this says everything else that's all this stuff everything else everything else being desired for the sake of this for the sake of this this one thing that we desire for its own sake the mystery thing all right so if there's something like this and if we do not choose everything for the sake of something else that is if it's not the case that everything else that we choose or desire or want or whatever if it's not the case that everything is like this but there's one thing like this because if everything was like this if everything that we wanted we only wanted it to use to get something else then Aristotle says at that rate the process would go on to infinity so like if you only want money to spend on coffee cups right cups of coffee and if you only want the cups of coffee so that you can drink them and stay awake and if you only want to stay awake so that you can work really hard to make lots of money and if you only want that money so that you can buy lake houses and if you only want the lake house so that you can go there and come up with new plans for how to make more money right then this process would go on to infinity and the desire that is your desire for money or your desire for coffee or your desire for a lake house your desire would be empty and vain if everything was such that we only wanted it so that we could get some other things this process would go on forever it wouldn't stop there'd be no thing you'd you wouldn't end it's something that you just walk for its own sake right and the the practice of desiring would be well pointless empty and vain okay so so far in this sentence all that Aristotle said is if there's something that we desire for its own sake if there's something that we just want and all the other stuff that we want we only want that stuff because it gets us this if there's something like that then clearly this clearly this must be the good and the chief good so the good for a human being the thing that's good for humans to have is whatever we desire for its own sake that's the first step in the argument and that's what Aristotle has said here okay that's the first step in the argument the good for a person what's good for a person is whatever we desire for its own sake that's step one in the argument to this conclusion step two in the argument happens in Section four of book one of Nicomachean ethics this was in the reading for today Aristotle just tells us what this mystery thing is what is this thing that is good for its own sake he just tells us what we want for its own sake and he says that everyone already agrees about this everyone already agrees that the thing that we want for its own sake is happiness happiness or flourishing or to use the Greek word eudaimonia everyone already agrees the one thing that you want for its own sake is happiness right so think about it you want money just so that you can buy coffee you want coffee just so that you can drink it and you want to drink it so that you can stay awake so that you can make money so that you can get the lake house and then you can sit on the porch of the lake house in the springtime and feel happy well why do you want to be happy so you wanted all those things so that they lead to other things which ultimately leads to happiness why do you want happiness satisfaction fulfillment why do you want that you just want it it's just good to have on its own it is something that you desire for its own sake that's what Aristotle says in Section 4 and Aristotle says everyone already agrees about this everyone already agrees that the good for a per-person is whatever we desire for its own sake and that is happiness but then Aristotle points out this is all in Section 4 that this agreement is superficial the fact that everyone already agrees that happiness is the thing that we desire for its own sake is a sort of superficial agreement because underneath it there is widespread disagreement about what happiness is what what is it to be happy what is it to flourish as a human being what is it to be fulfilled to have you die Minea what is that there's lots of disagreement about that and so the next task that Aristotle sets himself in this argument towards this conclusion about well it's a conclusion about morality or at least about virtue the next step in this argument is to figure out what happiness is so in order to say what happiness is Aristotle does this totally Aristotle thing which is he goes through all of the wrong answers first the answer is that other people hold and he rejects them and explains why they're wrong so he considers four theories of what happiness is of what flourishing is and this all happens in Section five of book one of Nicomachean ethics he doesn't number them out but all four of them are in there so go back and read through section five and you'll find the following four theories of what happiness is okay here they are let's go through each of them and see what Aristotle says to reject these alternative theories so the first is the theory that happiness is pleasure Aristotle his rejection of this in my opinion by the way is the weakest of all of these four he just says that thinking that pleasure is flourishing or happiness is suitable for beasts he just sort of dismisses it as sort of like unsophisticated this actually can be made somewhat plausible the idea is just that look simple creatures all that they can hope for in terms of their fulfillment is to feel pleasant feelings but human beings are capable of greater heights of happiness that's more than just a pleasant feeling but a sort of deeper abiding well flourishing or satisfaction or whatever so he dismisses the pleasure theory next is honor what is it to be to flourish or to be happy fundamentally or truly happy as a human being maybe it's to have a good reputation Aristotle says this can't be right because something like honor comes from other people and they could take it away whenever they want right think about all of the famous well-respected popular people that had their popularity stripped away from them very quickly because of what other people thought of them and maybe they deserve to have that popularity stripped away or maybe they didn't but the point is that this sort of thing is under the control of other people and Aristotle thinks that if you're really and truly flourishing if you really have eudaimonia then it's not something that can just be taken away from you from the outside okay the next is possession of virtue you know having virtues like being courageous well what is it to be courageous for example it's something like you're courageous if you're the type of person that were you to you know be in a dangerous situation where there is something that you could do that's dangerous but that is the right thing to do or something like that you would be able to persevere through the fear and danger or whatever and get the thing done that's courage is being disposed to act in that sort of way Aristotle thinks that the possession of virtue the mere having of these good dispositions or these good traits that's not flourishing or happiness for a human being because that's compatible with being asleep for your entire life right you could be asleep and still be courageous because courageous Ness courage just means that you would act a certain way if you were you know in the right circumstances but you might never be in those circumstances and so he thinks no no it can't be the mere having of these good qualities that constitutes happiness or flourishing for a human being so that's why he eliminates three and then four is wealth wealth is the easiest to eliminate well can't be happiness or flourishing because wealth is not desired for its own sake you only want money so that you can spend that money on things or if you don't want to spend the money maybe you want to leave it in your bank account and like point to it and feel good about how big it is or show other people how big your bank account is the point is you want it for the sake of something else for the sake of impressing other people are for the sake of buying jet skis or whatever so the wealth theory that doesn't work either okay well I don't even have to tell you what Aristotle's answer is you already know what Aristotle's answer is what is his answer to the question what is happiness or flourishing for a human being we know it's exercising the virtues that's the conclusion of the argument it's not merely having these virtuous characteristics like courage or whatever it's actually being courageous acting courageously using your virtues using them exercising that's what flourishing is for a human being okay that's Aristotle's account and now we've gotten to we've reached the point section seven of book one of Nicomachean ethics where we get the argument proper for the conclusion here's the first thing that Aristotle does the first thing he does is he sort of sort of repeats this bit there or elaborates on it or something like that he explains that you know the good for a human being the good for a human is well whatever it's gonna be it's gonna be final and it's going to be self-sufficient final just means exactly what we said before it means that once you have it you're done you've got the thing that you needed to get you don't use it to get something else and self-sufficient means well sort of the thing that we use to eliminate the honor option self-sufficient just means that you know it's self-contained it doesn't require something else like the cooperation of other people they need there they're the ones who need to give you the honor okay so he starts section seven by just sort of repeating this bit so whatever it is that's going to be the good for a person is going to be something that's final and something that's self-sufficient okay it's in this part of section seven that Aristotle sort of like restarts the argument in a certain sense the good for a creature the good for something is it seems on Aristotle's view associated with the function of that thing think about for example an air-conditioner an air conditioner has a function the function of the air conditioner is to take in a warm or room temperature air and change it into cold air and spit it out right that's the function of an air conditioner is to is to cold air cold air is to cool air it's to make it colder okay that's the function of an air conditioner and we can use the function of the air conditioner its job its purpose to figure out what's good for it well what's good for it is just whatever allows it to perform its function so you know what's good for an air conditioner is to have its filter cleaned every three months do you clean the filter of your air conditioner every three months having a clean filter is good for an air conditioner and we know that because having a clean filter lets the air conditioner cool air efficiently okay so now we have a recipe for figuring out what's good for a person we just have to figure out what the function of a person is what's the function of a human being if we can figure that out then we can just say that well the good for that creature is whatever allows it to do this thing so what's the function of a human being that's what Aristotle is gonna try to say now and just like before he's gonna go through some of the wrong answers first the first answer to this question that he considers is nutrition and growth is the function of a human being to take in nutrients and to grow no aerosol says that's not the function of the human being because that's something that humans share with plants and animals other non-human living entities and so Aristotle is assuming that whatever the function of a human being is it's going to be distinctive to a human being it's gonna be something that only humans do and that plants don't also do so he considers another potential function of human beings and that is perception by perception Aristotle just means the using of the senses sensory perception so hearing things and seeing things and smelling things that's something that humans do may be the function of a human being is to smell lots of stuff and to hear the things around it and to see things no that can't be it either because although plants don't have perception animals do animals can see and hear and smell so perception can't be the function of a human being okay well there's only one possibility left and this is it Aristotle says that the function of a human being is some sort of life of action of that part of the soul that has reason okay so it's something to do with the exercise of rationality because rationality is something that unlike nutrition and growth and perception only human beings have animals don't have rationality nor do plants so well this basically gets Aristotle to the conclusion that that he wants to reach because exercising the virtues according to Aristotle just sort of is by definition you know using reason that's all it is to act virtuously is to act in line with your rationality so that's how Aristotle gets to this conclusion that happiness or flourishing for a human being is exercising the virtues here let me sort of rewrite the argument like this here's the formula the good for a person or a human being just is performing the activities unique to people well because well performing the activities that are unique to a type of creature well that's just you know performing the function of that creature and performing the function of a creature is what's good for that creature well performing the activities unique to people well doing it well means performing the activities involving rationality well because rationality is the thing that's unique to humans or people and performing the activities involving rationality well just is exercising the virtues because the virtues are just defined as dispositions to appropriately use your rational part okay well we've got some equations here or whatever right this equation shows that happiness or flourishing just is what's good for a person and this one shows that what's good for a person is exercising the virtues so we put these together and we get happiness is exercising the virtues there you go that's Aristotle's views that's this happiness or flourishing is exercising the virtues and well you may remember that we started all of this out talking about the question why should I do the morally right thing now Aristotle doesn't really think about morality in the same way that we do but virtue is the closest thing that Aristotle has to morality as we understand it so the question why should you do the morally right thing well that's just like the closest thing we can come to in the Aristotelian way of understanding the world is well why should I exercise the virtues why should I do the morally right thing why should I be virtuous or act virtuously why should I exercise the virtues the answer is because exercising the virtues is happiness they're just the same thing so that's Aristotle's answer why should I do the morally right thing you should do the morally right thing because doing the morally right thing just is happiness at least that's what Aristotle thinks next time we're going to talk about what Nietzsche thinks which is that you shouldn't do the morally right thing because morality is for suckers you