The Stages of Moral Education in Aristotle’s Ethics and Politics

Rhizomata ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-118
Author(s):  
Siyi Chen
Keyword(s):  
Moral Education ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Nicomachean Ethics ◽  
Strict Sense ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
Aristotle's Ethics ◽  
The Ideal ◽  
Ethics And Politics

Abstract I wish to prove in this article that Aristotle divides the ideal scheme of moral education into three stages: first, preliminary education, the most important part of which is the young’s musical-poetic education presented in Politics VIII.5–7; second, moral habituation, in the strict sense explained in Nicomachean Ethics II.1–4, which corresponds to the adult citizens’ military and subordinate political life, in which they learn how to rule through being ruled; finally, theoretical moral education, which means the learning of Nicomachean Ethics and Politics by those mature statesmen who wish to become excellent public educators.

scholarly journals ὁμόνοια: The Hinge of Aristotle’s Ethics and Politics?

Dialogue ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-30
Author(s):  
THORNTON C. LOCKWOOD
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nicomachean Ethics ◽  
Aristotle's Ethics ◽  
Ethics And Politics

Scholarship on the political ramifications of Aristotle’s account of friendship has focused on “political friendship” and has lost sight of the importance of his account of “like-mindedness” or “concord” (ὁμόνοια). Such a focus is mistaken for a number of reasons, not least of which is that, whereas Aristotle has a determinate account of like-mindedness, he has almost nothing to say about political friendship. My paper examines the ethical and political aspects of like-mindedness in light of a disagreement between Richard Bodéüs and René Gauthier about the autonomy of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics as a work of ethical theory.

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL COMMUNITY IN THE WORKS OF ARISTOTLE

2021 ◽  
Vol XVIII (44) ◽  
pp. 173-187
Author(s):  
JELENA BOŽILOVIĆ
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Ethical Principles ◽  
Human Potential ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nicomachean Ethics ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Political Views ◽  
Ethics And Politics

Aristotle’s understanding of political community is strongly linked with the view on political naturalism and the concept of a man as a moral being. According to Aristotle, man (by nature) achieves his human potential by living in a community, however, the political community on its own, as the largest and the most significant among all communities, enables citizens to fully develop their virtue through their participation in political life. For this reason, a man and the community are joined in a relationship resulting in mutual creation of ethics: by living in a polis, an individual develops virtue, and conversely, his virtuous actions in the community enable a polis to endure on ethical principles. This conception is found in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Politics, and is encompassed in the theory of virtue, theory of citizenship and a detailed consideration of the forms of political systems. Although elitist and exclusivist, Aristotle’s ethical and political views remain intact in terms of the value ascribed to the “the philosophy of human life”, as his legacy continues to inspire modern social thought. The aim of this paper is to show the connection Aristotle makes between a political community and ethical principles while pointing to their universal importance through the analysis of Nicomachean Ethics and Politics.

The Beautiful in Aristotle’s Ethics

2022 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-163
Author(s):  
David H. Little
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Nicomachean Ethics ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Common ◽  
Aesthetic Reading ◽  
Aristotle's Ethics

Abstract This article argues for an aesthetic reading of to kalon, primarily as it appears in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle uses to kalon to indicate that, to the morally serious, virtue is attractive and productive of a kind of pleasure. Read aesthetically, to kalon mitigates the tension between one’s own good and the common good. Aristotle shows how his students’ understanding of to kalon can be refined and thus preserved as an important and salutary feature of moral and political life.

The critical theory of democracy in Western political thought

2020 ◽  
pp. 117
Author(s):  
Ruqaya Saeed Khalkhal
Keyword(s):  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
The Social ◽  
Science And Politics ◽  
Political Realities ◽  
The Church ◽  
Theory Of Democracy ◽  
Or Applications ◽  
The Ideal

The darkness that Europe lived in the shadow of the Church obscured the light that was radiating in other parts, and even put forward the idea of democracy by birth, especially that it emerged from the tent of Greek civilization did not mature in later centuries, especially after the clergy and ideological orientation for Protestants and Catholics at the crossroads Political life, but when the Renaissance emerged and the intellectual movement began to interact both at the level of science and politics, the Europeans in democracy found refuge to get rid of the tyranny of the church, and the fruits of the application of democracy began to appear on the surface of most Western societies, which were at the forefront to be doubtful forms of governece.        Democracy, both in theory and in practice, did not always reflect Western political realities, and even since the Greek proposition, it has not lived up to the idealism that was expected to ensure continuity. Even if there is a perception of the success of the democratic process in Western societies, but it was repulsed unable to apply in Islamic societies, because of the social contradiction added to the nature of the ruling regimes, and it is neither scientific nor realistic to convey perceptions or applications that do not conflict only with our civilized reality The political realization created by certain historical circumstances, and then disguises the different reality that produced them for the purpose of resonance in the ideal application.

scholarly journals A Secular Critique of Religious Ethics and Politics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Cliteur
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Case ◽  
Moral Autonomy ◽  
Religious Ethics ◽  
Religious Leader ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
Central Notion ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Do So ◽  
The Ideal ◽  
Ethics And Politics

This chapter discusses the difference between a nonsecular or religious critique of religious ethics and politics and a specifically secular critique. It introduces the central notion of a secular critique, autonomy, and its two types, moral and political. Moral autonomy entails the separation of religion from ethics. The ideal of making that separation is called “moral secularism.” The opposite of moral autonomy is “moral heteronomy.” An extreme case of moral heteronomy is discussed: Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his own son when God commanded him to do so. Next, the importance of political autonomy and political secularism is illustrated with reference to the conflict between the king Ahab (the model of a secular ruler) and the prophet Elijah (the model of a religious leader). Some stories in the holy scriptures of the monotheist religions held in common by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are unfavorable toward secularism (both moral and political).

The Problem of “Higher Individuals” in the Works of F.M. Dostoevsky

2021 ◽  
pp. 119-134
Author(s):  
Li Xiaoyu ◽  
I.I. Evlampiev
Keyword(s):  
Personal Accomplishment ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Traditional Church ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
Existential Crisis ◽  
Kingdom Of Heaven ◽  
The World ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Ideal

This article deals with the controversial issue of F.M. Dostoevsky’s concept of “Higher Individuals.” The latter are people who rise above other people and have a special influence on society and on history. The authors argue that this concept is most clearly expressed in “The Diary of a Writer” (1876) as well as in the story “The Sentence”, along with Dostoevsky’s commentaries on this story. By means of a detailed analysis of Raskolnikov’s “theory” within the novel “Crime and Punishment”, it is demonstrated that only a superficial version of the concept of “higher individuals” is refuted in the heroes’ argumentations; at the same time, the novel’s characters – Marmeladov, his wife Katerina Ivanovna, and Raskolnikov – can be viewed as examples of different degrees in the personal accomplishment of this “higher personality” state. In conclusion, it is observed how a person must go through three stages of development in order to become a “higher character”: firstly, the experience of an existential crisis and the understanding of the lack of meaning in one’s life; secondly, the “rebellion” against the Creator of the world and its laws along with the rejection of the traditional church faith, whose rejection leads this person on the edge of suicide; thirdly, the acquisition of a new faith, first of all, a faith in one’s immortality, which happens in an unusual, unorthodox form, as is well demonstrated by the character of Svidrigailov in Dostoevsky’s novel. According to Dostoevsky’s doctrine, the meaning ofimmortality lies in the continuation of a person’s existence in a new form in the earthly world or in a “parallel” world similar to the earthly one, and not in the ideal Kingdom of Heaven, as the church claims. Finally, the authors maintain that the process of a character’s transformation into a “higher individual” was consistently and fully described by Dostoevsky in the stories of Raskolnikov and Ivan Karamazov.

The Ethical Views of Maimonides within the context of Islamicate Civilization

1991 ◽  
pp. 13-32
Author(s):  
Lawrence V. Berman
Keyword(s):  
Nicomachean Ethics ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Major Theme ◽  
Major Topic ◽  
Practical Activity ◽  
Central Figure ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Guide Of The Perplexed ◽  
Underlying Theme ◽  
The Ideal

This chapter examines the ethical views of Maimonides. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics had a decisive influence on Maimonides’ views, as did concepts found in biblical, talmudic, and post-talmudic literature. A major topic discussed in the Ethics is the goal for man, in general and in particular, aside from the importance of this subject for determining the kind of life the individual should pursue. A second major theme of the Ethics is the nature of the excellences or virtues of man in relation to practical activity and thinking. An underlying theme of the Ethics is that the happiness of the individual is ensured by proper laws which habituate the individual to proper behaviour in accordance with man’s nature. Maimonides’ principal works are his Commentary on the Mishnah, his Code of Jewish Law (Mishneh Torah), and his Guide of the Perplexed. In these works, which span Maimonides’ productivity over the course of his lifetime, the influence of the Ethics is marked. Thus, one sees how a central figure of Islamicate civilization, heir to the best in that civilization of an intellectual cast, was none the less receptive to the important influence of the Ethics. The chapter then discusses Maimonides’ concept of the ideal man in the light of the Ethics.

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