...Looking at how precise Aristotle was about different types of friendships brings to mind the accuracy of what he believed. I think all three types are here to stay. Each has its own place in most people's personal growth but some become friendship midgets because of past relationships. They get stuck in relationship quick sand and either haven't found the encouragement to move on or dont realize that they are sinking. Utility and pleasure are self absorbing because at least one of the "friends" never intends on nurturing the other persons emotions or cares because the relationship doesn't require them to do so. "And not in so far as the other is the person loved but in so far as he is useful or pleasant" (Aristotle, p3). It's a monetary sense of gratification. Both can eventually grow into more but not often. The most...
Words: 832 - Pages: 4
...writers from Paper Masters have researched and found that Aristotle takes much of his notion on friendship from politics. Research papers on Aristotle's view of friendship looks at the philosophy of Aristotle and explicates how this philosophy boils down to politics and virtue in a man. Aristotle's treatment of friendship, including his definitions of friendship, is found within his work on ethics, the "Nicomachean Ethics." Friendship is included within his discussion of his general ethical theory. Aristotle bases his ethical theory on two constructs: Politics Virtue In most of the "Nicomachean Ethics," Aristotle discusses these two major subjects as separate subjects; or when they are discussed in relation to each other, they are discussed mostly with respect to what proportion of each is found in political activities or the conditions or state of a person's life. For instance, the more political an action is, the less virtuous it may be. And the more virtuous is an individual, the less he may be involved in the practical ends of politics. As mentioned earlier, friendship is a blending of politics and virtue; it can be looked at as an ideal blending. The Philosophy of Friendship According to Aristotle Friendship is included as a subject in term papers about Aristotle as a part of his general ethical theory because friendship has to do with the good which is the fundamental of the general ethical theory. As Aristotle begins the "Nicomachean Ethics," "Every art and every...
Words: 615 - Pages: 3
...Nicomachean Ethics is a famous book, where Aristotle follows Socrates and Plato in discussing the virtues of a central to a well-lived life. In this specific passage, Aristotle regards the ethical virtue of Friendliness to be a central part of social intercourse. Aristotle describes how different people act differently in different situations because of the social situation and kind of person they are. The passage builds the case to show how people are different, and how we should be able to better identify who a true friend truly is. There are different types of friendship, friendship based on greed, and friendship based on goodness of character. This assignment will discuss and better interpret these different characteristics which Aristotle...
Words: 846 - Pages: 4
...CLEMENTINA DIKE JEFFERSON COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES PHYLOSOPHY 115 (Critical Thinking) Eudaimonia means flourishing. For Aristotle, Eudaimonia is a habitual, virtuous activity, it is continuous. Eudaimonia is something that is proper to the person and that cannot be taken away. It does not depend on pleasures of life or honor bestowed on one by people which are temporary. It is a life rational living throughout ones life. Eudaimoina is the good that we all seek or should seek because it is full development and exercise of our human capacities in accordance with excellence or virtue throughout our entire life. For one to be happy, all his choices should be done in a good and excellent way – a life of reason which cannot be taken away. According to Aristotle, the defining function of a human being is “activity of soul in accordance with reason. ”He asserts that guiding our emotions with reason or being rational in an excellent way, according to virtue could lead to happiness. Virtue (Arête) is a life of excellence. It is a disposition to choose in a certain way, which is appropriate to that virtue. It encompasses all things, it is not partial. Virtue is learnt by practice and repetition. It is not inborn. It should be learned from childhood so that one does not need to struggle within himself to do good but is emotionally attached to doing good. Intellectual virtue is the innate understanding of the character virtue as being good and their contraries...
Words: 754 - Pages: 4
...Political science is governed by five myths: that it studies politics; that it is scientific; that it is possible to study politics separated off from economics, sociology, and history; that the state in our democratic capitalist society is politically neutral, that is available as a set of institutions and mechanisms to whatever group wins the election; and that political science, as a discipline, advances the cause of democracy.1 Politics, in the broadest sense, is the activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live. Politics is the process of who gets what, when, and how. Lastly, politics is a process of allocating scarce values.2 Various theorists and concepts define what the role of politics is in order to help us get a better understanding of how the study of politics is useful. Politics help us to understand the relationship between the government and the state’s minority citizens. Plato, the student of Socrates, defined politics in his own way. The ideal government proposed by Plato was the adherence of each individual to “universally valid principles” aimed at improving the lives of all the citizens instead of increasing power, prestige, or material wealth of a select few. Plato believed that this ideal government would be ran by individuals ho were full of wisdom and virtue instead of charisma and cunning. This is because in Athenian democracy, leaders were irrationally chosen based on irrelevant details such as family...
Words: 1205 - Pages: 5
...History of Psychology History of Psychology Paper Shirley L Nieves October 21, 2013 PSY/310 Prof. Kelle Daniels The roots of psychology date back to Egypt and the Egyptian mystery system. Psychology has evolved from philosophy, medicine, theology, and science. Psychology evolved out of coalescence of natural science, and also the branch of philosophy which is known as epistemology, which is also known in the theory of knowledge. Psychology in its early times was devote and mainly focused to understanding the mind, as well as measuring it. After this later on in time, psychology focused on understanding behavior. In the beginning the ancient Greek philosophers had learned a lot about their surroundings due to this they made an attempt to arrange the way they learn in a much organized way. As knowledge increased specialties were developed in the field. Psychology was then termed “Mental Philosophy”; this was concerned more with the principles in psychology. Psychology has evolved greatly in both the intellect and consciousness levels. It was in the late 19th century that psychology became an independent discipline which was divided separately. In Ancient Greek reasoning was referred to as rationalism which as we know is the search for the care essence of things. This is known today as the deductive method. In ancient Greek times they viewed the world in a macrocosm and man was viewed as a macrocosm. Amongst...
Words: 765 - Pages: 4
...(1000) Aristotle: The Three Types of Friendship If there is one thing that can be used to describe human beings aside from intelligence and the power of destruction it would be that we are entirely social beings. No person is to live a life without being social. It merely would be impossible and for those who do find themselves in the state of rejecting society and a social lifestyle, it would be those who have psychological disorders. With us being social it leads to the search of companionship. The reality is that we all want friendships. According to the great Greek philosopher Aristotle, we are complete social beings and seek friendship. Aristotle argues that there are three main kinds of friendship. The first kind of friendship is that one based on Utility. What is a friendship based on usefulness? I would describe a friendship based on utility as being for one that gets something in return for another’s actions. For example, if there is someone at school that always gets great grades on exams and for that reason I befriend that person in return to get help on my exams and the other person accepts if I drive them home from school, it builds as a friendship based on convenience. This friendship only exists because the individuals involved have a reason to do something for each other. Aristotle believes this friendship doesn't work and won't last. I highly agree for the reason that once the favors and usefulness of the other person fails to comply the friendship will...
Words: 1012 - Pages: 5
...I. THE THEORY OF THE IDEAS AND PLATO’S ONTOLOGY I. 1. The ontological dualism The theory of the Ideas is the base of Plato’s philosophy: the Ideas are not only the real objects ontologically speaking, but they are the authentically objects of knowledge epistemologically speaking. From the point of view of ethics and politics, they are the foundation of the right behaviour, and anthropologically speaking they are the base of Plato’s dualism and they even allow him demonstrate the immortality of the soul. Plato defends a clear ontological dualism in which there are two types of realities or worlds: the sensible world and the intelligible world or, as he calls it, the world of the Ideas. The Sensible World is the world of individual realities, and so is multiple and constantly changing, is the world of generation and destruction; is the realm of the sensible, material, temporal and space things. On the contrary, the Intelligible World is the world of the universal, eternal and invisible realities called Ideas (or "Forms"), which are immutable and do not change because they are not material, temporal or space. Ideas can be understood and known; they are the authentic reality. The Ideas or Forms are not just concepts or psychic events of our minds; they do exist as objective and independent beings out of our consciences. They are also the origin of sensible things, but although they are the authentic beings, Plato, unlike Parmenides of Elea, do not completely...
Words: 11604 - Pages: 47
...ARISTOTLE TRANSFIGURED Dante and the Structure of the Inferno and the Purgatorio by Donald J. Hambrick Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Phüosophy Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia August, 1997 Q copyright by Donald J. Harnbrick, 1997 N l*lofational Library Canada Bibliothèque.nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Bibliogaphic Services Acquisitions et seMces bibliographiques 395 Wdingtoci Street OttawaON K 1 A W 395, rua Wellington Ottawa ON K I A O N 4 canada Canada The author has granted a nonexclusive licence allowing the National Library of Canada to reproduce, loan, distribute or sell copies of this thesis in microfonn, paper or electronic formats. L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive permettant à la Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduire, prêter' distribuer ou vendre des copies de cette thèse sous la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la proprieté du droit d'auteur q ui protège cette thèse. Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement reproduits sans son autorisation. copyright i this thesis. Neither the n thesis nor substantid extracts fkom it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. To Those Who Teach. .. TABLE OF CONTEWS INTRODUCTION...
Words: 39283 - Pages: 158
...Aristotle and David Hume developed accounts of ethics that remained true to their own empirical philosophies that are different from more traditional accounts with the overall theme of how a virtuous person would live their life. In contrast, David Hume developed his own account of sentimentalist virtue ethics that challenges, or pushes back on, the virtue ethics Aristotle. According to Aristotle, we should be virtuous people – and as virtuous people do virtuous things. Instead of talking about particular actions and the rules according to which they are undertaken, then, Aristotle requires us to look at virtues, or qualities of character. Within Aristotle, the emphasis is more on character traits than on rules or obligations. Moral agency is not merely a matter of which rules to follow, but a whole way of life, which requires a unity of thought and feeling, which is characteristic of what Aristotle called ‘virtue’. What is a virtue, and what is the virtuous life? Aristotle’s definition is cited by Boetzkes and Waluchow: virtue is “a state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean, i.e., the mean relative to us, this being determined by rational principle, that principle by which the man of practical wisdom would determine it.” Virtue is a kind of disposition, but that’s not all – for virtue is a disposition to choose well. For Aristotle, virtuous action is action that emerges from one’s disposition to choose the middle point (or golden mean) between two vicious extremes;...
Words: 1667 - Pages: 7
...The last question to address is, how is one’s individual potential shaped by one’s relationships to others? The reading on Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle goes into great depth on the many types of friendships and how each one differs from the next. Aristotle identifies the three main types of friendships; the friendship of goodness, friendship for the sake of utility, and friendship for the sake of pleasure. The friendship that only seeks pleasure is, according to Aristotle, a bad friendship because the goal is merely to benefit one person and not both people in the relationship. This relationship’s foundation is based on each person’s vices rather than their virtues (Aristotle 3). When one does not possess a virtuous relationship, they are...
Words: 282 - Pages: 2
...Aristotle's Ethics Aristotle discusses what the greatest good could be. He begins by saying, “Every craft and every investigation, and likewise every action and decision, seems to be aimed at some good.” This means that Aristotle thinks that everyone’s actions in life are directed at something greater, something that they are striving for. I believe this to be a really strong point of the thesis because it seems in life that everything you do, you are aiming for something else. With every decision and action that a person makes, they try to gain a greater self-worth and prosperity. The true meaning that Aristotle hints upon is to achieve greatness and to be the best person that lies in your grasp. Aristotle believes that all good is subordinate to some point. For instance, the end, or good of a student would be the degree; with an inventor it would be the invention. This means that different people have different ideas about what the greatest good is. Today, the saying goes “money is the root of all evil”. This is true in some respects because money has destroyed countless friendships and lives. An example would be people who have had money their entire lives. Wealthy individuals probably think that money is not the greatest good because they are used to be able to have everything that they could want and will never be satisfied with anything because they will always want more. Some examples that Aristotle gives as to what he thinks people to see as the greatest good, or...
Words: 1133 - Pages: 5
...In a world of hyper-connectivity obsessed and driven by technology that knows no boundaries, what is happening to true friendship? Is it fading away? Or simply redefining or changing our contemporary notion of friendship by these social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. If so, what are the implications for life as we know it? Will we be happier? Humans are social beings, ever since we are born links are created, first with our family then with other people close to us, some of them start to become important to us and with maturity friendship starts to arise. Nowadays social interaction became even bigger with globalization, communication became more immediate, but yet more superficial. As a result, trying to define the word friend became a much more complex task than it was years earlier. According to the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle the definition of friend is "A single soul dwelling in two bodies." Aristotle wrote widely about the conception and importance of true friendship as a determinant of meaningful living. However his definition of friend is definitely not the one we are having these days through social media, the concept of personal and face to face interactions seems to be less important as time goes by and social media takes over. Social media plays a big role in our daily life; we keep in touch with our loved ones and get to know about what others are doing “enhancing” our social lives. However, this make us think about...
Words: 488 - Pages: 2
...Natural Law is an absolutist theory because it doesn’t vary its primary precepts with circumstances. Natural law is a mixture of teleological and deontological because it has primary precepts which are to do with duty, and secondary which apply to circumstances. Thomas Aquinas based Natural Law on Aristotle’s teaching about causality. In Aristotle Final cause and purpose are important when trying to give an explanation of a thing. Eg. the final cause of a knife is to cut. Aristotle thought this is what made a good knife. Something is good inasmuch as it fulfills its purpose. (The most important cause is the final cause which when achieved by an object it reaches perfection – because it has moved from potentiality to actuality eg. a potential A grade student becomes an actual one through application of hard work. ) The contrast with other senses of the word good can be brought out if we consider that a good knife can be used to perform a bad deed – ie. to stab a person. However, if it cut cleanly it would be good in the sense of doing what it was made for. This use of the word good is taken up in Aquinas and used in his theory. What is clear for a knife is not so clear for humans – what is our purpose? Ultimately, God Himself is the final purpose of human beings – our goals are not merely temporal, but eternal, because we have an immortal soul. However, we also have temporal purposes, which could be summarised as to live and flourish in certain ways discoverable by reason...
Words: 656 - Pages: 3
...is a book by Aristotle and is often regarded as the best work on ethics. In this book, Aristotle focuses on the different types of friendship, how the friendships form, and how long they last depending on the reasons for the friendship. This paper will focus on the types of friendship as advanced by Aristotle, illustrate what he meant by saying friendship based on virtue and my views towards this subject. Aristotle differentiates between three types of friendship. First, he singles out mutual, recognized love among people with respect for one another. Their friendship is for mutual benefit. They love each other for the good they get from each other. These kinds of friends wish each other well in respect of the love they have for one another. The second class of friends according to Aristotle is those who love for pleasure. They do not get into friendship because they admire each other’s character but because they derive pleasure from one another. In this type of friendship, one looks at the pleasure that is derivable from the friend. The friendship continues as long as there is pleasure derived. For this reason, this type of friendship is only incidental. The friendship dissolves away easily in case one friend ceases to get the pleasure previously derived or if one of the friends changes in character. If one party ceases to be pleasant and useful, the other party withdraws from the friendship. Aristotle argues that the old follow the usefulness of a friendship while the young...
Words: 879 - Pages: 4
