A NCIENT G REEK P HILOSOPHY 哲學研究所專任助理教授 陳斐婷

Good Action vs. Good Life

Contemporary ethical theories  Utilitarianism: the greatest good for the greatest number principle of utility: pleasure over pain  Deontology: duty and the good will

Action-centered vs. person-centered  Action-centered moral assessment Decision-Action-Consequence  Person-centered moral assessment 鄧如雯殺夫案 -The circumstances in which the agent makes the decision -The agent’s family background and history of growing up -The agent’s long termed character

Evaluation-centered vs. cultivation- centered  “Our present inquiry does not aim, as our others do, at study; for the purpose of our examination is not to know what virtue is, but to become good….” (NE 2.2, 1103b28-29)

Traditional Greek View of Happiness

Croesus and Solon on happiness

Tellus the Athenian

Until I hear your life has ended finely…

Happiness as the Final Good

The final good

The summum bonum

Happiness and its parts

Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics 1.1-4

Outline of NE Book One 1. The good as the ultimate end 2. The ultimate end as eudaimonia 3. Aristotle on the Platonic Good 4. The good for man and the function argument 16

Text 385

The Good as the End  “Every expertise and method of investigation, and likewise every action and choice, seem to seek some good ( ἀ γαθο ῦ τιν ὸ ς); hence the good (τ ἀ γαθόν) has been well described as that which all things seek.” (NE 1.1, 1094a1-3)  Bekker numbers: Aristotelis Opera edidit Academia Regia Borussica, Berlin, 1831–1870. Edited by August Immanual Bekker (1785–1871). 19

Two Kinds of End  “…the things achievable by action have some end that we choose for the sake of the end itself, and for the sake of which we choose the other things…”  X is chosen for the sake of the end itself. Y is chosen for the sake of some other end. 20

Text 386

Knowledge of the Good  “Knowledge of the good would seem to be the concern of the most authoritative science, the highest master science. And this is obviously the science of politics, because it lays down which of the sciences there should be in cities, and which each class of person should learn and up to what level.”  Science of politics: directs to what extent the other skills and sciences should be pursued in the cities, and it also lays down laws for all citizens, stating what they should do and should abstain from. 23

The Highest of all the Goods  “Since all knowledge and rational choice seek some good, let us say what we claim to be the aim of political science—that is, the highest of all the goods achievable in action. Most people, I should think, agree about what it is called, since both the masses and sophisticated people call it happiness (ε ὐ δαιμονία), understanding being happy as equivalent to living well and acting well (τ ὸ δ’ ε ὖ ζ ῆ ν κα ὶ τ ὸ ε ὖ πράττειν ).” (1095a14-20) 24

Happiness (ε ὐ δαιμονία)  It is essentially long-term; more than mere contentment and satisfaction; it connotes overall success, prosperity, and achievement.  It is not an external good, nor a good of the body, but a good of the soul, which is the highest kind of good (1089b12-18).  It involves actions and activities of the soul (1098b18-20), which bring their own pleasure with them (1099a7-21).  It is thus simultaneously what is most good, most noble, and most pleasant (1099a22-31). 25

Influenced by Traditional Greek View  At the same time some external goods and bodily goods are necessary conditions for happiness; one cannot be eudaimon without some wealth, nor without good looks, good birth, friends, political influence, and successful children (1099a31- b8).  One who suffers a notable misfortune cannot be counted as eudaimon (1100a5-9, 1100b a8).  Aristotle accepts Solon’s dictum “call no man eudaimon until he is dead,” because the judgment is about one’s whole life, and his whole life can only be known when it has ended. 26

Three Types of Life  Eudaimonia is closely associated with actions and activities of the soul.  The traditional three types of life: (1) the life of bodily pleasure. (The appetitive part of the soul) (2) the life of political activity. (The emotional part of the soul) (3) the life of the intellect. (The rational part of the soul) 27

Recapitulation of ε ὐ δαιμονία  What man ultimately aim for is the ultimate good.  Such an end must be unconditionally complete in the sense that it is pursued for its own sake and never for something else (1097a30-34).  The complete good must be something that self-sufficient, which means that by itself it makes one’s life choice-worthy, and lacking in nothing. It alone is the goal of all that we do (1097b6-21) 28