Aristotle's Ethics: Moral Development and Human Nature (Continuum Studies in Ancient Philosophy)

204 Pages·2010·1.24 MB·English

by  Hope May

Aristotle’s Ethics
Continuum Studies in Ancient Philosophy
Series Editor: James Fieser, University of Tennessee at Martin, USA
Continuum Studies in Ancient Philosophy is a major monograph series from
Continuum. The series features fi rst-class scholarly research monographs
across the fi eld of Ancient Philosophy. Each work makes a major
contribution to the fi eld of philosophical research.
Aristotle and Rational Discovery, Russell Winslow
Aristotle’s Metaphysics, Jeremy Kirby
Aristotle’s Theory of Knowledge, Thomas Kiefer
The Enduring Signifi cance of Parmenides, Raymond Tallis
Happiness and Greek Ethical Thought, M. Andrew Holowchak
The Ideas of Socrates, Matthew S. Linck
Parmenides and To Eon, Lisa Atwood Wilkinson
Plato, Metaphysics and the Forms, Francis A. Grabowski III
Plato’s Stepping Stones, Michael Cormack
Pleasure in Aristotle’s Ethics, Michael Weinman
Pythagoras and the Doctrine of Transmigration, James Luchte
The Socratic Method, Rebecca Bensen Cain
Stoic Ethics, William O. Stephens
Stoic Virtues, Christoph Jedan
Aristotle’s Ethics
Moral Development and Human Nature
Hope May
Continuum International Publishing Group
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© Hope May 2010
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-0-8264-9110-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
May, Hope.
Aristotle’s Ethics: moral development and human nature/Hope May.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.
ISBN 978-0-8264-9110-7
1. Aristotle. Nicomachean ethics. 2. Moral development. 3. Happiness. I. Title.
B430.M39 2009
171'.3–dc22 2009016262
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group
To Jeffrey Wigand
Beloved husband, esteemed mentor, cherished friend
We are masters of our actions from the beginning right to the end.
Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics 1114b)
He who lets the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him has
no need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation. He who chooses
his plan for himself employs all of his faculties. He must use observation to see,
reasoning and judgment to foresee, activity to gather materials for decision,
discrimination to decide, and when he has decided, fi rmness and self-control to
hold to his deliberate decision.
John Stuart Mill, 1859
To guide our own craft, we must be captain, pilot, engineer; with chart and
compass to stand at the wheel; to match the wind and waves and know when to
take in the sail, and to read the signs in the fi rmament over all. It matters not
whether the solitary voyager is man or woman.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1892
Creating anything is hard. It’s a cliché thing to say, but every time you start a
job, you just don’t know anything. I mean, I can break something down, but
ultimately I don’t know anything when I start . . . You start stabbing out, and
you make a mistake, and it’s not right, and then you try again and again. The
key is you have to commit. And that’s hard because you have to fi nd what it is
you are committing to.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, 2008
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations and Notes on Translations xiv
1 The Intellectualism Debate 1
Introduction 1
The Function Argument 5
Goods and goals 6
The human good (i.e., goal) 7
The Diffi culty of Book X 11
Intellectualism 14
Inclusivism 15
Developmentalism 17
2 A Developmentalist Interpretation of the Function Argument 18
Introduction 18
Causality in Man-made Production 19
Hypothetical necessity in man-made production 21
The Craftsman’s Motivational System 23
The intellectual components 23
Strategic planning 23
Form or knowledge 24
The desiderative components 26
Choice 27
Wish 28
Wish and pleasure 29
Calling 30
Calling and pleasure 30
Natural Production 33
Calling vs target 33
The role of soul 35
Soul as form 36
The Function Argument Revisited 38
The Human Being’s Motivational System 40
viii Contents
3 Ethical Virtue as a Developmental Prerequisite for
Contemplative Excellence 46
Introduction 46
The Nature and Development of Affective Virtue 48
The uniqueness of man’s desiderative faculty 49
The uniqueness of man’s actions 50
Affect and the desiderative components 52
Affect as an effi cient cause of action 53
Affect as a fi nal cause of action 53
Affect as the most fi nal cause of action 54
The primacy of affect 55
The particularity of affect 56
Correct affect 57
Affect and the target of nature 59
The incorrectness of man’s default affective state 60
Habituation: correcting man’s default affective state 60
The public component in affective training 61
The requirement of pleasure 63
The private component in affective training 64
The awakening of proper pleasure 66
The role of law 69
The developmental role of proper pleasure 70
The Development of Contemplative Excellence 70
The motivational preconditions of contemplative excellence 71
The cognitive preconditions of contemplative excellence 72
The origin of universals 73
The neurobiology of memory 74
The activities on which knowledge depends 76
Securing the Development of Contemplative Excellence 79
Phronêsis 80
Ethical virtue: nourishing and safeguarding
contemplative excellence 83
The intellectualism debate revisited 84
The Development of the Students 85
The transformative aim of the Nicomachean Ethics 85
Conclusion 87
4 Aristotle’s Developmentalist Approach Modernized:
Flourishing as Self-Concordance 90
Is Aristotle’s Theory of Flourishing Still Relevant? 90
Flourishing and autonomy: the modern view 91
Virtue Theory 93
Virtuous self-determination 95
Positive Psychology 96
The hedonic approach to fl ourishing 97
The eudaimonic approach to fl ourishing 98
Self-Determination Theory 98
Contents ix
Needs and desires 99
The need for autonomy 100
Varieties of teleological experience 101
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation 102
Self-concordant activity 102
The self-perception of autonomy 103
The pleasures of self-concordance 104
Self-Determination Theory and Aristotle’s Ethics 104
Aristotle on intrinsic motivation 104
Aristotle on the pleasure of autonomy 107
The ownership of one’s virtue 111
The effects of refl ecting on one’s virtue 112
Autonomy and habituation 113
Primitive and normative habits 113
Internalization and integration of norms 114
5 The Developmental Preconditions of Self-Concordance 119
Introduction 119
Executive Function 120
The Intellectual Component of Executive Function 121
The Navigational Component of Executive Function 122
Self-regulation 123
Private speech 123
The development of private speech 124
The steering function of private speech 125
Aristotle on private speech 126
Self-regulation and habit 128
The ubiquity of automaticity 128
Masterful self-regulation: mindfulness of habit triggers 130
Masterful self-regulation: classifi cation of habit triggers 130
Masterful self-regulation: steering attention 131
Masterful self-regulation: steering attention inwards 133
Masterful self-regulation: forming implementation intentions 136
Masterful self-regulation and self-concordance 140
The Motivational Component of Executive Function 141
Framing 142
Hope and self-effi cacy 143
Resilience 143
Masterful motivation: using private speech to motivate 144
Aristotle’s Approach Modernized 147
The modern virtues 147
The awakening of proper pleasure 149
6 The Ecological Preconditions of Self-Concordance 153
Introduction 153
The role of legal ecology 154
Programs that cultivate 157