Aristotle's Virtue Ethics (Pre-Read)

Aristotle was in no doubt that the life of virtue, informed by reason, constituted the good for mankind; he argued consistently that living in accordance with virtue was the key to achieving eudaimonia, happiness or fulfilment. But what if selfish desires are in conflict with the demands of virtue - suppose we ought to be courageous and help defend our fellow citizens against foreign attack, but selfishness makes us want to run away? Aristotle’s crucial insight here is that ethical virtue is not merely something intellectual (a ra- tional grasp of how one should act), but involves ingrained dispositions of character, habits of feel- ing and action ( he connects the very word ‘ethical’ with the Greek noun ethos, 'custom' or 'habit). (Cottingham)
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The extract can be found here.

Please note that we will put emphasis in keeping the conversation civil and focused on the text: no politics or religion in the discussion.
This discussion is not meant for specialists.

Other ethics discussions:

Kant, October 8
Nietzsche, October 15