Outline and Illustrate Aristotle(TM)s account of voluntary action and responsibility

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Assess Aristotle’s claim that man has a function

Aristotle believes that man has a function in life. In Book I, chapter 7, he states the following:

“…if the function of man is an activity of the soul in accordance with, or implying, a rational principle; and if we hold that the function an individual and of a good individual of the same kind – e.g. of a harpist and of a good harpist and so on generally – is generically the same, the latter’s distinctive excellence being attached to the name of the function (because the function of the harpist is to play the harp, but that of the good harpist is to play it well); and if we assume that the function of man is a kind of life, namely, an activity or series of actions of the soul, implying a rational principle; and if the function of a good man is to perform these well and rightly; and if every function is performed well when performed  in accordance with its proper excellence: if this is all so, the conclusion is that the good for man is an activity of the soul in accordance with  virtue, or if there are more kinds of virtue than one, in accordance with the best and most perfect kind.”

Essentially, what Aristotle means by this is that the overall human function is the soul's activity together with reason. The activity of rational thought is what makes us human since no other living thing has the ability of reasoning. It is the ability to reason that all humans possess, but not all human beings function according to it (some are ignorant whilst others are unable to make logical choices). Also, all human actions taken together make up the good and everything we do throughout our lives contributes to the overall function. If we live well, according to the proper virtues, this will allow us to achieve what Aristotle calls 'eudaimonia' (happiness). It is important that our virtuous actions are driven by the virtues and not just in line with the virtues. For example, a lawyer who argues for a poor man in order to gain a good reputation is not acting from virtue; he is acting in line with virtue.

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Aristotle’s argument in basic terms is as follows: a watch has a function and its goodness resides in that function; if man has a function then his goodness lies in performing that function well. For a watch to perform its function it uses the mechanisms within itself to achieve this; each of man’s bodily organs have a function and so therefore man must have a function and this function is man’s distinguishing feature: rationality. The chief good for man is a life following or implying a rational principle and to use that reason together with certain virtues.

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