In this paper I will aim to accomplish three things.  First, I will describe Aristotle’s account of virtue, highlighting its connection to reason.  Second I will elaborate the idea that the particular is epistemically prior to the general.  Finally, I will show how Aristotle’s account of virtue requires the epistemic primacy of the particular over the general.

Aristotle’s Account of Virtue

One of Aristotle’s main ideas is that all things have an end, or highest good to which each activity is aimed that, and that good has value in itself (intrinsic value).  The final end or good for us is eudemonia, which can only be achieved by living a virtuous life, by being a virtuous being.  Eudemonia has historically been translated to happiness but a more direct translation would be: the stable living of the best possible life. The virtue of something lies in its ability to perform its function with excellence. Our function has to be one that is distinctively human, -- excellence in activity of the soul, reason.  It is this ability to think and reason that distinguishes mankind from animals.  Virtue, then, is our ability to use reason to see a situation and its collective circumstances, be able to perceive its factors correctly and choose the kinds of actions in varying degrees, relative to the particular situation at hand.  And how do we know what the right way to see things and to act…..well it’s the way the virtuous person would, of-course!  Aristotle presents this argument in the following passages.

 Presents Eudemonia with virtue

“Now such thing happiness, above all else, is held to be; for this we choose always for itself and never for the sake of something else.”(1097a38)

Brings in the distinctive human feature;

“The function of man is an activity of soul which follows or implies a rational principal” (1098a7)

Ties it together with;

“Human good turns out to be activity of soul in accordance with virtue, and if there are more than one virtue, in accordance with the best and most complete”(1098a18)

Brings it home with

Virtue, then, is a state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean, determined by a rational principal, and by that principal by which the man of practical wisdom would reason it.”(1106b36)”

The next logical step is to determine what the virtuous man possesses that makes him virtuous.  Aristotle believes that this is a two part answer, moral virtue and intellectual virtue. Since we are first exposed to virtue through habit (and must be, in order to later reason virtuously), let’s discuss it first. Virtue of character is accomplished by habituation; we are not born with it, it is accomplished through our practiced activity and the activity of those around us, followed by experience and time. Through proper habituation an individual develops the dispositions of virtue.  It is only after the stage has been set by habituation we learn to rationally reason on our own. At the beginning a child will not pick his actions because, they themselves, are desirable to him, but because of parental or teacher approval.  However, over time, through and because of, that proper habituation the child will learn to enjoy these acts for their own sakes.  Aristotle places great importance on habituation because all our activities in the future will be formed by the principals we were taught regarding the acceptable way to behave. It is through habituation where we are introduced to one of Aristotle’s central issues, the Doctrine of the Mean. Habituation sets the ground for our disposition to virtuous actions, from it we form the rational stability necessary for virtue.  Ethics presents the argument in the following excerpts;

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         Virtue of Character

Introduced through habit

“Virtue, then being of two kinds, intellectual and moral, intellectual virtue in the main owes both its birth and growth to teaching” (1103aI)

Adds further support with

“And by doing these acts that we do in our transactions with other men we become just or courageous or coward, and by being habituated to feel fear or confidence, we become brave or cowardly” (1103b15)

Concludes with emphasis on its importance

“Thus, states of character arise out of like activities, those activities have to be of a certain kind, it makes no ...

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