Term
What, according to Aristotle, are some common beliefs and conventional views
about happiness? (Aristotle, Rhetoric I 5, p. 297-8) |
|
Definition
| let happiness, then, be said to be doing well together with virtue or self-sufficiency of life or the most pleasent life together with security or affluence in possessions...together with the power to protect and make use of them. For virtually all agree that happiness is one or more of these things. |
|
|
Term
What did Solon say happiness consists of, according to Herodotus? (Annas pp.
299-302)
|
|
Definition
| Happiness cannot just lie in having riches and power; it depends on how your life as a whole turns out. If you have made your whole life a noble one, then it is happy. |
|
|
Term
What does Democritus think happiness consists of? How do his views contrast
with conventional views about happiness? (pp. 302-5)
|
|
Definition
| "Happiness and unhappiness belong to the soul" The end is cheerfulness, which is not the same as pleasure, as some people mistakenly interpret it, but a state in which the soul lives calmly and stably, disturbed by no fear or superstition or any other passion. The problem seen by everybody else with this is that it does not say any external wealth is needed |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Compare and contrast Polus' and Socrates' conceptions of happiness in the
Gorgias. (pp. 305-19, focussing especially on 468e-474c, pp. 305-11).
|
|
Definition
Socrates
Believes that the only thing relevant for happiness is being a good moral person, someone with virtues. When it comes to the happiness of each one of us, the views of others are not to the point--all that matters is what the person thinks when his or her views are subject to rational scrutiny
Polus
thinks happiness consists of using one’s cleverness to acquire as much wealth and power for oneself as one can. He thinks tyrants who are able to kill, steal,
torture, etc. with impunity are to be admired and envied; conversely, someone who
suffers injustice at the hands of others is clearly unhappy and worse off than those
who commit injustices and can get away with it.
|
|
|
Term
What contrast does Antiphon draw between the requirements of law and the requirements of nature? What recommendations does he make about how one should act? Does he have a favorable attitude toward what is just by convention?
Explain why or why not.
|
|
Definition
Antiphon
Seems to be exploring a viewpoint of self-interest, from which it is cleear that you do not have the same reason to obey the laws as you do to obey the requirements of nature. Whether you have reason to disobey the laws depends on a number of factors--for example, whether you will get away with it. The laws of nature we are bound to follow no matter what. |
|
|
Term
What kind of contrast does Callicles make between nature and
nvention/law? What recommendations does he make about how one should
act and live? Does he have a favorable attitude toward law?
|
|
Definition
Callicles
What is natural is for strong individuals to dominate weaker ones and that laws are based merely on the agreement of the weak majority to run things in their own interest. Hence laws frustrate the self-interest of the strong who would do better without them.
however even the would-be stron man has reason to obey the laws, since if he does not he will not get away with it. He sees society as a second-best alternative to the unrestrained pursuit of self interest.
He is not favorable of law and the only reason you should go with it is so you don't get caught. |
|
|
Term
| Aristotle's ethical theory |
|
Definition
| The moral theory of Aristotle, like that of Plato, focuses on virtue, recommending the virtuous way of life by its relation to happiness. happiness to excellent activity of the soul. Aristotle then argues that since the function of a human is to exercise the soul's activities according to reason, the function of a good human is to exercise well and finely the soul's activities according to reason |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The Stoics are well known for their teaching that the good is to be identified with virtue. By ‘virtue’ they mean such moral virtues as justice, moderation, and courage. So all that is required for happiness (i.e., the secure possession of the good, of what is needed to make one's life a thoroughly good one) — and the only thing — is to lead a morally virtuous life |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| hile Epicurus holds that pleasure is the sole intrinsic good and pain is what is intrinsically bad for humans, he is also very careful about defining these two. Aware of the Cyrenaics who hold that pleasures, moral and immoral, are the end or goal of all action, Epicurus presents a sustained argument that pleasure, correctly understood, will coincide with virtue. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
