Aristotle thought that is the purpose of the whole life and happiness belongs to the human's mind. The noble pursuit is the only being for human. It contains two elements of virtue and happiness. The happiness and value can only be achieved in the city-state which has the
Explain how Bentham’s version of Utilitarianism may be used to decide on the right course of action. Utilitarianism is a teleological theory of ethics. It is a method that looks at the consequences of an action to deice whether it is right or wrong; this also makes it a consequentialist theory. In the eighteenth century Hutchenson first used the phrase ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’ which he used to describe the political systems. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) then decided to develop his idea of Utilitarianism from this quote and apply it to all areas of social activity.
I will begin by recounting the demographic structures that are present in Plato’s “Just” state, and by exploring his epistemological and metaphysical claims, highlight the impossibility of such a ruler. Plato sets the stage for his Philosopher King by first laying down the foundations of his “Just” city. He does this by defining a series of classes that comprise the state; the producing class, the auxiliary class, and the ruling class. The Producing class is responsible for producing both necessary and non-necessary items, the Auxiliary class for defense, and the Ruling class for ruling the state. Along with this assigning of roles, Plato describes the make-up of the human soul and how that predisposes certain people to be placed in one of these three classes.
The stoics also said that we should try to fit into the overall plan of the universe by finding our place or duty among society. Aristotle considered that everybody, much like inanimate objects, has a specific purpose (or telos), for example the telos of a knife would be to cut something, more specifically food. He also said that a supreme good is achieved when it completes its purpose, using the knife example, when a knife successfully cuts thought he object it is cutting, it is said it will have achieved supreme good. The supreme good for humans, according to Aristotle is eudaimonia. This is translated as “happiness” however; it is more the idea of thriving and flourishing personally and within society.
The contractual idea of a “State of Nature” embedded within European political thought derives our political view that nature is a property of man, that through this study of work, we are able to examine the transference of characteristics and human traits within the idea of a state being in nature, before it becomes a society or state foundation. The works of great philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, create a pre-political view on the relations that man has over come from past European rule and laws, in which we discover new ways in studying the idea of rationality through the life of man. Through the works of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau we are able to understand that man lives within a so called “State of Nature” at a certain point in time or history and while each philosopher notes similar ideas related to this matter, each of the philosophers differ in regards to reaching a certain state through complex meanings of equality, rationality, individuality, and use of reasoning, that ultimately bring the state of nature towards a state of society. The works of Thomas Hobbes creates a clear and present thought that man is a free, rational, and most importantly an equal creature by the thought of living with a certain state of nature. Hobbes work Leviathan serves as a key marker in the understanding of this idea of man being equal within nature noting, “Nature hath made men so equal in the faculties of body and mind” (Hobbes Chapter 13, pg.
He stated, “Man is the measure of all things”. Morality, Protagoras stated, is changeable and subject to our view of the world around us. Meanwhile, Aristotle is another philosopher that was a moral
The idea is a pre-Christian idea, put forward by Aristotle who believed that each action should be followed in its aim to reach eudemonia, being a key feature of the theory and a state of human flourishing. He developed the concept of the ‘efficient cause’, which allows individuals to reach ones ‘telos’ being a final cause or purpose. Cicero further stated that it is immutable in its approach to ethics and ‘true law is right reason in accordance with nature, applied universally and is unchanging and everlasting’. Aquinas studied the work of Aristotle and outlined a key feature of the argument in his works the Summa Theologica where he described the moral factors to exist within the purpose of nature created by God. The eternal law infers Gods rationing of the universe whilst the divine law is based on Biblical and Church teachings.
Morality is universally understood as a class of rules held by society to govern the right conduct of its members. Holding strong to this notion St. Thomas Aquinas, brings to light this understanding as personal inclination (or will) to achieve an ultimate end (God); in which those actions become the mean to understandings the human purpose. In his book, A Summary of Philosophy, Aquinas claims that the existence of God allows us to reason with the things around and wills us to act. In a different approach, Friedrich Nietzsche claims that morality is relative to time and power; our actions whether moral or immoral depend on the power they bestow to the perspectives that we hold. He doesn’t believe in a moral definition of what is good and bad; because historically it is contradicted by the men of power.
This makes the theory ‘agent centred’. A key feature for Virtue Ethics is philosopher Aristotle who stated that all series of actions are aimed towards ultimate end- happiness and that fulfilment is the goal of life (final and efficient cause). In Greek, the world telos means end/purpose. ‘Teleological’ approaches in ethics judges the rightness of moral actions based on how much they lead to achieve to fulfil a purpose, For Aristotle ‘happiness’ can be understood in three different ways:- 1) Happiness as a life of enjoyment or pleasure 2) Happiness as a free member of society 3) Happiness as a philosopher Therefore living pleasurably is not enough, we have a responsibility to live a good life! Another key feature of virtue ethics is Eudaimonia which is the idea of justified and deserved ‘happiness’.
Aristotle advanced the philosophy of ethics, where he demonstrated that it is a means of achieving an end to happiness. However, happiness means many things to different people. To Aristotle, the most adequate way to pursue happiness is through the virtue of excellence. In his writings, Aristotle connected his therory of virtue to economics, and leadership as well. It is a matter of connecting ones personal ethics to that of ones business ethics., simply because Aristotle made no disticntion between ethics and politics.