Understanding Aristotle´s Nicomachean Ethics Essay

As soon as I read over this question, I knew it was the one I would have to answer, because it was the one I wasnt sure I could. I felt the prompt would allow me the opportunity to directly illustrate the person that I am. However, my current knowlege and interpretation of Aristotles â€Å"Nicomachean Ethics† has made the task reprehensibly difficult. I found myself wandering through a mind-numbingly agonizing process to properly address the prompt. This process consisted of working through two separate paths that addressed the topic. Though, I found myself seeing that both of these paths brought me further from the very virtue I was trying to show that I pursue. The first thoughts that came into my mind when I sat down to write the†¦show more content†¦So, that is what I did. I wrote an essay that exposed the destructive nature of the question, and I refused to answer it. However, as I looked at what I had written, I found a flaw in the words just as great as in the prompt itself. Aristotles Virtue Ethics preach moderation, or balance. Each â€Å"Virtue† is the balance of two traits that alone are undesirable, however balanced together, they become something we treasure. We do not want to be afraid, but we do not want to be foolhardy either. We seek courage, the balance that lay between the two. If I were to answer the question, and prove myself virtuous, I would be foolhardily walking through the flames. No matter the outcome, I only prove myself to be incapable of comprehending the true nature of the blaze. But, to disregard the question entirely because the apparant answer dilludes it, would be denying the flames beneath my feet as the destruction they may bring would dirty my percieved ethical superiority. To deny to answer this question would show that I believe my recognition of the problems with answering it make me exempt from attempting it. Not only would this make me an intellectual bigot, but it would make me just as blin d to the true nature of the fire as the man who blindly walks through it. This option, despite the illusion of elevated integrity due to abstaining, was as just as disgraceful as the first, favoring meekness to foolhardiness. So, answering the question proves that I cannot, andShow MoreRelatedAristotles Impact on Current Society812 Words   |  4 PagesUniversity Aristotle was one of the most important western philosophers. He was a student of Plato and the teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. I found that his biggest impacts on modern society were in the subject areas of ethics, and zoology. 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