Ethics and Community in Aristotle :: Philosophy Essays

Ethics and Community in AristotleABSTRACT I show that Aristotles ethics is immovable by his notion of communities which argon in turn unflinching by hundreds of themes in his Topics-sameness and difference, part and whole, better than, etc. These atomic number 18 tools for all dialectical investigations into being and action (viz. Top. I.11 104b2) for they secure definitions and get at essences of things or their aspects. Reflecting structures of being and good, they seize Aristotle to arrive at objective reality and good. Being tools for all investigations into being and values, we atomic number 18 not free to reject them, nor can we have any discourse or claim to reality or good. I show how permutating the combination of these topics allows for subsequent sub-communities which are common to some. I offer an Aristotelian explanation for the origin of these topics and conclude that ethics is determined by communities, which in turn are determined by education.Aristotles ethics is determined by his notion of communities which are determined by hundreds of topics in his Topicssameness and difference, part and whole, better than, etc.. The topics are tools for all dialectical investigations into being and action (viz. I.11 104b2) for they secure definitions and get at essences of things or their aspects. Reflecting structures of being and good, the topics can get at objective reality and good. Being tools for all investigations, we are not free to reject them or we cannot have any discourse or claim to reality or good. I show how permutating the combination of these topics allow for subsequent sub-communities which are common to some. I offer an Aristotelian explanation for the origin of these topics and conclude that ethics is determined by communities, which in turn are determined by education. The Topics seeks to discover a method by which we reason(1) from generally current opinions (endox_n) about any problem (100a18-19, 100a30-b18)i.e., dialectical reason out. By generally accepted opinions,Aristotle means the kind of opinion held by everyone or by the legal age or by the wiseeither all of the wise or the majority or the most famous of themand which is not paradoxical for one would accept the opinion of the wise, if it is not opposed to the views of the majority (104a8-13). Since Aristotle contrasts dialectical reasoning with demonstrative reasoning which proceeds from true and primary premises (100a27-28) and are supported by the things themselves, it seems easy to suppose that dialectic cannot get us to objective first principles.