Hey Guys,
Be on the look out for additional questions for your midterm papers. I will be emailing them shortly. Please answer the following questions. Feel free to respond to your classmates responses also.
How does Aristotle's concept of excess and defect relate to morality?
Is moderation a compelling model of the ethical life? how so?
Are ethics innate or does experience provide a more valid perspective?
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Aristotle uses the golden mean to balance out any given action in order to a good morality. One must use his or her own judgment while doing anything. He believes the greatest, longest-lasting happiness if found somewhere in between excess and defect. Although doing something excessively may have immediate results, the long-term consequences may not be so good. The same goes for defect. For example, if someone wanted to eat Oreo’s, Aristotle would say don’t just have just one or two but also don’t consume the whole box. Eating too little would leave you hungry but eating too much will over-fill you (may eventually cause you to gain weight.) Moderation is definitely a convincing model of ethical life. If we compared all of our actions against this “golden mean,” we may be less likely to give in to temptation. Ethics are not born in us. We do not know when we are 3 minutes old that stealing is wrong and helping an old woman cross the street is right. We learn ethics not only from our parents and peers, but from experience as well. Isn’t that really what life is all about? Learning from our experiences and becoming either better, or worse, people than we already were?
ReplyDeleteAristotle’s concept of excess and defect discuss how a person must find a balance between the two. It relates to morality because it is unethical to have too much or too little of something. For example, if you compare it to food, it is unhealthy to eat too much or eat too little. Neither one is good. You must find the balance between the two. The same goes for morality; you need to practice moderation. Moderation is a compelling model of the ethical life, because once again a balance represents the proper way to live. If you live in either extreme, it will ultimately be marked by failure. Like with the food example, you will be unhealthy. Similarly, being ethical means finding the right balance. You need to put emphasis on certain things in life and you must find the right balance between these things. Ethics are not innate. While I feel that people are born naturally good, their life and decisions they make affect this greatly. While no one is born evil, people do make bad and unethical decisions. I think that a lot of factors contribute to this. Upbringing, situations a person has come across, and free will all play a major role in a person’s life. Since we are all born with free will, we are able to make decisions for ourselves. These decisions can be ethical or immoral. It is determined by the person making the decision. Therefore I think that experience provides a more valid perspective.
ReplyDeleteAristotle’s concept of excess and defect is mainly concerned with proper balance for moderation. This relates to morality because it is a mid-point between two kinds of evils; excess and defect. For example, in morality, as in eating, it is proper to keep moderation to avoid obesity or anorexia. When discussing virtuous activity with Aristotle’s theory of excess and defect, the intermediate is praised as a form of success while the extremes are a form of failure. He believed that every virtue is not evil in and of themselves but have an intermediate condition and is good when it does not reach the extremes. I believe that moderation is a compelling model of ethical life because it balances all virtues. Moral virtue, happiness and the ability to elude extremes in behavior is the path that leads to goodness. I think that experience provides a more valid perspective. All people are born with a sense of free will that allows them to make choices. Nature over nurture has been a debate for centuries but it is ultimately the environments and events in our lives that guide our behavior.
ReplyDeleteAristotle's theory of excess and defect discusses how important it is for a person to find a balance. In some cases, for example, the CEO's of corporations are highly overpaid while workers under them are underpaid by almost 200 times what their CEO's are making. If there was a balance made between the two where a CEO could only earn up a certain amount and a worker had to earn a certain amount so that things were fair, that would be a balance of excess and defect. Although at times excess/defect amounts of something may seem wonderful it will make a person happy to find the balance. Moderation is a compelling model of ethical life because it opens a person to all virtues and beliefs and balance them throughout life. Experiences certainly provide a more valid perspective on ethics. Depending on how a person is brought up determines how they behave. Without guidance from others and personal in life it's hard to determine right from wrong and good from bad.
ReplyDelete1) Being moral entails complying with a set standard of good and proper conduct. Aristotle believed that perfect morality lay in practicing all of our life activities at the level of the "golden mean" between excess and defect. In other words, we should not indulge ourselves too much in any one activity, nor should we completely deny ourselves of one activity. Aristotle taught that good conduct lies in the ability to balance all of our endeavors to the point where no excesses or defects exist. Eliminating excesses and defects requires practicing self control, compliance with limits, and willingness to take on less appealing tasks. One who is able to practice such disciplines is certainly practicing good conduct and morality.
ReplyDelete2) I think that moderation is indeed a compelling model of an ethical life. This take on how to live an ethical life does not prohibit any of life's pleasures or activities. As long as we maintain the personal strength and self control to avoid over-indulging in or neglecting any one activity, we are capable of being model, ethical members of society. The notion of moderation goes against many popular religious beliefs, in which followers are told to abstain entirely from some pleasurable activities, as they are considered sinful. However, if we abstain entirely from one of life's activities, we may be missing out on a lesson to be learned about virtue or morality.
3) I think that Aristotle would have agreed that experience provides a more valid perspective of ethics. In Book I of Nicomachean Ethics, he states that young men (or men who simply have not endured many important life experiences) do not make good judges or politicians, as they are lacking many years worth of life experiences that would further their knowledge of virtue and ethics. We are not born with inherent knowledge of the ethical decision to make in every situation that life throws at us, and that is acceptable. Rather, we gradually draw knowledge of ethics from the situations we face, to ultimately qualify as wholly ethical members of society.
Aristotle's theory is all about moderation. No matter what is going on as long as your doing whatever it is your doing in moderation, you should be fine according to Aristotle. It relates to morality because if you have an excess of something it is immoral and if you have to little of something it is immoral according to Aristotle. For example, if we are talking about exercise too much can be damaging to the body and too little can also negatively affect the body. Moderation is definitely a compelling model for an ethical life because if you do things in moderation you will be happy. Drinking is a perfect example. As long as you do it in moderation everything will be fine. once you cross that line and drink in excess it becomes unethical. If you have good ethics and good judgment then you should be successful. But not everyone is perfect and after experiences a person is more wise and can see their mistakes more clearly rather then just being taught something that is ethical. The more experiences you go through the more ethical you should be unless you are an unethical person then no experience will be able to save you.
ReplyDeleteAristotle's concept of excess and defect is set up in order help make easier the understanding of what it takes and how to become moral. Morality, according to the concept, is found once, and only once the individual has found the balance between excess and defect. Aristotle understands that it is impossible to live morally if you can't determine what is to little and what is to much. Living morally means that you understand how to live in moderation. For example, when taking servings from a dish, you want to be full but leave helpings for others. However, if you take to little you might not get enough nutrition, but at least there is more to go around. Moderation is a compelling model of ethical life because without moderation, people will not know what is more than enough and what is less than needed. A life without moderation would be unethical in itself. However, moderation isn't something that we are born to understand. Becoming ethical comes with time and experience in different types of situations. You aren't born with street smarts, you develop them by experiencing them.
ReplyDeleteAristotle's concept of excess and defect is his way of explaining unbalanced situations and that people need to find a balance in their life which is considered the mean or moderation. This concept relates to morality because a moral person would have a balance in their life and wouldn't be in excess of defect of anything. Aristotle uses the term "golden mean" to describe this. For example, with drinking if you drink an excess amount you will have negative effects on your body. The same with eating, if you eat too much, you will be over weight and on the other hand if you eat too less, that is a problem too. The key is finding a balance. Moderation is a good way to lead an ethical life because everything would be in balance and you will be happy. I believe that ethics are not innate. People are born good but they learn as they grow from their parents and people around them what and what not to do. With more experiences, they will be able to act better and know more of what is right and wrong.
ReplyDeleteAristotle had a concept of excess and defect to explain to us the reasons why everything has to be balanced in life. The way that this relates to morality is because it is unmoral to have to much or to little of something. We look down on the CEOs of companies that make millions of dollars a year and do not give any of it back. On the opposite end of the spectrum it is unmoral for people to be living under bridges in one of the wealthiest countries on the planet.
ReplyDeleteModeration is definitely a perfect model for the moral life. Moderation gives you the ability to enjoy things; but also gives you an opportunity not to over indulge.
I believe that experience gives you the chance to obtain your own moral and ethical beliefs. However, you need to be careful because if your morals and ethics are too radical you will get in trouble. This shows that you need to have a balance between your experiences and what you learn from how you are brought up.
Aristotle's concept of excess basically had to do with balance and how that is applied to everyday of our lives. This is connected to morality because, what we could consider to be moral would be having that balance and not having too much or too little of something. For example, in eating either exces or defect are both bad..but finding the balance between both is the best. Lke eating too little would end up with you being hungry and eating too much would make u overeat and feel overly full. Moderation is the right way to lead a life, because you will try not to have too much or too little of something, which in the end will make u happier. The key to everything is finding the balance. We learn as we live, so through out experiences, we see what is ethical and what isnt. We learn ethics from the people around us, and through our experiences. I think that what we experience in life have alot to do with our ethics.
ReplyDeleteAristotle’s concept of excess and defect describes the need for balance in one’s life. In the middle of two extremes is virtue, or morality. It is between these two extremes that a person is real and themselves. There is an exact point between excess and defect that is each individual’s “Golden Mean.”
ReplyDeleteModeration is perfect for an ethical life. It causes us not to overindulge or under indulge. When we have moderation we live a content, happy life. And because there is a Golden Mean for every individual, if we live at that mean, which is moderation, then we will live the perfect, virtuous life.
I believe that ethics are learned through experience. We do not know from birth what is right and wrong. Our parents teach us not to lie, cheat, and steal and that is how we know how to act. I don’t think that any ethics are innate; I believe we learn them all through experience.
Leroy Watson Says:
ReplyDelete1. Being moral has to do with your personal standards. The concept of Aristotle’s excess or defect relates to morals. You need morals in your life to judge if what you are doing is in the excess or defect.
2. Moderation is a compelling model of an ethical life. In order to live a proficient lifestyle we need to be moderate. When we learn what moderation is we can live an ethical lifestyle.
3. Ethics are not innate. Experiences provide more valid perspective. If we were from a neighborhood where violence was the right thing to do. We would grow up to think in that way. When we have a personal encounter with what’s wrong. We have people to teach us ethics or what is right, and what is wrong.
Aristotle in his Nicomachean Ethics focuses solely on the human character and moral. He explains that political science aims at the higher of all goods acheivable by action for men and for the state rather than the individual. His statement on habits is that it comes form acting virtuously and you must fin a healthy balance between your moral and intellectual virtues. Aristotle believes you should not be forced to do anything therefore everything is determined by a rational principle. This means that by being virtuous is the excellence of a person and means that you have moderation which in escence is the essential god. With concern to moderation, you can not be excessive nor defective and your focus should be on finding the just action in the middle by using temperance.
ReplyDeleteModeration is key for everyday life. Buddhists practice moderation on a constant basis finding a middle path in every situation. If we can live in moderation we can not only balance our own morals and behavior, but we can learn to live with everybody else. If the people on wall street could learn a little more moderation and not indulge in so much excess, maybe we wouldn’t be in such a tough time. Its seems sometimes that people forgot that excess in everything is bad. More moderation could help everybody live happier. You cant know what something feels like until you feel it. when we are young we are blank slates waiting to learn how to act. We learn a sense of right and wrong from the people around us. This is probably why Socrates thought we should be educated to be good. We have to also experience as many of the different perspectives as we can to give ourselves the widest view on every situation. This is how we learn to be who we are when we are grown.
ReplyDeleteAristotle believed that in regards to morality, excess and defect showed just how moral you really were. He believed that any action could be taken too far, excess, or not far enough, defect. The "golden mean" was the term used to describe how to act for lasting happiness. For example if are 21 and you went out with your friends and drank in excess you would feel sick the next day or do something dumb that you might regret. However, if you are the sober one and are in a bad mood because of it you will bring others down. Having one or two drinks, drinking in moderation, and enjoying yourself would be what Aristotle considered the "golden mean."
ReplyDeleteI believe that moderation is a compelling model of the ethical life because when you live in moderation you are better able to appreciate things. Those who live in excess or defect are often never satisfied. Moderation in your actions can lead to achieving the "golden mean" in life..not just from one action to another. This also helps to establish right from wrong and leave lasting moral values.
Ethics are not exactly innate, they must be learned from experience. For example when you are a child you don't understand the concept of right or wrong, yet as you grow and learn in your community from family and friends you come to grasp a distinct line dividing right vs. wrong. These ethics are what come to guide your life and are often what lead to decisions concerning excess, defect, or moderation.