Aristotle begins the second book of the Nicomachean Ethics by differentiating between intellectual and moral virtues. The second book focuses on moral virtue, and Aristotle believes, “That none of the moral virtues arises in us by nature” (Aristotle). He believes that virtues do not occur naturally in humans, but rather they are learned by habit. These virtues are tested when life is stressful or when danger is near, and if someone exhibits these virtues even under distress, then they truly possess them.
In Book 1 Ch. 2, Aristotle makes it clear that he is not trying to discover what virtue is, but rather how to be virtuous. He blames excess for things being corrupted (Aristotle). For instance, someone who goes out partying every night and never faces responsibilities is living a life of excess, while someone who stays in all the time and never leaves their house is also living a life of excess. The first person is having an excess of parties while the other is having an excess of isolation. In both cases, they are living lives avoiding something. They are not going out or staying home because it is the right thing to do, but because they fear if they do not practice this behavior something bad will happen.
Pain and pleasure also play an important role in virtues. Humans tend to chase pleasures and run from pain. Aristotle writes, “on account of the pleasure we do bad things, and on account of the pain that we abstain from noble ones” (Aristotle). This is why humans must get into the habit of doing virtuous things. For example, junk food is easier for most children to eat rather than vegetables. From a young age, humans must be taught to eat healthy foods or they most likely will not eat healthfully all their lives. Humans must learn to take pleasure from virtuous actions.
In this section, Aristotle claims that someone becomes temperate and just by committing temperate and just acts. However, it is not quite as simple as that; acts are determined to be just or temperate because someone who is just or temperate commits them. In order to solve this paradox, Aristotle suggests that people who do commit temperate and just acts do so because it is in the manner of temperate and just people to do so.
Aristotle then proves that virtue is a state of being. Virtue is not a feeling because virtue is an action. If someone is angry but does not resort to a state of violence, that does not make them any less virtuous. Virtue cannot be a capacity because capacities are inherent in people, and virtue is learned and not something people are born with (Aristotle). Finally, virtue is something that is personal and not comparable to everyone.
If someone who has a hundred dollars gives away ten dollars, then they have given away 10% of all their wealth. If someone has a million dollars and gives away ten dollars, that is .0001% of their wealth. While both acts are technically the same, it is going to have a much bigger impact on the person with only a hundred dollars. No one can be compared on the same scale of what is and is not virtuous because everyone is in a different place in life. It would be irresponsible to demand that someone give the same as everyone else if they genuinely cannot. This is why living a virtuous life is not cutting out everything that has pleasure, but it is finding pleasure in things that are virtuous. Those virtuous actions are specific to the person, and not necessarily something that is a blanket statement for everyone.
Aristotle. “The Internet Classics Archive: Nicomachean Ethics .” Translated by W. D. Ross, The Internet Classics Archive | Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle, 1994, classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.2.ii.html.
