
Aristotle on the Sources of the Ethical Life challenges the common belief that Aristotle's ethics is founded on an appeal to human nature, an appeal that is thought to be intended to provide both substantive ethical advice and justification for the demands of ethics. Sylvia Berryman argues that this is not Aristotle's intent, while resisting the view that Aristotle was blind to questions of the source or justification of his ethical views. She interprets Aristotle's views as a 'middle way' between the metaphysical grounding offered by Platonists, and the scepticism or subjectivist alternatives articulated by others. The commitments implicit in the nature of action figure prominently in this account: Aristotle reinterprets Socrates' famous paradox that no-one does evil willingly, taking it to mean that a commitment to pursuing the good is implicit in the very nature of action.
This book investigates whether Aristotle’s ethical framework relies on an appeal to human nature to provide substantive advice and justification for moral demands. Sylvia Berryman, a scholar of ancient philosophy, examines the foundational logic of Aristotelian ethics by analyzing the relationship between action and the pursuit of the good. She argues that Aristotle avoids both the metaphysical grounding of Platonism and the pitfalls of subjectivism, proposing instead that the commitment to the good is inherent in the nature of human action itself.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Scholars recognize this work as a nuanced contribution to the ongoing debate regarding the foundations of Aristotelian ethics. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is intended for advanced students and researchers in the field of ancient philosophy.
Page Count:
228
Publication Date:
2019-01-01
Publisher:
OUP Oxford
ISBN-10:
0192571923
ISBN-13:
9780192571922
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!