In this breakout session we'll review some of Aristotle's arguments against identifying the good life with the life of pleasure, the life of politics/honor, and the life of wealth. After this we'll consider the influence of Aristotle on the development of the contemporary virtue ethics movement and discuss the distinctiveness of this approach to ethical inquiry in modern moral philosophy. We'll also consider the rest of Book I not discussed on Monday and assigned for today, where Aristotle raises various puzzles concerning the relationship between happiness, self-sufficiency, and death.
Goals
Goals
Consider further Aristotle’s denial that happiness as eudaimonia consists in a life of pleasure, a life of politics/honor, and a life of wealth
Understand the difference between virtue-based approaches to ethics and other more rule-based approaches
Discuss the puzzles that Aristotle explores surrounding the idea of happiness as a self-sufficient good
Consider the relationship between happiness and death