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TITLE (supplied by the customer): "Nichomachean Ethics"

DESCRIPTION (supplied by the customer): The first page or two should provide general background information about the philosopher/author of the text and his work. Core: Must be dedicated exclusively to discussing the concepts/idea that the philosopher/author presents in the selected chapter of the chosen text. The student may limit his discussion to a particular issue, dilemma, concept or idea presented in the chapter. Conclusion: the last page or two should present the student's critique of the themes.

PROJECT DEVELOPED:

Background.

A disciple of Plato, Aristotle has treaded the terrain of philosophic and scientific thought in virtually every direction, ranging form metaphysics (later to be known as natural philosophy) to biological pursuits to moral and political-scientific reasoning. It is widely regarded as the first comprehensive ethical treatise in the Western thought that captured the idea of a golden mean in striking the right balance when it comes to the binding tradeoff between pleasures and pains, individual good versus collective good, moral and intellectual virtue, and for that matter between excesses and deficiencies in this world of constraints and scarcity. 

Discussion.

I will now dwell on the points outlined in Chapter 5 of Book 1, and will study these qualified within the context of the preceding propositions as well as some hypothesized aspects of the author's mindset that could prove instrumental in pinning down the exact connotation of his symbols. In this chapter, Aristotle continues to develop his discussion of what constitutes the good, what the role of virtue is, and what is perceived as happiness by diverse groups of individuals. He adduces the plausible observation (or indeed invites the reader to engage in an honest introspective thought experiment) that most people tend to couple happiness with pleasure or comfort. Now this sensual emphasis is quite apparent, in that as he mentions in his preceding chapters, pleasure and pain do affect the way individuals perceive good and evil. On the other hand, he points out that such primitive stance is for the most part espoused by the lower ranks or the vulgar ilk. He then suggests a taxonomy of three alternative lifestyles-one of enjoyment, political, or contemplative. We will for now leave the former as sufficiently self-explanatory, and focus on the other two; we will, however, reconsider them in the expanded context of each other later on.

I feel we might want to refer back to his introductory discussion of possible ways of perceiving good. He suggested, quite intuitively, that all choices and all enterprises such as arts and sciences are aimed at some good ends. These ends might pertain to some discrete or specific, finite products of these occupations, or they might be expressed in somewhat indirect terms-perhaps as when the process is the ultimate good in its own right. He has, however, pointed out that one can distinguish between standalone sub-activities or branches within these enterprises, each having means and ends of its own. But then, insofar as the master art captures all these branches, their ends are to be treated as but subordinate ends or indeed secondary goods, ultimately representing means in some sense.

He furthermore argues that, since political science is a discipline using a host of other sciences, it is that very master enterprise that is most noble, and with which all choices must be consistent. One has at this point to qualify the notion Aristotle probably attributes to political science. One way of filtering his tirade would be to recall the largely idealistic Hellenic outlook when it comes to categories divine, noble, and perfect. Ranking on the upper layers of nobility is assured to converge to perfection and harmony-to the pure Idea. The Greek attitude of the time had it that it was the aristocracy, or otherwise men of great philosophic caliber and inclination, that ought to set the rules and enforce them for the nation at large as well as for the city-states. The philosopher profile rather pertains to the contemplative mindset and lifestyle which elevates the person beyond his own pleasures and pains, and allows one to see the longer-run virtue as well as to possess the vision for the big picture. Such a person is capable of seeing, feeling, and reasoning past his instantaneous sensual experiences and self-interest.

Not quite so with the political type minds, which profile he dwells upon later in Chapter 5. He does point out that, although promoting the good of a single person is virtuous, fostering that of whole cities or even the nation is all the more laudable. Same holds for promoting any related ends, ultimate or subordinate. However, he suggests, many political type people may prefer virtue to vice for the sole reason that it pays off, in terms of honor and otherwise esteem (political capital), which is a good in its own right as pursued by individuals engaged in the political process. The caveat, however, is that possessing a virtue amounts to lifelong sleeping. That could actually read in a number of ways. For one, a virtue, and all the more a bundle of rare-to-find virtues, like with any complex event renders its frequency very low-thus translating into a high perceived value. Such a person represents a marketable package easily accepted anywhere-which safety leaves her devoid of any incentives for strife and improvement. Moreover, if we are to accept that it is crisis and sufferings that matter the most in shaping the mature mind (more so the philosopher and keen observer), then a quiet and pleasurable lifestyle would nearly disqualify the individual form a political career (again, in the Aristotelian context, not in the modern institutional environment). 

As one special implication of this rule, he maintains in the preceding passages of Chapter 3 (which hypertextual structure of his philosophy would make it worthwhile referring back and forth to the standalone chapters as context and circular extension to each other), that the young or otherwise immature person will not fit to attend classes in political science, as he has not likely savored the other disciplines in sufficient depth, or is neither capable nor inclined to by his very 'spiritual temperament.' 

Critique and Analytical Afterthoughts.

One direction of criticism to undertake would be to zoom in on his treating political science as the master art because it uses other disciplines. There are the well-developed branches of knowledge out there that virtually exploded into huge and utterly heterogeneous bodies that still retain the consistent structure and subordination-as, for instance, is the case with physics and its diverse offsprings. Even though the more general theory could be adjudged to deny its previous reduced version in some sense, a more extensive structure of the discipline does not suggest either its internal controversy or its refuting any of its own parts. However, one needs to apply special caution when saying that a discipline builds upon many other branches indirectly, in that it somehow utilizes their results. These individual ingredients might or might not share any overlap, but definitely they need not share fully compatible ends or means. Thus, for instance, psychology, economics, and marketing science all claim they study behavior; but they might well have very distinct focuses and totally idiosyncratic methods. In fact, their subordinate ends will not have to be so compatible as to be absorbed by some grand end of a theory unifying or merely employing them all; instead, their emphases might confront tough tradeoffs instead of collide in harmony.

Furthermore, asserting that the ultimate or higher-level end, by virtue of merely being acknowledged as good, will imply that the subordinated ends of the enterprises employed must be good too, does not seem to stand up. It is straightforward to conduct a thought experiment revealing that some means might be applied that might be good in interim use (or in short-run transition), yet that are not good in their absolute, non-subordinated or long-term sense. The imaginary unit might be a totally fictitious concept that need not be canonized as part of reality (and nor need the complex numbers at large); yet, it does serve the valuable function of bridging quest to the otherwise lost findings-and so, it is well justified in transition ...
  
  

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