For Aristotle, the person who is practicing excellence (virtue) will get pleasure out of this excellence. Generally, a fever is the body fighting off an infection and a cough is a response to something like phlegm collecting in the lungs. Pleasure is then a symptom of being ethical for the right kind of person.Īs an analogy, we go to the doctor when we have things like fevers or coughs, but the doctor diagnoses the problem that is really ailing us. For the rest of us, we can have these signals go terribly wrong (this is all in Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics). On this definition, Aristotle is not a hedonist.įor Aristotle, pleasure accompanies being ethically good for the phronemos (the man of practical wisdom). I will take hedonism here to mean that the goal of life is pleasure and the good is to have as much pleasure as possible. The the part that says "Aristotle describes ethical virtue as relating to pleasure and pain" is true and comes from Book I and again in Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics.īut we need to be very careful in understanding how they relate for Aristotle.įirst off, let's give a basic definition of hedonism. encompassed by pleasure and pain" or something to that effect is utterly and completely false. The claim that Aristotle says "ethical virtue. First off, let's split your claim into two parts.
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