Deck 16: The Nature of Virtue Aristotle

Question 1

What does Aristotle identify as the chief good?

A) Virtue
B) Happiness
C) Pleasure
D) Knowledge

Answer 1

B

Question 2

In what does happiness consist according to Aristotle?

A) Experiencing pleasure and not experiencing pain
B) Achieving one's goals and being honored by one's community for having done so
C) The excellent activity of the rational part of the soul
D) Health, wealth, and time to enjoy them

Answer 2

C

Question 3

How does moral virtue arise?

A) As a result of the soul's natural development
B) As a result of careful study
C) Through divine grace
D) Through habituation

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following conditions must an act meet to be considered a fully virtuous act?

A) It must be done for its own sake.
B) It must proceed from a fixed state of character.
C) It must be done knowingly and willingly.
D) All of the above

Question 5

In what sense is moral virtue a "mean," according to Aristotle?

A) It occupies the middle ground between excessive and deficient possibilities of feeling and acting.
B) It corresponds to what the average person ought to do in any given situation.
C) It corresponds to what ordinary common sense recommends in any given situation.
D) It is not incompatible with moderate amounts of vice.

Question 6

According to Aristotle, virtue

A) is only possible for a select few to achieve.
B) comes in two kinds, intellectual and moral.
C) comes in two kinds, individual and social.
D) requires abandoning the pursuit of pleasure.

Question 7

Aristotle claims that the function of human life is

A) survival and reproduction.
B) service to the gods.
C) rational activity.
D) pursuit of pleasure.

Question 8

Aristotle conceives of a virtue as

A) a capacity.
B) an ability.
C) an activity.
D) a state of character.

Question 9

For Aristotle, the human good is to engage in rational activity according to the standards of one's own culture.

Question 10

According to Aristotle, people never voluntarily do anything bad.

Question 11

In Aristotle's view, for a thing to perform its function well is to achieve what is good for it.

Question 12

Aristotle defines courage as boldly going out to face every danger.

Question 13

The person who performs a just act is not necessarily a just person.

Question 14

The standard of virtue is one and the same for all people.

Question 15

Aristotle thinks that certain passions and actions are inherently wrong.

Question 16

Aristotle claims that the human good is pleasure.

Question 17

For Aristotle, happiness and long-term pleasure are essentially the same.

Question 18

Can you think of any examples of feelings or actions that might be morally right for one person but not for another? What would Aristotle say about this?

Question 19

Aristotle claims that "virtue is a kind of mean." What does he mean by this, and how does he argue for it? Is this an illuminating way of thinking about the virtues?

Question 20

Do you have to be a virtuous person to perform a virtuous action? If you do, does this present a problem for Aristotle's account of how virtue is acquired? If you do not, explain how it is possible for someone who lacks a particular virtue-courage, for example-to do something courageous.

Question 21

What role does education play in the good life, according to Aristotle? What sorts of education and training does he think are required if we are to become virtuous? Do you agree?