Happiness. Moral excellence. For more than 2,000 years, thoughtful people have turned to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics to learn how to teach and attain these and other profound concepts. In The Ethics of Aristotle, a meditation on the ancient Greek philosopher and one of his paramount texts, Professor Joseph W. Koterski shows you how and why this work can help deepen and improve your own thinking on questions of morality and living a "good" life. The aim of this course is to provide you with a clear and thoughtful introduction to Aristotle as a moral philosopher, and to suggest ways in which this ancient thinker still speaks to the deepest concerns of our own era.
The Ethics of Aristotle
Get answers on a wide range of ethical issues from one of histories greatest minds—Aristotle—in this excellent course that tackles such timeless topics as happiness, moral excellence, and more.
01: The Philosopher of Common Sense
How does Aristotle go about building his theory of human moral activity? Why does he place virtue or excellence at the core, and what does he mean by virtue anyway? How does his work compare with other important approaches to ethics, such as Kant's?
33 min
02: What Is the Purpose of Life?
How do Aristotle's thoughts about happiness and virtue fit into his larger philosophy? What does he mean by calling us "rational animals"? And why does he argue that ethics is part of a larger project, called politics, without which full human flourishing is impossible?
30 min
03: What Is Moral Excellence?
Where does virtue come from? Can you acquire it? Are some people born to it? How can you know it when you see it? What are the implications of Aristotle's definition of virtue as a mean between extremes?
31 min
04: Courage and Moderation
Although Aristotle has no explicit concept of "freedom," his treatment in Book III of voluntary consent, knowledge, and moral responsibility is a landmark in the history of ethical thought. Here you trace its immediate application to two of the "cardinal" moral virtues.
30 min
05: The Social Virtues
Are the virtues that Aristotle describes as crucial to life in society still normative, or are they peculiar to his own society? Attending to how he makes distinctions and argues his case will help you assess this issue, and deepen your appreciation of the entire work.
31 min
06: Types of Justice
Is justice a simple unity, or does it have several kinds? How can Aristotle describe virtues as relative without being a relativist? What are the implications of his influential distinction between natural and legal justice?
31 min
07: The Intellectual Virtues
What are the excellences of mind proper to humans? Why does the very idea of ethics imply that there must be such virtues? What roles do art and science—conceived as habits of mind—play in a well-lived life?
31 min
08: Struggling to Do Right
Socrates held—perhaps ironically—that knowledge and virtue are the same. What does Aristotle think of that idea? How does he deal with the relation between knowing what is right and doing what is right?
30 min
09: Friendship and the Right Life
What are the different types of friendships? What are the motivations and expectations—appropriate and inappropriate—that tend to go with each?
31 min
10: What Is Friendship?
In Book XI you find Aristotle at his most practical, offering advice on topics such as whether to break off a friendship, on the limits to the number of friends you can have, and on the link between friendship and virtue.
31 min
11: Pleasure and the Right Life
Is being pleasant what makes something good? Is pleasure the same as happiness? How does Aristotle support his own view of the relationship between pleasure, virtue, and happiness?
31 min
12: Attaining True Happiness
Learn how Aristotle brings his argument about happiness and virtuous activity full circle at the end of the "Ethics," and then suggests that ethics points beyond itself toward the topics of two of his other works, the "Politics" and the "Metaphysics."
31 min
Overview Course No. 408
About
A member of the Society of Jesus, Father Joseph Koterski is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University, where he specializes in the history of medieval philosophy and natural law ethics. Before taking his position at Fordham University, Father Koterski taught at the Center for Thomistic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. He earned his doctorate in Philosophy from St. Louis University, after receiving an H.A.B. in Classics from Xavier University. As a priest ordained in 1992, Father Koterski brings an added dimension of insight to his study of theology and biblical texts. He earned his Master of Divinity and License of Sacred Theology from the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Father Koterski is a veteran Great Courses instructor and a respected teacher and scholar. At Fordham, he has been recognized for his teaching skills and was awarded the Dean's Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching and the Graduate Teacher of the Year Award. He serves as the editor-in-chief of the International Philosophical Quarterly and is coeditor of the Fordham University Press Series in Moral Philosophy and Moral Theology.
