Second Analytical Paper
May 2, 2011
Reconstruct Aristotle’s function argument. Explain what role the concept of virtue plays in making the conclusion more determinate or precise. Evaluate and critique this argument. Does it seem convincing, or is there a step in the argument that seems problematic?
Reconstruct Aristotle’s function argument. Explain what role the concept of virtue plays in making the conclusion more determinate or precise. Evaluate and critique this argument. Does it seem convincing, or is there a step in the argument that seems problematic?
Aristotle’s function argument is a normative ethical theory which seeks to discover the morally good human life and that to which we ought to aim to in all of our deeds. Through the function argument, Aristotle finds that the good human life is a life that is lived in accordance with rational activity.
Aristotle opens his argument with this remark:
“But presumably the remark that the best good is happiness is apparently something generally agreed and we still need a clearer statement of what the best good is. Perhaps, then, we shall find this if we first grasp the function of a human being. For just as the good (flourishing) for a flautist, a sculptor, and every craftsman, in general, for whatever has a function and characteristic action, seems to depend on its function, the same seems to be true for a human being, if a human being has some function.”
(The Nature of Virtue, pp. 1-5)
In this quote, Aristotle first claims that the thing which is good is the thing which fulfills its function. In this excerpt he explains that a craftsman who is able to produce quality crafts is indeed the good craftsman for he is indeed flourishing. And in the same way that we determine the function of the craftsman, it is also possible to determine the function of humans as a whole. Aristotle also assets that since each of our bodily parts have functions, like that of the heart is to pump blood, then it...