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Aristotle is often thought of as the best philosopher who ever existed. He was the first notable philosopher to say that the world we see is reality, and that the best way to live in this world is through the use of reason. In the course of Politics Aristotle condemns selfishness, believing it an unhealthy extreme of self-interest. Aristotle says life according to reason is best and pleasantest, since reason more than anything else is man. This life therefore is also the happiest. He then mentions, in a secondary degree the life in accordance with the other kind of virtue is happy.
This may be where Aristotle's confusion starts. If a life according to reason is the happiest, why would anyone want to live in any way other than according to reason? For, if one were to live a life in accordance with some other virtue, and not completely in accordance with reason, his life would not be the happiest that could be. So, we see that Aristotle has already compromised reason for other virtues. If Aristotle had not compromised on reason, would he have found selfishness to be a virtue rather than a vice? We have already established that reason is itself a virtue, so now it must be demonstrated that selfishness follows logically from reason.
Aristotle has said, The objects of reason are the best of knowable objects. Thus, using reason to produce must be a truly virtuous activity as not only is man using the best in him (reason), but he is also creating the best objects (anything produced through reason being an object of reason) that can exist. A better adjective for these objects (rather than best) would be valuable, as a man of reason surely values all objects of reason. In the same way a man of reason also values all men who are of reason. While a man of reason values others, he values most those who bring his life happiness (happiness being the goal of all men, and reason being the means). Such a man certainly values his wife and his friends.
Now, what is a selfish man, but a man who wishes to bring as much value into his life as possible? This man is merely trying to bring as much reason into his life as possible and it has already been agreed that a life of reason is the best of all possible lives. Should this man then compromise his reason, simply because it does not lead him to the mean? If reason is best, and selfishness is reasonable, then selfishness should not be a vice but a virtue. For a man who views reason as an extreme, and compromises with non-reason to find the mean, is compromising himself and that which is best in him. Now that we have identified the philosophical errors in Aristotle, we must try to understand why he made these errors in the first place.
One of Aristotle's main errors was his inclusion of the other virtues, which he classified these virtues as those whose acts we do in relation to each other. In this section he placed bravery, something that he must have thought to be in conflict with reason, and certainly in conflict with selfishness. However, bravery is a derivative virtue of reason. It would be foolish to be brave for no reason; bravery is only a virtue when one is brave in the defense of his values. A man who defends his family, friends, or possibly country is defending his values, and thus his bravery is an act of reason.
However, a man who is brave in regard to what he does not value is not acting on reason, and as a result is simply foolish. When Aristotle separated the virtues that relate to our actions toward each other from reason, he made his biggest mistake. He seems to be suggesting that reason cannot help us interact with each other. This certainly seems foolish, as reason is the tool we use to approach the world we live in. That world contains others that we will have to interact with, and as such reason is the best way to interact with them.
Aristotle condemned selfishness, saying that one should not love oneself more than one should. This condemnation followed from his flawed assumption that reason cannot describe all that is virtuous. This assumption forced him to question his own reason and invent virtues that he did not base in reason. That is perhaps the greatest irony, that the worlds most famous proponent of reason, did not trust his own.
Free research essays on topics related to: virtue, virtues, selfishness, aristotle, bravery
Research essay sample on Life According To Reason Life In Accordance Man
