PHI 2396 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Bioethics, Parenting, Age Appropriateness

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHI 2396
• Professor: Dean Lauer

Document Summary

Son of a doctor (nicomachus) father to a son (nicomachus) Professionally trained as a biologist: devised a sophisticated taxonomy of hundreds of species, distinct of the human animal. The rational animal is a complex combination of both abstract reason (rational) and concrete embodiment (animal: observation of the natural world. Virtue is concerned with passions and actions, in which excess is a form of failure ad so is defect. I is possible to fail in many ways while the intermediate is praised and is a form of success; and being praised and being successful are both characteristic of virtue. Therefore, virtue is a kind of mean since as we have seen it aims at what is intermediate. Character is the cornerstone of the virtuous person: states of character arise out of like activities, practice influences and formats mental capacity and tolerance.