PHL100Y1 Lecture Notes - Nicomachean Ethics
Document Summary
The key thing to understand about moral values is that we become socialized into them (as we become socialized into learning to speak a language) There are a set of rules about how we should morally behave; aristotle gets this from the doctrine of the mean. The measured-balance response is the courageous one. The doctrine of the mean applies to all of the virtues. Action theory has to do with the principles that underly any particular action that is susceptible to moral evaluation. As long as somebody in the chain is contributing to the action, than the action is voluntary (it doesn"t necessarily have to be the ultimate principle, a third party can be responsible too) Action is involuntary if you do something you don"t want to do because of constraining circumstances. Action that is done by force; you will not be morally praised or blamed.
