Assignment task:
1. In our pursuit of a harmonious living, Plato advises that we do the following:
a. avoid physical pleasures,
b. help and defend the weak and the poor
c. ignore the bodily needs and pursue only spiritual ends
d. balance the intellectual and the physical activities
Reference:
In practical terms, for Plato, the aim of a moral action, which he usu-ally characterizes as justice, is to achieve harmony between the parts of the soul. Just as he conceives the state as being composed of three classes each being ideally governed by a certain virtue, he conceives a tripartite division of the soul each ideally functioning according to a certain vir-tue. Indeed, for him, the State is nothing but the individual writ large. Justice in one is the same as in the other. Harmony in one is no different from harmony in the other. A harmonious and just state obtains when the rulers act according to wisdom, the guardians with courage, and the rest with temperance. Similarly, the human individual acts righteously and harmoniously when the rational soul is in control of his or her spirited and appetitive parts of the soul. Alternatively, when our intellect is guided by wisdom, our spirited part by courage, and our appetites are restrained by temperance.
Although this is the metaphysical foundation on which Plato builds his moral philosophy, he was also clearly aware that a life of pure intellect, or the other extreme, a life dedicated entirely to physical pleasures only, could not be pursued each by itself. For this reason, following his own Greek tradition, he concedes in the Republic that a harmonious intellectual development has to go hand in hand with the physical development of the person through physical exercise, for example, gymnastics. This will not only invigorate the body, but it has the power to curb the extremes of sensual desires and passions.
2. For the stoics, living morally means living:
a. according to the dictates of nature
b. by personal principles
c. in constant fear of god
d. religiously
Reference:
According to the Stoics, we live happily if we live according to the dictates of nature. By nature, the Stoics meant both the universe and the specific nature of the human being. Indeed, human nature is nothing but a fragment of the universe.
Every being exists and acts in accordance with its particular nature. We need to find out what is particular to our being so that we can obey our nature. Our particular nature as human beings is found in reason. According to Seneca (c. 5 BCE to 65 CE) "what is proper to man is reason. By it, man is above animals and just below the gods." The goal of every being is to fulfill its nature, thus the purpose and goal of human beings is to realize the reason. Therefore, to live according to nature means to live in accordance with reason.
For the Stoics, something is good if it preserves and advances our particular nature, and bad, whatever hampers or damages it. Since our particular nature is rationality, whatever increases it is good, and what-ever diminishes it is bad. They define virtue as the perfection of what is most peculiar to the human nature. Thus, virtue is the perfection of reason. Happiness or the happy life is nothing but the actualization of the peculiar nature of man, that is, reason.
3. According to saint Thomas Aquinas, human actions aim ultimately at:
a. peace
b. the glory of god
c. happiness
d. the good of fellow human beings
Reference:
Thomas Aquinas's moral philosophy is mostly based on Aristotelian ethics. However, it is not a mere Cristian duplication, as some have suggested.
As in Aristotle, Aquinas's ethics is teleological, eudemonistic, and intellectualist. How these characteristics manifest themselves are how-ever markedly different in Aquinas. Human actions (actiones humanae) are always directed to an end because human beings act by their intel-lect and will. The human will is for Aquinas free, and none of human being's conscious actions are determined. Every human act aims at some perceived good as its end. Ends are of two kinds, proximate and ultimate. The first aims at reaching an immediate goal, for example, studying to pass an exam. The second is one that we desire and seek for its own sake, for example, individual happiness, peace in the state. Generally, the former is subordinated to the latter.
When Aquinas says that human acts aim at some good, he does not mean that human beings act always with the perfect knowledge of the good. Rather, they act in accordance with what they believe to be good (sub ratione boni). In other words, what moves them to act in a certain way is their belief in the goodness of the outcome of the action. Not that the outcome in and of itself is good.
The end at which human actions ultimately aim is, as in Aristotle, happiness. However, Aquinas's conception of happiness is fundamentally different from Aristotle's. Aquinas begins by arguing that material riches cannot be our ultimate good since they are no more than means to an end. A final and ultimate good could not be a means to an end. Sensual pleas-ures cannot constitute ultimate good because they are incomplete since they only satisfy the body and not the whole person. Power neither per-fects the whole person nor fulfills human will. It therefore cannot stand on its own as an ultimate end. Not even the theoretical sciences, like meta-physics, which Aristotle posited as the ultimate and final good of human beings, are our ultimate end. In fact, for Aquinas, perfect happiness as the ultimate end is unrealizable outside of God since He is the Supreme and Infinite Good. This is exactly where Aristotle and Aquinas diverge in a fundamental way. The whole Aristotelian project in ethics was to provide guidance for human conduct to acquire a happy and fulfilled life here on earth. First, for Aquinas, perfect human happiness in this life is impossible and unachievable. Second, it can only be obtained in the beatific vision of God.
The desire for the vision of God is natural. However, just because it is natural, it does not follow that human beings can reach it of their own willpower. They need the assistance of God's free-willed gift, that is, grace. Moreover, the vision of God cannot take place in this life, but in the hereafter.
As in Aristotle, Aquinas distinguishes two kinds of virtues: moral and intellectual. Both are habits of the mind aimed at living rightly. However, the one does not necessarily require the other. It is possible to have intel-lectual virtues without moral virtues, and vice versa. Acting virtuously signifies avoiding the extremes of defect and excess. The purpose of virtue is to guide the human person to his or her ultimate end.
In Aquinas, we see the fully developed view of natural law, which is barely alluded to in Aristotle. As explained above, the idea of natural law is the belief that human beings are naturally endowed with a moral sense to guide them to choose the right action. This means that even without God's revelation as provided in the Bible and the teachings of the Catholic Church, human beings are capable of distinguishing right from wrong, and choosing the good. The role of Revelation and Church teachings is to perfect and provide a supernatural end to our moral life.