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Aristotle as Ethicist

Gregory Salmieri

Presented at: OCON 2003

Date: Jul 05, 2003

Objectivists often find Aristotle's ethics surprisingly mixed. He held that the "moral man is a lover of self" who lives for his own happiness, but he also endorsed slavery. He maintained that the human good is to live in accordance with reason, but he thought that ethics was an inexact science. He saw pride as "the crown of the virtues," but recognized no virtue in making money. In this course Mr. Salmieri surveys the essential content of Aristotle's ethics with a focus on his methodology, making frequent comparisons to Ayn Rand. We see how Aristotle approaches ethics inductively, and how this orientation leads him to grasp important truths. We also examine why he nonetheless falls into significant errors. Throughout the course we draw lessons for our own thinking from Aristotle's example. The course has no prerequisites, but advanced students will appreciate integrations with Ayn Rand's intellectual development and Dr. Peikoff's Objectivism Through Induction.

history of philosophyhistoryethics

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