Study Guide Questions for Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

Instructions:

• Remember to answer the question.

• Use material from the text to answer the question and to demonstrate your familiarity with the relevant sections.

• Include material from class discussion.

• Demonstrate that you have "thought about the material".

• Use the vocabulary.

• Do not use the words ‘also’ or ‘very’. Do not begin sentences with the words ‘and’ or ‘but’. Do not use the phrases "I think," "I feel," or "I believe."

The exam questions will be taken from the questions below. You will be permitted to use your text.

Study guide questions for Book 1:

• What do we call the highest good?

• What are the three features of the highest good?

• How do we identify the function of a thing?

• What is the human function?

• What is the highest human good? How does Aristotle arrive at his answer to this question (hint: the function argument)?

• How is ethics like playing the harp?

• The highest human good is virtue. Discuss.

• The highest human good is wealth. Discuss.

• The highest human good is pleasure. Discuss.

• How is happiness (eudaimonia) achieved?

• Can we be happy (eudaimon) during our lifetime?

• Was Priam happy (eudaimon)?

• How does Aristotle divide the soul? How are these divisions relevant to virtue?

Study guide questions for Book 2:

• What is the distinction between virtues of thought and virtues of character?

• Virtue consists only in correct actions. Discuss.

• What roles do pleasure and pain have in developing virtues of character?

• What are the three conditions of the state of a virtuous person?

• What is the Doctrine of the Mean?

• What practical advice can be given for how to reach the mean?