Question

23. In his treatment of friendship in Book 9, why does Aristotle think that benefactors have more love for those whom they benefit than those who receive benefits have for their benefactors? What explanation of this putative fact does Aristotle reject? What explanation does he offer instead? Which explanation do YOU think is more plausible, and why? Do you agree that it’s generally true that people have more love for those whom they benefit than they have for their own benefactors? Why or why not? Give the best reasons you can think of to support/defend/justify your answers. (<300 words, 13 points)

Answer 1

Benefactors seem to love those whom they have benefited more than the beneficiaries love in return. This love is like the love of an artist for his or her work, because the benefactor is to some extent responsible for “making” the beneficiary. Life according to moral virtue is happy in a secondary way, since it is concerned with human affairs. ... Another argument which demonstrates that perfect happiness is contemplative activity is that the gods are most blessed and happy, and their action is contemplative.Aristotle argues that what separates human beings from the other animals is the human reason. So the good life is one in which a person cultivates and exercises their rational faculties by, for instance, engaging in scientific inquiry, philosophical discussion, artistic creation, or legislation.Aristotle does not believe that it is money as money is a means to get other things but not an end. ... Aristotle states that the chief good is something final and he equates that with happiness. It is desirable for itself and never for the sake of something else.