Question

On Aristotle's view, understanding moral virtue

	a.	involves understanding how moral virtues are nice to dream about, but that only intellectual virtues are really important to moral life.
	b.	involves understanding the difference between 'first' nature (how we are born) and second nature.
	c.	involves understanding how practice and second nature are completely separate from each other.
	d.	means that we finally accept that there is really no such thing a a bad habit, as habits are relative to cuture.

Answer 1

• ANSWER-On Aristotle's view, understanding moral virtue involves understanding the difference between 'first' nature (how we are born) and second nature.
• Aristotle defines moral virtue as a disposition to behave in the right manner and as a mean between extremes of deficiency and excess, which are vices. We learn moral virtue primarily through habit and practice rather than through reasoning and instruction.
• Most virtue ethics theories take their inspiration from Aristotle who declared that a virtuous person is someone who has ideal character traits. These traits derive from natural internal tendencies, but need to be nurtured; however, once established, they will become stable.
• For example, a virtuous person is someone who is kind across many situations over a lifetime because that is her character and not because she wants to maximize utility or gain favors or simply do her duty.
  
• First nature refers to those qualities with which we are born. These could include temperaments, endowments, or natural virtues which are those virtues which represent inclinations that a child for example may possess which do not compel a moral grade.
• Such natural virtues can be perfected into full virtue through “phronesis” or practical wisdom, which serves as a refining mechanism by which adultswho possess awareness and learning reinforce good habits through their experiences.
• To understand Aristotle’s concept of second nature, we must first tackle the concept of habits.
• Habits, in Aristotle’s view, are realized states of character that result from conditioning and training, and give rise to already natural regularity in a person’s behavior and actions over a period of time.
• These habits have the ability to cultivate virtue by promoting the passions to feel pleasure in the right circumstances and mold them to feel pain in the wrong circumstances.